If you’re asking yourself, why did the Golden Knights just trade for a 36-year-old defenseman who has a massive cap hit of $7.85 million per year, missed the entire 2021-22 season, and is not expected to ever play another game in the NHL, don’t worry, you aren’t alone.
The simple answer is Shea Weber’s salary will be placed on LTIR and won’t count against the cap the same way a healthy does. Thus they were able to shed Evgenii Dadonov’s contract and now have $5 million of salary cap space in which to use. And they did it without even having to trade a pick like they did in that horrible deadline deal that got reverted!
While all of that is true, it’s unfortunately not quite that simple, and it’s definitely not as much of a slam dunk as many are making it out to be for the Golden Knights.
Yes, the Golden Knights did just create $5 million more of cap space. This will help to sign free agents like Nic Roy, Nic Hague, Keegan Kolesar, Reilly Smith and/or Mattias Janmark. That portion of it is great.
However, it comes with a bit of a price.
The first part is easy to understand, they don’t have Dadonov anymore. Like him or not as a player, he did score 20 goals, register 23 assists, and account for 4.2 point shares while being named the Golden Knights’ First Star for accumulating the most “points” from the three stars in VGK home games. He’s gone, and the Golden Knights did not get anything they can use on the ice in return.
The second part is one that doesn’t really matter all but one person, but it does exist. Weber’s contract still has $6 million in actual salary that has to be paid out. There is not an insurance policy on it, so The Creator will have to cut him a check for $3 million this season, and then $1 million each of the following three. Luckily, I think he’s good for it.
EDIT: Recent reports indicate that there is indeed an insurance policy on the contract, which will pay out some, if not all, of the $6 million owed.
The last part is a lot more complicated. It has to do with the fact that the Golden Knights will now operate over the salary cap for the next four seasons with the assistance of LTIR. That has its drawbacks, and while they won’t appear significant now, they could be in the future.
There are four main detriments that a team faces when they use LTIR. (I don’t expect you to understand what any of them mean, heck you can probably even skip over them because I’m about to explain how each works.)
- Cap hits are no longer prorated thus not allowing for the accruing of cap space
- Inability to pay performance bonuses causing overages in subsequent seasons
- Must start season with $0 of available cap space
- Calculation of ACSL will cause a loss of a tiny amount of cap space
These are listed in order from most debilitating to least for the Golden Knights. We’ll start with the least taxing, #4.
When a team operates using LTIR, they are technically over the salary cap. How far over they are allowed to go depends on both the salary of the injured players and the healthy ones on the roster. The way the calculations work in figuring how much additional space are super complicated and trust me you don’t want to learn them. But, if you’ve ever taken a look at a team’s salary log, you’ll notice they aren’t all round numbers. For example, Nic Hague’s cap hit was $791,667. Shea Weber’s is $7,857,143. In order to maximize the amount of space the NHL allows, teams must try to organize their roster in a way that comes as close to the actual number allowed as they can.
For example, say the calculations give you $2,156,553 in extra space. You have three players each making $700,000 for a total of $2,100,000. It’s close, but it’s technically wasting $56,553 in available space.
This will happen to the Golden Knights this season and in each of the next four. Last year, they came within $40,000 of it. So, it’s not a big deal, but if you follow the Golden Knights, you know how important every penny is, and they’ll be wasting at least a bit every year until 2026.
On to #3. As established before, operating in LTIR means a team’s salary is greater than the upper-limit of the salary cap. In other words, there’s not a single extra penny of available cap space.
So, if the Golden Knights want to make any roster move during the season, they’ll have to find an equal and opposite move(s) to offset it.
Example: If they want to call a player that makes $1 million up to the NHL, they’ll have to find $1 million or more to send down to the AHL or to another team via trade.
VGK has operated this way for pretty much all of the last two seasons. It occasionally leads to weird days where they are short a skater, but in the end, it’s not a huge deal.
On to #2, which probably won’t matter much in 2022-23, but may in 2024-25 or 25-26. Some players have performance bonuses built into their contracts. These are for rookies or players who sign a contract when they are over the age of 35. The bonuses include milestones like games played, time on ice, goals, awards, and all sorts of other criteria that are written into a contract when it is signed. (Here’s a list of what they can be.)
These typically don’t count against the salary cap… until the player reaches the milestone. If the team has enough space after the season to pay the bonus, it is simply added to their salary for that year and there’s no real cap impact. But, if the team doesn’t have space, they have to pay it on next year’s cap.
