As the week comes to a close, we decided to hand the keys to the Porsche (remember when DeBoer called the roster that?) to the man entering his 5th season as an intern at SinBin, Alex Norwood.
Ken and Jason had their turns to put the Golden Knights in a better position for this season and beyond, and now it is my turn to make Vegas a younger and cheaper team that can still compete this year and for years to come. I am not trading Jack Eichel like Ken, I am not keeping as many players as Jason.
Here’s what I would do.
TRADE – Max Pacioretty and Nolan Patrick traded to Detroit Red Wings for a 2022 2nd round pick and a 2022 4th round pick
The Red Wings seem like a team that is very close to making their return to the playoffs after a few years of being on the outside looking in. Adding a proven scorer in Max Pacioretty could be the trade that moves the needle in Detroit, which is great for them but this is about the Golden Knights.
Pacioretty is in the final year of his contract which counts $7 million against the cap. He is also going to be 34-years-old during this coming season. Vegas moving on from him solves a few problems. Most importantly, they instantly get cap relief, something that they desperately need. Almost as importantly, they will get younger which should help with the fear of potential injury problems.
As far as moving Nolan Patrick, he was not much of a factor in a Golden Knights uniform, which is unfortunate because it is due to his injury history and his ability as a player. If he is not part of any trade package, he should be a prime candidate to be waived to save a few more dollars.
TRADE – Robin Lehner to New Jersey Devils for a 2022 3rd round pick and a 2022 6th round pick
Robin Lehner may very well be a top 10-15 goalie in the NHL. He has proven that before winning the Jennings Trophy twice and being a Vezina Trophy finalist. Unfortunately, his health has failed him in the last couple of seasons. With additions being made later on in this article, Logan Thompson appears to be a viable option for much less money, and Bruce Cassidy implementing a “goalie friendly” system, it makes sense to move on from Lehner and give Thompson the keys to the franchise. It’s up to Thompson to make this move look good, we’ve seen a small sample size of what he can do and there’s nothing showing me he can’t continue his upward trend. This trade is me going all-in on Thompson, not going all-out on Lehner.
TRADE – Alec Martinez to Philadelphia Flyers for a 2022 3rd round pick
When Alec Martinez was first traded for, the Golden Knights got everything they could have asked for from him. He was solid in the defensive zone, his offensive numbers went up from his last few seasons in LA, and he even contributed on the power play. That lasted for two seasons but has not continued into his third season with Vegas, which also happened to be the first year of a new contract. Unfortunately, Martinez suffered a freak injury and when he eventually came back, he was not the same player we had been used to seeing. Moving on from Martinez solves the same problems as moving Pacioretty, the team will get younger and money will be moved out that can be spent elsewhere.
TRADE – Laurent Brossoit, Shea Weber’s Contract, a 2022 2nd round pick, and 2022 3rd round pick to Arizona Coyotes for a 2022 5th round pick
Laurent Brossoit was made very expendable with the rise of Logan Thompson. Moving on from him has always made sense, especially since I am still trying to figure out why he was signed in the first place. Adding in Shea Weber’s contract fixes the issue of the Golden Knights being locked into LTIR for years to come. Arizona seems like the perfect team to make this deal considering they have been stacking picks for the last year.
TRADE – Dylan Coghlan to Columbus Blue Jackets for a 2022 4th round pick
There is not much analysis when it comes to trading Dylan Coghlan. With Ben Hutton signing an extension last season and Daniil Miromanov signing an extension this summer, Coghlan’s time in Vegas may be coming to an end so they may as well get some value for him.
RE-SIGN – Roy (3 x $2.1m), Kolesar (2 x $950k), Howden (1 x $900k), Hague (2 x $1.2m)
Nic Roy has absolutely earned himself a raise, getting him to agree to a slightly below-market deal could be a huge advantage for the Golden Knights come trade deadline time. If he continues to up his production, that will be a very solid contract.
Keegan Kolesar was a good depth player for the Golden Knights last season and if he continues to be just that, he’ll do just fine in the lineup. Plus, a free agency signing could really help him take another step forward.
Brett Howden was actually having a solid season before suffering an injury that kept him out for the remainder of the season. If he picks up where he left off, he can really help this team when his services are needed.
Hague avoids holdout by taking a team-friendly bridge deal.
Sign – Filip Forsberg (7 x $9m)
It’s Vegas, there needs to be a flashy move! I sent out Pacioretty, who was usually good for 30 goals in a season, so I brought in Filip Forsberg to fill in the gap on Eichel’s left wing. He is much younger and has proven he can score a lot of goals. With Stone and Eichel being his linemates, I think we could see the first 50-goal season from a Golden Knight.
