Post by Vegas Golden Knights on Mar 20, 2023 19:07:54 GMT -6
It wasn't that long ago that Vegas was sitting on top of the Pacific division, wracking up multiple winning streaks, laughing at the Central Division and seemingly ready to cruise in to the playoffs.
But a combination of bad play, too much roster tinkering and extremely high level competition, has put this team firmly on the playoff bubble.
GM Tom Jervis, encouraged by his teams success, decided to reinforce his division leading squad by adding Nikita Kucherov. The only piece that was active on the roster going the other way was Ivan Barbashev. Surely, this would just make an already good squad, great....right?
Alex Wennberg was brought in to beef up the 3rd line, take over for a still young and developing Brett Howden, kill penalties and chip in some scoring. That's only partly been the case but nevertheless, Howden is back in that role.
With the defense being identified as the main culprit for the massive slump, Victor Hedman was brought in stop the bleeding. It was only 7 games but the 2-5 result shows that not even the future hall of fame defender could solve the issue alone.
With Nikita Kucherov on an expiring contract, a high demand on both salary and signing bonus, the Vegas GM had a big decision to make. Stay the course, continue to throw the lines in to the blender and hope the team figures it out. Or...trade Kucherov now while is most easily tradable and try to fill the holes.
Ultimately, after 18 games, GM Tom Jervis had to face the reality that the Kucherov acquisition had failed.
Just 2 hours before the deadline, Vegas and Florida struck a deal that sent Kucherov, Dylan Coghlan & Ryan Murray to the Panthers in exchange for Joel Eriksson Ek, Noah Dobson & Ben Hutton. For Florida, they traded depth for a true superstar in Kucherov, someone who averages over a point per game. He can single handedly win you games with his dynamic offense. But for whatever reason, did not help the Golden Knights achieve their goal.
The return was precisely what Vegas needs right now. A top 4 defenseman and a defensive minded two-way forward. Eriksson Ek can not only play in the top 6, but can also kill penalties as a premier defensive forward.
Dobson instantly became one of the most valuable players on the Golden Knights. A 23 year who can already play top minutes and is still developing, he only costs 2.3 million dollars for the next 3 years.
GM Tom Jervis thought he was done for the day. He had a few feelers out there but nothing concrete. He had approached Montreal about Devon Toews but the initial counter offer was rejected and GM Todd Snider seemed like he was going in a different direction.
Then, Vegas received a proposal with only 3 minutes remaining until the deadline. They accepted with 2 minutes left and quickly submitted it to the league right before the deadline.
Vegas had finally got the defensive defenseman they had coveted for so long, albeit at a steep price.
Devon Toews was traded to Vegas in exchange for a 2024 1st round pick, Noah Hanifin, Tyson Jost, Morgan Frost and Philip Tomasino. The young minded Montreal Canadiens were surely excited about the assets they received in this trade. There's at least 2 future top 6 forwards, a very good middle 6 developing forward in Tyson Jost on a great contract & a 1st round pick to top it all off. Even Hanifin is only 26, so he may have some development left in him.
For the Golden Knights, the time is now...or at least the next 3 years. Devon Toews comes with a great contract as well, only 4.1 for the top pairing defenseman. And the price for any defenseman in the PFHL has been extremely high. Toews is 29 but with retirement not possible until age 37, he'll be around for a while.
Only one man standing from the Vegas blueline, Jacob Trouba, who was starting at the beginning of the season. This new Vegas defense is just flat out much better than the one it was icing a few days ago.
One other big benefit from the flurry of trades, Vegas now has quite a bit of cap space going in to next season, and without any glaring holes to fill. Almost everyone is under contract for next season, and with AHL standouts Ben Jones and Pavel Dorofeyev potentially getting the call up, Vegas can target a decent sized fish in free agency.
In
Joel Eriksson Ek
Noah Dobson
Devon Toews
Ben Hutton
Out
Nikita Kucherov
Noah Hanifin
Tyson Jost
Morgan Frost
Philip Tomasino
Dylan Coghlan
Ryan Murray
2024 VGK 1st
Salary in - 10,300,000
Salary Out - 14,450,000
2024 Salary Out - 24,410,000
Vegas has to figure out it's new lineup quickly. After a win in their debut against Columbus, the new look Knights have a big game vs division opponent Vancouver coming up on Tuesday night.
Can you fix too much tinkering with more tinkering? Maybe. We'll find out as we roll toward the end of the season.
