McCrimmon confident Golden Knights have enough in house to replace Pacioretty

The Golden Knights traded two of their top four goal scorers within a month of each other.

Trading Evgenii Dadonov to the Montreal Canadiens for the contract of injured defenseman Shea Weber made sense on June 16 to clear $5 million in cap space. Moving on from Max Pacioretty on Wednesday to the Carolina Hurricanes is also plausible but creates a bigger hole in the lineup compared to the Dadonov deal.

General manager Kelly McCrimmon said Thursday — his first remarks since trading Pacioretty and defenseman Dylan Coghlan to Carolina for future considerations — he believes in the organization’s depth, and hope for better injury luck, to fill the void left by Pacioretty and Dadonov this season.

“It happens everywhere. Teams have to make decisions; teams can’t keep everyone,” McCrimmon said. “It provides opportunity for players.”

The deal, McCrimmon said, was solely made to clear just south of $8 million in cap space to re-sign forward Reilly Smith to a three-year extension ($5 million average annual value) and new deals for the Golden Knights’ restricted free agents, notably forwards Nicolas Roy and Keegan Kolesar and defenseman Nic Hague.

While the threat of an offer sheet remains until they’re re-signed, McCrimmon seemed adamant that retaining the young players was a priority. He specifically noted Roy and Hague for where this newfound cap space will go, and it gives the Golden Knights flexibility to comfortably pay Zach Whitecloud his six-year extension ($2.75 million AAV) that starts next season.

According to salary cap resource Cap Friendly, the Golden Knights are $1.39 million above the cap before placing Weber’s contract on long-term injured reserve. The $7.85 million cap hit on Weber’s deal allows Vegas to exceed the cap by $6.46 million.

McCrimmon said dialogue has been good in negotiations, and he expects that deals will get done.

“You don’t know for sure. We’ve had good discussions with each player, good relationships with their representation,” he said. “We sure anticipate that they’ll be signed and be contributors for our team.”

Where that production is made up, McCrimmon hopes, comes from a healthy lineup that lost more than 500 man games due to injury last season. Pacioretty was part of that health conundrum by missing 43 games due to a broken wrist and broken foot.

Roy, for instance, has continued a strong development through three years in Vegas. He’s expected to be compensated well on his new contract after a career-high 39-point season in 2022. His 15 goals in 78 games were more than his first two years combined (11).

The chances of top prospect Brendan Brisson becoming a full-time NHL player next season may have also increased thanks to the Pacioretty trade. Able to play center or wing with a pro-caliber shot, Brisson has looked “really, really good” in his development, McCrimmon said, adding that he’s looking forward to seeing the former Michigan product with the NHL veterans.

There are also players McCrimmon hopes will return to normal offensive outputs after a down year in 2022. He didn’t mention specifics, but William Karlsson is prime for that discussion after a 35-point campaign. He added that a healthy Mark Stone — his rehab from offseason back surgery is going well, according to the GM — will also aid in the offense.

“Those are all different ways that the offense will come,” McCrimmon said. “That’s where we think we’re at at this time.”

McCrimmon’s internal optimism stems from the Golden Knights finishing 12^th in goals scored, but that’s still 39 between Pacioretty and Dadonov that are now gone. McCrimmon didn’t rule out the possibility of adding another scorer on the open market.

Despite keeping tabs on what’s happening around the league, McCrimmon said the Golden Knights are “pretty close to where we want to be with our team.”

Vegas made official the signings of forwards Sakari Manninen and Spencer Foo to one-year deals at $750,000 on Thursday.

SMITH ALWAYS WANTED TO STAY

The original ‘Misfit’ felt confident heading into the first day of free agency Wednesday, and it turns out for good reason. Smith didn’t speak to any other teams when the new league year opened at 9 a.m.

His lone intention was staying with the Golden Knights.

“Honestly, my No. 1 goal was to stay here, play here,” Smith said. “My main goal was to get a deal to play here. I didn’t put too much thought into that, to be honest.”

Smith, who will host his third annual Battle For Vegas charity softball game at Las Vegas Ballpark on Monday, didn’t have an agent representing him in these negotiations. His former agent, Kent Hughes, is now the general manager in Montreal.

Likely not to play the role of player-agent again, Smith was happy to get it done and re-up with linemates William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault for, at least, the next two years.

“I feel like I put my heart and soul into this organization,” Smith said. “I’m very fortunate they noticed that and gave me the opportunity to come back here and chase the goal we started five years ago.”

INJURY UPDATES

The timelines for goalies Robin Lehner (shoulder) and Laurent Brossoit (hip) to be ready for the start of next season are going to be “tight” after each had offseason surgery McCrimmon said.

National reports indicate both may not be ready for opening night Oct. 11. Lehner is likely to return to Las Vegas at the end of the month where the team can continue to monitor his progress at a day-to-day rate.

Brossoit’s status is “nip-and-tuck” for opening night, but McCrimmon said there will be a better idea come training camp.

Vegas signed veteran goalie Michael Hutchinson to a one-year deal Wednesday. Should Lehner and Brossoit not be available, Hutchinson will likely enter training camp as the backup to Logan Thompson.

Brett Howden is fully healthy and will be ready for training camp. The forward, who signed a one-year, $1.5 million contract Wednesday, sustained an upper-body injury in March that forced him to be stretchered off. McCrimmon said had the Golden Knights made the playoffs and lasted a couple of weeks, he would’ve been ready to play.

Defenseman Daniil Miromanov had an undisclosed surgery, and it’s unclear if he will be ready for training camp. Miromanov signed a two-year extension on June 21.

There’s “no significant progress” in the rehab of center Nolan Patrick, McCrimmon said. The No. 2 pick in the 2017 draft has dealt with a chronic history of migraines dating back to his days in Philadelphia. He had seven points in 25 games in his first year with Vegas this past season.

If the Golden Knights are looking for more financial relief, look for Patrick to also begin the year on LTIR.

“Right now, focusing on hockey is putting the cart in front of the horse,” McCrimmon said. “Some stability in day-to-day [for him] is what we’re shooting for first.”

Danny Webster can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Danny on Twitter at twitter.com/DannyWebster21.