Sign – Nino Niederreiter (5 x $3.5m)
Adding even more to the forward group, Nino Niederreiter makes a ton of sense for a few reasons. The first being his ability to score goals. Vegas’ third line has always been in need of a consistent scorer, Niederreiter fits the bill. Chandler Stephenson was able to do a bunch by himself last year and we’ve seen what he can do with a capable winger. Niederreiter could produce even more with the speedy center. At worse he scores 20 goals, that’s a win.
Sign – Braden Holtby (2 x $1m)
After moving on from both Lehner and Brossoit, it’s time for the Logan Thompson show. However, he will need a steady backup and who could be better than Braden Holtby. After leading Washington to a Stanley Cup in 2018, Holtby has had a rough go of it with short stints in Vancouver and Dallas. It is unlikely that he could be a starter on many teams but he seems like the perfect veteran backup for a rookie goalie who is being given the keys to the franchise.
Forsberg-Eichel-Stone
Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith
Brisson-Stephenson-Niederreiter
Carrier-Roy-Kolesar
(Howden)
Hauge-Pietrangelo
McNabb-Theodore
Hutton-Whitecloud
(Miromanov)
Thompson
Holtby
The plan is simple. Move a bunch of money out in the best ways possible, get younger in the process, and bring in quality free agents. This team has the potential to be better than last year’s team and it doesn’t even need to be $10 million over the cap. In fact, there is $1.39 million in cap space on this 22-man roster.
The GM’s job is to put the team in the best possible situation to succeed and that is what I think I have done. This team can definitely go on a run, maybe add at the deadline, and end the season with the Stanley Cup in Mark Stone’s hands.
Pierre S Martin
Who wrote this? Did Ken do two of these?
Pierre S Martin
Never mind. the man entering his 5th season as an intern at SinBin, Alex Norwood.
Bobby
The Porsche turned out to be a 914.
THE hockey GOD
good moves, but i think we should try to sign evander kane also
Kelly Ann Lange
Not no, but he** no. We don’t need someone who has shown questionable personal integrity. That’s not who we want to be as a team. Let the Oilers and Guppies fight over him and see what happens to the chum(p). He’s also a locker room cancer and dissension is not the path we need to walk on.
A former season ticket holder
If I was the GM, I would resign from creating this mess in the first place!
Tim
Alex you make a lot of sense. These are basically the same moves I’ve been calling for since the end of the season. One small tweak I would do is sign Stansty on the cheap put him on the third line move Brisson to the forth line and have Kolesar and Howden as reserves. I really like that lineup. Getting younger and getting better whats not to like.
Emmanuel
Why do all these proposed trades involve so little return? And “we just want to reduce the cap” is not an answer.
Dean
I was preparing to type the opposite. I think the return on these deals is overestimated. Most of these players are overpaid which means we will likely have to give up something for another team to take them. Plus, no one wants to help us escape cap hell.
TS
Alex, with your moves, does the team have enough $$$ for Forsberg and Niederreitter, without major trades to free more cap?? I hope Carrier is off the table, as you didn’t mention him. Roy is gonna be worth his $$. Kolesar, not so much. Like your less invasive cuts to the team!
Alex
This team is cap compliant.
Henderson Knights
I would rather have a team that is Cup compliant….
JV
Better off trading Weber’s contract to Leafs for a 5th rd pick.. They only have 6.4 mil to sign 5 players and Jack Campbell is UFA. They need the cap space just as much as VGK does.
VGK fan
Going over cap for LTIR doesn’t work that way. You still can only suit up a roster on any given night with an 82.5 million in cap.
THE hockey GOD
no fucking comment
oh my
happy fourth everyone, stay cool !
knights fan in minny
typical answer from the hockey dunce
THE hockey GOD
^^^^psycho creep stalker alert^^^^^^^
knights fan in minny
stop talking about your self swear king
THE hockey GOD
talking about you moron, and you know it !
psycho creep stalker TrOLL
get a life, loser. Go fuck yourself.
knights fan in minny
temper temper hockey dunce the swear king
the hockey god
what part of psycho creep is not clear to you ?
moron ?
R M
I would move Roy to the 3rd, Howden on the 4th , Brisson in the AHL and Amadio as the reserve . But I like the rest of the moves.
Mike StG
All three GM for a day scenarios completely undervalue Vegas players. They also make trades that for the most part would just extend the time it will take to build chemistry on the team, as a bunch of new players are proposed. And there is no guarantee they will mesh or gel with the rest of the team. I believe any changes need to be minor tweaks.