Vegas faced this in the 2019-20 season when Deryk Engelland reached a $500,000 bonus. The Golden Knights paid half of it each of the following two seasons because of a COVID-related rule tweak. Moving forward, if they hit another one they’ll have to pay it all the next year.
On the current roster, there aren’t many players that have them. The most significant is Ivan Morozov who has $425,000 possible in 2022-23 and $850,000 in 2023-24. Others include Zach Dean, Paul Cotter, Kaedan Korczak, and Daniil Chayka. Otherwise, we’re looking at future draft picks or newly signed 35+ players.
Finally, we get to the biggest one. You may remember in the past the Golden Knights constantly sending waiver-exempt players like Nic Hague, Nic Roy, and Cody Glass back and forth from the NHL to the AHL. This was in an attempt to “accrue” cap space.
What it did was allow the Golden Knights a few extra dollars here and there to be able to spend at the trade deadline. When a team operates without LTIR, contracts added via trade are pro-rated based on the number of games they’ll play with the new team. So, if you acquire a $10 million player with just 20 games left, or 25% of the season, you’re only on the hook for 25% of his salary, or $2.5 million against the cap.
When you operate in LTIR, you don’t get that luxury. You want to add a $10 million player (and we all know the Golden Knights probably will again at some point), you have to find $10 million of cap space to make it happen.
Of course, this doesn’t stop other teams from retaining salary, as we saw in the Robin Lehner and Mattias Jamark trades, but it does make every in-season trade a little bit more expensive.
So, there you have it.
In my opinion, spending four seasons in LTIR is costly, and it will hinder the Golden Knights’ freedom to make moves in the future, but compared to the disaster of a trade they made the first time they traded Dadonov and it got reverted, this one is better.
But, I’d never call this a good trade for the Golden Knights. They sent a 2nd round pick and Nick Holden to the Senators less than a year ago for a player that went on to score 43 points and was be named the most valuable player in home games. Now they’ve traded him away for absolutely nothing and forced themselves to be an LTIR team for the next four years. It’s a disaster, it’s just not as much of the one they tried to make in March.
**Salary cap data for this article was sourced from PuckPedia.com. Massive stick taps to @PuckPedia and @MtlfanSakic for answering a ton of questions to help me write this piece. If you found even one word of this story illuminating, you owe them both a follow on Twitter.**
Adam
How is this a bad trade??? they got rid of Dadonov’s salary and didn’t have to give assets to do it
Ben
Read the article.
VGK fan
Ben,
You are correct I think some people on this site don’t read the articles they just post comments that make no sense.
Bryan
Trading away a player for nothing……. ?? Where have I heard this before……..
Nick
Probably from every other NHL team that does it.
SMH
Bryan – the trade market sets itself in terms of expected value generated by the player vs. the cost of his contract. In the cap-constrained NHL environment, Dadanov for 1 season @ $5M is worth exactly the same as Fleury for 1 season @ $7M = nothing, zero, nada. You can blame the VGK front office for a lot of things, but you can’t invent trade value that is not out there. So many fans (and Ken) freaked out when VGK traded the “reigning Vezina winner” to Chicago for nothing. The more-than-likely fact is that no NHL team was willing to pay Fleury $7M for a season at this point in his career, and thus nobody offered us anything. And guess what, he went on to have a very mediocre season (ranked 116th out of 119 NHL goalies in the key stat of goals saved above expected) and was not worth anywhere near $7M. I would venture to bet the same result will occur with Dadonov. Players who are expected to bring value that is under the cost of their contract are worth nothing on the trade market, and in fact, typically take additional assets in order to move them.
VGK fan
You left out the part where Chicago got a 2nd round pick for MAF when they traded him to Minnesota.
Chuckles
However tht was not your father’s team MAF played on no comparison
Mike StG
Tampa Bay traded Tyler Johnson to Hawks for Seabrook for exactly the same reason: LTIR cap relief. I don’t recall a bunch of crying in Tampa at the time. Contending teams always have cap issues. If you don’t it just means your team isn’t close, or is outright terrible.
BTW – the original trade for Dadonov was not a mistake. At the time Vegas needed to improve depth scoring, and there was no guarantee that they could acquire Eichel. So they improved the team’s offensive capability by acquiring Dadonov (20G and 43 pts total). They didn’t need more defense, so Holden was expendable. When the Eichel trade became a real possibility they would have been foolish to pass on getting a true #1 elite center (which has always been something the team lacked).
