Golden Knights extend Stephenson, select 5 on NHL draft’s final day

By Justin Emerson

Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020 | 6:43 p.m.

It was a busy Wednesday for the Golden Knights. They had five picks on the second day of the NHL draft, but also secured one of their forwards for the next four seasons while letting another go.

The Golden Knights signed forward Chandler Stephenson to a four-year extension worth $2.75 million against the cap annually. He was acquired in December in a trade with Washington and immediately found a home in Vegas, playing up and down the lineup from the top line to the fourth.

“Chandler was really good fit upon joining our team,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “Great utility in terms of his ability to play throughout the lineup. Real dimension of speed, and a player that we really think is going to be an important part of our team here over the next four years.”

With Vegas’ cap situation in flux, securing Stephenson at a reasonable rate helps give the Golden Knights clarity with free agency beginning on Friday. They are about $2.8 million above the cap as is and are expected to make a move involving goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and his $7 million cap hit, perhaps as soon as Thursday. Vegas could also be a player in free agency, notably for star defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.

The Golden Knights did not qualify an offer to restricted free agent forward Nick Cousins. The trade deadline acquisition will become an unrestricted free agent on Friday. McCrimmon said he is still an option to resign on Friday, but it’s clear that cap considerations forced Vegas’ hand.

That’s for the NHL roster. The Golden Knights’ primary focus on Wednesday was the draft, where they added five players to their prospect pool after taking Brendan Brisson in the first round on Tuesday.

“You always go into the draft hoping that you’ve added some talent and some assets to your stable,” assistant director of player personnel Bob Lowes said. “I thought we did a really good job.”

In the third, the Golden Knights had two picks and used the first, No. 68 overall, on Lukas Cormier, a defenseman from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. Cormier is a smaller, skilled left shot listed at 5-feet-10 and 180 pounds. He’s a terrific puck-mover, with 36 points in 44 games with Charlottetown last season. He helped Canada’s national men's under-18 team earn silver at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup last season.

Cormier is deft in transition, moving the puck well and making smart plays on zone exits, according to NHL’s Central Scouting. The same service pegged him as the No. 32 North American skater in this year’s draft and compares him to Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard.

“I know it’s a great city, great organization for the small time that they’ve been in the league,” Cormier said. “To hear my name called was a huge relief and I’m proud that it was Vegas.”

With their other third-round pick at No. 91 overall, the Golden Knights selected forward Jackson Hallum. He has a ways to go in his development having not yet played for the USHL, but he projects well and is committed to Michigan for the 2022-23 season. If Brisson stays in school for his junior year, the two will be teammates with the Wolverines.

The Golden Knights did not initially have a fifth-round selection, but traded into the first pick of the round to select Swedish goaltender Jesper Vikman at No. 125 overall. Vikman is big at 6-3 as is ranked as the No. 8 European goalie by Central Scouting. They gave up a 2022 fourth-rounder to take him.

Vegas went back to the USHL in the sixth round, getting Des Moines defenseman Noah Ellis at pick No. 184, who is committed to the University of Massachusetts for the 2021-22 season. The Golden Knights’ final pick at No. 215 was Russian forward Maxim Marushev. Like all players from Russian leagues, the Golden Knights will retain Marushev’s rights indefinitely as he progresses through juniors and through local professional leagues.