Max’s contract is up the end of this year and that’s 7M freed up. By trade deadline they’ll be able to see how any HSK prospects or players they brought up to VGK have developed, and whether that has any impact on what trade deadline deals might make sense for either the post season or 2023-24.
A little patience is needed. Allow this version of the team the time to show what it can be. All this talk of them being old and aging out is kind of ridiculous. Exactly 3 forwards are 30+. Stone just turned 30, Marchie is 31 and Max is 33. Exactly 2 defensemen are 30+ – Petro at 32 and Martinez at 34.
Emmanuel
It’s an over reaction to not making the playoffs. Massive amounts of games we’re lost to top players, skaters played with injuries and they ALMOST made the playoffs.
Tim
Mike in the real world where was Patch in the playoffs two years ago ohh showed up for game 7 against the Wild last year he missed what 43 or 53 games who’s counting. Now have patience and chance that the China Doll will come out stay healthy and help lead us to the playoffs. If he gets hurt again and misses a considerable of time you’ll say oh well we gave it a shot and the good news is after another failed year he’ll be off the payroll. Mike you know what they do with a lame horse they put it down they don’t hope it comes back to run again. In Patches case we don’t put him down we put him on a train out of town.
Mike StG
Tim, in the ‘real world’ context and facts are important. Instead of calling Max a china doll using anecdotes, here are some facts:
Since joining VGK here are Max’s games played by season:
2018 – 66
2019 – 71 (played all games in the 71 game shortened season)
2020 – 48 (in the 55 game season)
2021 – 39
So other than last season he’s been durable. And last season he suffered hand and foot injuries, at least one of which was a result of shot blocking.
Your claim that he’s injury prone are baseless. Consider also that he is a power forward, by nature a very physical type of player who delivers crushing hits. That physicality and his wicked shot make him a great pairing with Stone.
Here’s a comparison for you: Carrier is a power forward and most wouldn’t consider him a “china doll”. In the past 4 seasons how many games did he play? 230. How many games did Max play in those same 4 seasons? 224. So, that’s only 6 games less, averaged out that is 1-1/2 fewer games a season.
How about goal production the last 4 seasons? Marchie (95g) and Max (94g) are the highest on the team, and JM played 279 games to Max’s 224. You can’t just snap your fingers and replace that kind of offensive production without spending a lot of money (more than Max’s cap hit) and draft capital to do so.
Last year was clearly an outlier from an injury standpoint, so one more year of Max is hardly insufferable. In fact, most players produce better in a ‘contract year’, so one might expect his goals & points per game to increase next season.
Could he be a 40 goal scorer next season? Last season Max scored 19G in 39 games. If he had played all 82 games and scored at that rate, what would that be? 39.95 goals.
Tim
Mike your right we undervalue our players or does management overvalue players and when it’s time to move them there real market value is exposed. I think it’s the latter we over pay all the time.
THE hockey GOD
stg
patience
and
discipline
knights fan in minny
you forgot babble dunce
the hockey god
^^^psycho creep stalker alert^^
the creep is back, look out.
knights fan in minny
look behind you keep one eye open babbler i thought you reported me to the authorities you babbling liar
Henderson Knights
forget Niederreiter. and forget the Arizona “trade”, which is a ridiculous giveaway of top draft picks.
I hate to break the news, but the Tampa Bay Lightning won 2 Stanley cups, and just missed a 3rd, by using the LTIR loophole.
Ken Boehlke
They also drafted Stamkos, Kucherov, Point, Hedman, Cirelli, Killorn, and Vasy.
Can everyone please stop comparing VGK to Tampa?
THE hockey GOD
HK
and they lost because of ping pong goals
in critical back to back games
ping
pang
pong
Ulf
Honestly does anyone on this site think about any of these trades as being even possible?
I’m talking about the Patches and Patrick to Detroit for picks.
Detroit is rebuilding and there is no way in heck they give away valuable picks for the final year of a decent but old and very injury prone Patches at this point in their team cycle, and Patrick has had his chance .
Really, if you stop to think about it, if you’re Detroit do you even think of that deal before grabbing some useful pieces on the free agent market? No way.