All the negativity, including the ridiculous question to Cassidy today about being the 3rd VGK coach, is getting tiresome. At least I’m getting in my eye exercises – rolling them on a regular basis thanks to SinBin.
jsck
excellent
VGK fan
Eichel trade was always possible correct?
Buffalo was shopping him for almost a year?
Mike StG
VGK fan, it was possible yes. But in any event no one knew when and how long recovery from surgery would take. In any event a potential trade for Eichel would have little impact on the season, possibly for the playoffs.
The FO couldn’t do nothing on the hope that something with Eichel MIGHT happen. What if it didn’t? Tuch was already going to miss most of the season. What if he didn’t regain form when he returned? How could they do nothing to improve the team after losing to Montreal like they did?
VGK fan
Eichel surgery took three months he had it in November started playing February.
VGK, could have should have traded for Eichel in June he would have been ready to start the season in October.
They never needed #63. It would have saved them a 2nd round pick, Holden and LTIR hell for next 4 years thats poor management.
Mike StG
VGK fan-
Buffalo was asking for too much in return in the off season. It’s not like the deal was sitting out there as it finally was structured for months before Vegas agreed to it.
BUF held out with their demands, with interest from several teams. But no one would pay them what they wanted. So when they finally realized no one would give them the return they wanted they finally relented and made a deal with Vegas in November (or whenever it was).
Scubas
MIke –
In retrospect, would it have been worth it to surrender a 2nd first rounder (next years) instead of the second rounder in order to have a full season of Jack (that 2nd first rounder seems to have been the hangup)? Do the Knights miss the playoffs with 3 additional months of Eichel? The 16th pick and a second rounder is arguably a better return for Buffalo than 2 picks in the late twenties.
Gary
Is Vegas a contending team?
THE hockey GOD
@ GARY
“is vegas a contending team”
As long as the bottom doesn’t fall out of the COTToN MARKET!
hey Larry
Hey Moe
COTTON
COTTON!!
MORE COTTON!
Dr Howard Dr Fine Dr Howard
to the ER !
Mark Durant
Not for the Cup, no
sb
Absolutely correct! That’s the way of these Sin Bin writers, always slanting everything to smear the Owner and the GM’s. And this all comes back to trading MAF. These Sin Bin guys are doing everything to convince readers that MGT is incompetent. I completely disagree. Ownership and the GM’s are outstanding. They have accomplished more in their first five years than any NHL team ever did. They have turned $1.7 million Nick Holden into player value of $7.8 million dollars and are cap compliant. That is pure genius. A net gain of $9.5 milion dollars which is almost equal to Jack Eichel’s contract. Think about it: Holden is gone, Eichel is in and the Team is cap compliant. Pure genius. I am so thankful that Foley and his GM’s are running this team and not the guys who write this blog and many of its followers.
DocDG
“They have turned $1.7 million Nick Holden into player value of $7.8 million dollars”
That’s certainly one way to look at it but I see it a bit differently. They have turned a somewhat useful 1.7 million player into a net cap hit reduction of 6.7 million dollars (5 plus 1.7). To do this they gave up a reasonably competent player on a fair contract in Holden and a decent player that is probably overpaid in Dadenov. I think it was a fair deal for us and a win for Montreal.
Stephanie
Drink the kool aid baby
THE hockey GOD
SB gets it.
Let’s hope the VGK execute next season. and GET R DoNe !
( I can’t wait for draft , rookie camp, and rookie tournie; hope they
do it in LA, ANAHEIM, or VEGAS and not in Canada)
Cindy
‘Is sb McPhee? McCrimmon?
THE hockey GOD
are you Alex the punk in drag posting ?
Scotty Bean
Amen!
Ken Boehlke
Tampa had just won 2 Cups.
Mike StG
They had won 1 cup, 2019-2020. Traded Johnson to make cap space available (so they could end up $18M over the cap, remember?). It helped give them the room to make other moves that improved their team and helped them eventually repeat.
In any event that’s irrelevant. It was strictly a cap move, taking on Seabrook’s contract since he would never play again.
It allowed them to dump a player they no longer wanted on their roster. Teams do it for good reason, so why criticize it?
Vegas is doing it to make space for Eichel. I don’t see how that is a negative no matter how you slice it. If they never landed Eichel then they wouldn’t have to do this. Would you rather have 34 y/o Dadonov for 1 more year or 26 y/o elite center Jack Eichel for at least 4 years?
