Vegas Golden Knights left wing Max Pacioretty (67) warms up before an NHL hockey game against the Tampa Bay Lightning at T-Mobile Arena Tuesday, Dec. 21, 2021.
Published Wednesday, July 13, 2022 | 3:08 p.m.
Updated Wednesday, July 13, 2022 | 5:37 p.m.
For the second straight offseason, the Golden Knights have moved on from a key figure in the organization as a salary dump.
This one, however, might have more lingering effects in the short term. Vegas traded forward Max Pacioretty, its top goal scorer, to the Carolina Hurricanes along with young defenseman Dylan Coghlan for future considerations, the team made official Wednesday evening.
Much like the Golden Knights did with goalie and then-Vezina Trophy winner Marc-André Fleury last offseason, they are sending Pacioretty and Coghlan to the Eastern Conference powerhouse for nothing meaningful in an immediate return. The Golden Knights will not retain any of Pacioretty's $7 million cap hit. Coghlan's $762,500 value frees up just shy of $7.8 million in needed relief.
In addition, the Golden Knights made official a three-year extension for forward Reilly Smith at an average annual value of $5 million. Vegas also re-signed forward Brett Howden to a one-year deal at $1.5 million, along with a slew of minor-league transactions.
Rookie forward Jonas Røndbjerg was re-signed to a three-year deal at $766,666 AAV; minor-league forwards Sheldon Rempal and Byron Froese to two-year deals, and goalie Michael Hutchinson was signed to a one-year, two-way deal.
The next order of business will be for Vegas to focus on its remaining restricted free agents, particularly forwards Nicolas Roy and Keegan Kolesar, and defenseman Nic Hague. Currently, Vegas is $1.3 million over the cap, according to salary cap resource Cap Friendly, but the contract of defenseman Shea Weber going on long-term injured reserve will allow the Golden Knights to exceed the salary cap and give them an opportunity to re-sign those players.
In the aftermath of everything that transpired, the immediate attention turns to filling the void left behind by Vegas' best shooter.
Pacioretty played just 39 games last season due to a broken foot and broken wrist, and his impact was sorely missed by a Vegas team that found it troubling to score late in the season. The 33-year-old goal scorer had just 19 during his limited ice time in 2022, but was still fourth on the team and just 11 behind top goal scorer Jonathan Marchessault (30).
The departure of Pacioretty withers more elements of the Golden Knights' offense more than just the goal scoring. He was Vegas' biggest threat on the power play — when operating efficiently — and played on Vegas' top line.
Now, Vegas has to find an answer as to how to replace Pacioretty's 97 goals over the past four seasons.
Injuries were a concern for Pacioretty when Vegas acquired the former Montreal Canadiens captain in 2018 in exchange for Tomas Tatar, top prospect Nick Suzuki and a second-round pick. He missed 18 games in the 2017-18 season after missing three combined the previous years. Pacioretty missed 16 games in his first year with Vegas, but had 11 points in seven playoff games. The chemistry he built with future captain Mark Stone gave Vegas one of the best top combinations in the NHL.
The 2019-20 season was Pacioretty's best in Vegas when he played all 71 games (before the season paused due to the pandemic) and he had his first 30-goal season since 2017. He followed that with 51 points in 48 games during the COVID-shortened season in 2020-21.
Pacioretty's injury-riddled campaign this past season was key in the Golden Knights losing more than 500 man games due to injury and missing out on the playoffs for the first time in franchise history.
The Golden Knights had been expected to enter training camp in approximately two months with a top line of Pacioretty, Stone and Jack Eichel. With Pacioretty gone, determining which players fit best on the top line will be complicated by his absence.
Coghlan's departure provides slightly more clarity into Vegas' blue line situation. Barring any training camp competitions, the Golden Knights will enter training camp with a projected defense of Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Theodore, Alec Martinez, Brayden McNabb, Zach Whitecloud, Ben Hutton, and presumably Hague should a deal get done. Hutton would likely be the scratched defenseman in that scenario.
Since the end of the 2020 season, the Golden Knights have traded Nate Schmidt ($5.9 million), Paul Stastny ($6.5 million), Fleury ($7 million), Evgenii Dadonov ($5 million) and now Pacioretty for mid-round draft picks, an LTIR contract, a prospect's contract that didn't play in the organization, and future considerations.
General manager Kelly McCrimmon is expected to meet with the media Thursday.
Danny Webster can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Danny on Twitter at twitter.com/DannyWebster21.