This kind of trade is like trying to trick the system in NHL 2021
Ken Boehlke
Note: It’s kind of the point of the articles. We focus 100% of our energy on VGK. Sure, we understand what’s going on around the league but in the end all we are trying to do is talk about this team. Yeah, it’s probably right that our trade values from other teams are not spot on, but say it’s a 2nd instead of a 3rd or VGK have to throw in an extra prospect, or whatever, the concept of the articles still stand. We all have an overaching theme of what we were trying to accomplish. Once you realize none of this is ever going to happen because the chances they hire the guys who run SinBin to run an NHL franchise are very low, you’ll find more enjoyment in this exercise. Hockey is supposed to be fun, that’s what we are going for here.
Ulf
I get it and I enjoy the podcasts. But these last 3 GM for a day articles had some real pipe dream stuff out there, and it’s not about Foley hiring SinBin to GM the team. The perspective can be 100% about VGK which is great.
My point is every Patches (and Martinez) deal (and a few others) in these articles imply that if Vegas would just offer the deal, it would be taken by the other side.
If we put ourselves in the chairs of rebuilding teams like Detroit or Jersey at this point in their cycle, especially as a GM like Yzerman who has proven to build a team tactically, what is in it for them to trade picks for the last year of an old beaten up veteran like a Patches or a Martinez? Guys like that may well be available for free at free agency, and they can trade them for picks themselves at the next deadline for more draft capital.
It kind of undermines the purpose of the article and doesn’t smell of an experienced thought when it looks like that perspective isn’t being addressed; in that case why not offer Patches and Lehner for McDavid straight up? That’s also never going to happen, but the salaries work.
I enjoy the site and periscopes
Mike StG
Ulf,
I don’t know about that McDavid deal. Oilers would need to throw in at least a 2nd rounder as a sweetener.
Ulf
Lol!
the hockey god
by George I think Ulf figured out what the rest of us were really thinking all along !! (well except for the psycho creep stalker, who needs lots of therapy, and a full frontal lobotomy)
sb
There isn’t a day that goes by that I am not thankful that Mr. Foley, McCrimmon and McPhee are running VGK than the guys at Sin Bin and 90% of their readers. This article, like so many others, isn’t worth a bucket of warm spit.
THE hockey GOD
@ SB ROFLMAO
David
Dang, rough day huh?
This is fun. I love playing GM with the Sinbin crew.
THE hockey GOD
Alain Nasreddine and Steve Spott have been hired as assistant coaches for the Dallas Stars.
Nasreddine was an assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils for the past seven seasons. Spott has spent parts of the last three seasons as an assistant with Vegas and he has worked with new Dallas bench boss Pete DeBoer with the Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks.
Pistol Pete
I don’t believe the SinBin articles are all that far-fetched, Ken’s more radical approach with the Eichel trade (that will never happen!) notwithstanding lol. Alex’s most closely resembles what I would do and imo most every possibility in the three articles is not far removed from what McCrimmon and McPhee are working. In fact I emailed McCrimmon a couple months ago with the analysis that Forsberg is a seven years younger version of Pacioretty and would make a great left winger for Eichel. He agreed but predicted NSH will resign him at the eleventh hour.
Moving Martinez, Lehner and Brossoit with a Pacioretty trade to free up space for Forsberg are all possibilities the FO is considering imo. Broadly speaking, you SinBin guys (Ken, Jason and Alex) are not far removed from the reality of the FO, not at all imo.
Mike StG
Pete,
Kelly is right. Forsberg likes NSH and wants to stay. I mentioned to you in several posts that getting him was a pipe dream. They’re basically there on money and it’s all about the structure now – signing bonus, etc. They’re in the $9M range for 8 yrs. If he doesn’t resign there by opening of FA then max contract term will be 7 yrs, and AAV would likely be north of $10M.
As I responded to someone else with Max’s VGK injury and scoring analysis, last year was an outlier. And given his chemistry with Stone it seems more sensible to me to let this team have the opportunity to show what they can be fully healthy with Eichel and with the new coaching approach, rather than to make more disruptive roster moves.
Some patience is needed. Just like Tampa Bay didn’t panic and make a bunch of roster moves after they got swept by CBJ. Some tweaks maybe. And as I said elsewhere Max has only 1 year left on his contract until his $7M cap hit ends. Seems kind of panicky to trade your 2 goalies and top goal scorer to chase one player. Max’s scoring pace if he played 82 games would have put him at 40 goals for last season. And with this year being a ‘contract year’ it’s likely that we will see some of his best numbers.
Mike StG
Forgot to add your top pair LD (Martinez) in the moves you propose all to land FF.
Pistol Pete
Right Mike StG, Martinez enables a Forseberg type deal. Alex has the cap working with the move. I am by no means against keeping Max for the last year of his contract, just think Forsberg is a younger version.