VGK fan
This team seems to be heading the way of the Cavs during time of Ted Stepien.
MGvegas
Perhaps the dumbest comment of the year nominee to date…..
VGK fan
You are a troll. Go back under your bridge.
TJ
OMG….I thought the Toronto Maple Leafs organization was run by a bunch of morons, Vegas has them beat!! These fools are going to drive the team in to the ground & they can’t blame either DeBoer or Gallant!!
Cindy
Finally — someone with their finger on the pulse! ❤️
Jeff
You mean the fools that built the most successful expansion franchise in the history of all sports. You mean the fools that have taken this team to 3 WCF’s, 1 SCF, and 2 division titles in its FIRST 5 seasons? You mean the fools that helped create a hockey culture in a desert city that has no business having a hockey culture? You’re one of those spoiled fans that thinks making a deep run in the playoffs is easy because that’s all you have ever seen. You’re going to be in for a rude awakening when this team is actually rebuilding for a decade in an effort to just win 20+ games in an entire season.
Scooter
Yes, they had the best inaugural season in NHL history, but needed extremely relaxed expansion rules and several cap-strapped teams to pull it off.
But, as it stands today, after 5 seasons, they’re not the most successful expansion franchise in all of sports.
First off, they’re not the best expansion team in regard to their inaugural season success — that would be the Chicago Fire (MLS ) which won the championship in its 1st season.
As far as overall success, they still don’t reach the top 5.
* DC United played in the first 4 MLS Cups and won 3 of them;
* The Milwaukee Bucks won the NBA championship in their 3rd season;
* The Arizona Diamondbacks won the World Series in their 4th season;
* The Florida (now Miami) Marlins won the World Series in their 5th season, and 2 championships in their first 10 seasons.
I’ve seen this talked about on numerous occasions, and I usually get a good laugh because it’s the average casual fan who jumped on the VGK train (and has little general sports knowledge) that makes this futile argument.
Be happy VGK has been as competitive as they’ve been from the start. But, as I told friends after the second season, VGK will miss the playoffs before they win a Cup. It took 3 years, but I was proven right because this is the NHL, and the Cup is the most difficult championship to win in sports. Just ask the 14 teams who’ve been eliminated this postseason.
Mike StG
Scooter,
The first statement in your argument against Vegas’s success to date is amusing.
‘Extremely relaxed expansion rules’: So $500M franchise fee shouldn’t allow a little more of an opportunity to start out with at least a chance to be competitive team? BTW, why didn’t Seattle make the playoffs? The rules were even more favorable for their $600M fee. Vegas only got the 6th pick in a below-average entry draft year that saw Makar, Heiskanen and Petterson selected in the top 5. Seattle got #2 and a true future impact player in Beniers.
‘Cap-strapped teams’: What a lame excuse. When are there NOT cap-strapped teams? And those teams had a couple of years to prepare for the expansion draft. It’s not Vegas’s problem if they failed to plan for the expansion process.
By the way, most hockey media projected Vegas would win between 20-30 games, and around 50 pts. Half the team was on expiring contracts, and the rest were mostly 3rd and 4th line players.
I do think their first season was remarkable and galvanized by the October 1st mass shooting. It also immediately bonded the city with the team. Their success since then has been measured, and last year was an anomaly resulting from massive injuries. If any team lost their first line for 60% of the season, along with a top pair D for most of the year, plus all the other injuries they had, that team would not make the playoffs either. The Habs also had massive injuries and had the worst record in the league. Vegas missed the playoffs by 2 wins (4 pts).
I’m no homer, but anyone who thinks Vegas won’t be back in the hunt next season is either uninformed or biased with an agenda.
Emmanuel
They couldn’t trade him for a 7th rounder?
sb
You don’t get it. You don’t want a 7th rounder. You want $7.8 million on LTIR so that the team can add $7.8 million dollars of additional players and still be cap compliant. VGK will be able to put a $91 million dollar team on the ice and still be cap complaint.
Emmanuel
It’s a salary dump, gets his contract off the books, but I don’t think it adds “7.8 M of additional players”.
Stephanie
Eh .no I think you don’t get it
Scuba
They can’t add 7.8 million dollars of additional players. All they did was clear Dads’ cap hit for next season. Weber’s actual value on the ice is nothing, as is his cap hit. They’d actually have more cap space by trading him for a conditional 7th rounder that would never actually turn into a pick than they would by taking on Weber for the reasons mentioned in the post.
VGK fan
It adds zero salary relief. Shea Weber will not suit up.
Emmanuel
Upon further research you are correct “sb”. It is stated in the article but more explicitly explained online at various sites. There ARE some drawbacks to using LTIR. It is such a counterintuitive concept it took a while for the lightbulb to go on.
DocDG
To clarify.
The 7.8 million number is actually meaningless to our cap hit and should be ignored.
The best way to look at it is that last season we gave up Holden (1.7 Mil) for Dadinov (5Mil) and ate a 3.3 million cap hit increase for a year.
Now going into next season the trade saves 5 million from the cap hit we had before the Webber/Dadinov trade.
VGK Fan
The way I look at it is a 7.8 million anchor for the next 4 years you can expect nights where we play short a man in future. Also, as Ken pointed out it may hurt the cap in the future when we have in include bonuses on cap hits.
This is just another management clean up for poor decision.
THE hockey GOD
lots of smart commenters coming to the board today showing that there are some sophisticated fans following this site.
An continuing note – is the ACCOUNTANT available ? ( Ben Affleck). He can surely keep all this conflicting, confusing, NHL red tape rules squared away. I am sure VGK will have issues at some point keeping all this straight.
The silver lining is that due to JoeFlation, and rising wages, expect NHL to raise the SAL CAP to keep up!! 10% !! That is most in forty years ! But Bettman will probably crap out , as usual , because Bettman plain and simple just doesn’t get it. Example: NBA BB is DONE ! but NHL is still playing, in 90F plus heat. Something it not right here.
THE hockey GOD
A continuing not, not AN, typo.
Blitz
Is there a limit on how many times this types of this cap relief can be done? Can we go and grab another medically retired guy from somewhere else and trade Lehner? Seems like once you screwed your LTIR/CAP maybe it doesn’t matter any more, unless LTIR itself has a limit of some sort. Shedding that extra weight at goalie and gambling with the young guy (LT) gets us past that extra cap need and maybe some relief, get Smith signed etc.
Tim
All this aside everyone is glad Dadonov is gone and 5 million in cap space saved. My question is why would we give a second round draft pick to acquire Dadonov and then over pay him and this year everyone is just happy we received no return. My question is what was management thinking when they traded for him and now he’s not worth a box of rocks. Here’s a trade thought dump Patch at 33 and 7 million and a one horse pony and try to sign Filip Forsberg 27 for 7.5 million. Interesting George McFee back in the day traded him so there is history not sure if it’s good history or bad history.
Mike StG
Tim – did you forget the events between the acquisition of Dadonov and now? They got Dadonov to improve depth scoring. There was no guarantee they could actually get Eichel, given what BUF was asking for him and other teams’ interest. They acted to make the team better.
Early that next season the Eichel deal was made, so now they have to make room for his cap hit. I don’t understand why this is so difficult to comprehend. So, what if they DIDN’T get Eichel and they hadn’t done anything to improve the team in that off season? Then what? Same team that lost to the Habs without scoring a single PP goal. At least Dadonov was signed for 2 years and he had a record as a decent goal scorer in FLA (including on the PP). His deal would end at the same time as Patch’s, meaning that would give the FO $12M to work with after this coming season is over. In retrospect, Dadonov did okay for Vegas, but you’d have to be a fool to prefer keeping him for another year over getting Eichel for at least 4 years.
VGK Fan
Tim,
Management seems to have no clue that is my explanation. To Dadonov credit he did average a point a game over his last 16 games.
vgk21
give us a break. Dadonov was acquired to help the PP. He scored exactly ONE PP GOAL.
he failed miserably at the one situation he was acquired to help solve.
and the lack of teams clamoring to acquire him, both then and now, says plenty about his so-called “worth”
also, the results, and reasons for, the Seabrook trade to Tampa seem to escape Ken.
vgk21
Jesse Granger
@JesseGranger_
Shea Weber’s contract is insured, so Bill Foley actually wouldn’t be paying.
So this trade clears $5M in cap space for Vegas, and saves Foley $6.5M (remainder of what Dadonov is owed).
THE hockey GOD
funny thing about that, vgk21, AZ turned down the trade a few short weeks ago because they said it was NOT insured.
Then we hear it’s partially insured, now it’s insured.
Who is right ? I guess only Foley the grape stomper will know because it comes out of his wallet .
He’s on the phone with his harvester “BUY MORE GRAPES IN THE FALL , I NEED TO SELL MORE WINE !!
WINE !
WINE
MORE WINE!! “
vgk21
insurance policies still require premiums to be paid, so I assume that Foley is paying them. so, Foley still is paying some amount here.
and I hear that NHL injury insurance policies pay 80%, with the team paying 20% of salaries of injured, covered players.
maybe Bill Daly reads this blog, and he can chime in on the financial facts of the matter. 🙂
phantom major
Julien Brisebois is the savvy GM of the champion Tampa Bay Lightning. He constantly uses the LTIR loophole to win titles and reach the finals. He could care less about the whining of media or fans that can’t understand complicated machinations that benefit the bottom line of a team…and no, I am referring to WINNING, not money.
THE hockey GOD
@ PM so far VGK following the TB blueprint fell into a pot hole , last year.
Maybe this year will be different. TB also had HOF great Steve Yman at the helm.
We shall see.
THE hockey GOD
frank seravilli
Daily Faceoff’s Trade Targets
1. Alex DeBrincat
Left Wing, Chicago Blackhawks
Age: 24
Stats: 82 GP, 41 G, 37 A, 78 Pts
Contract: 1 more season, $6.4 million AAV
2. Kevin Fiala
Left Wing, Minnesota Wild
Age: 25
Stats: 82 GP, 33 G, 52 A, 85 Pts
Contract: Pending RFA, $5.1 million qualifying offer, Arbitration eligible
3. Jakob Chychrun
Left Defense, Arizona Coyotes
Age: 24
Stats: 47 GP, 7 G, 14 A, 21 Pts
Contract: 3 more seasons, $4.6 million AAV
4. J.T. Miller
Center, Vancouver Canucks
Age: 29
Stats: 80 GP, 32 G, 67 A, 99 Pts
Contract: 1 more season, $5.25 million AAV
5. No. 2 overall pick
New Jersey Devils
Scoop: You’d have to go back more than two decades, to 2001, to find the last time a team traded out of a top three pick after landing there in the Draft Lottery. It was a whopper. The Islanders dealt the rights to the No. 2 pick (Jason Spezza) to Ottawa with Zdeno Chara and Bill Muckalt in exchange for Alexei Yashin. Devils GM Tom Fitzgerald says New Jersey is open to it this year: “I’m open to whatever can help our team improve.” If they decide to keep the pick, they’ll have their choice of one of Shane Wright, Juraj Slafkovsky, Logan Cooley or really talented defensemen David Jiricek and Simon Nemec. Good place to be.
6. Tony DeAngelo
Right Defense, Carolina Hurricanes
Age: 26
Stats: 64 GP, 10 G, 41 A, 51 Pts
Contract: Pending RFA, Arbitration Eligible
7. John Gibson
Goaltender, Anaheim Ducks
Age: 28
Stats: 56 GP, 18-26-11, 3.19 GAA, .904 Sv%
Contract: 5 more seasons, $6.4 million AAV
8. Tyson Barrie
Right Defense, Edmonton Oilers
Age: 30
Stats: 73 GP, 7 G, 34 A, 41 Pts
Contract: 2 more seasons, $4.5 million AAV
Scoop: The Oilers aren’t down on Barrie, so much as they’ll need to create salary cap flexibility if they’re going to take a run at re-signing Evander Kane. Sliding Barrie, an elite power play facilitator, elsewhere would be one way to try to achieve that. The ready-made defense solution would be if 2019 No. 8 overall pick Philip Broberg is ready to take the next step, to pick up the slack for Barrie on the right side with Cody Ceci and Evan Bouchard next season.
9. Pavel Zacha
Center, New Jersey Devils
Age: 25
Stats: 70 GP, 15 G, 21 A, 36 Pts
Contract: Pending RFA, Arbitration Eligible
10. Philippe Myers
Right Defense, Nashville Predators
Age: 25
Stats: 27 GP, 1 G, 3 A, 4 Pts
Contract: 1 more season, $2.55 million AAV
Scoop: Why Myers, a player who has already passed through waivers? Myers represents a unique and quirky opportunity for a cap-strapped team that can trade for him and actually create salary cap space with a buyout. Because Myers is 25 and his deal is backloaded, his buyout would result in a $616,666 credit on next season’s cap, followed by a $633,334 charge the following season. This has happened before (see: Jared Cowen in 2016) and the Toronto Maple Leafs pounced on the deal.
11. Jeff Petry
Right Defense, Montreal Canadiens
Age: 34
Stats: 68 GP, 6 G, 21 A, 27 Pts
Contract: 3 more seasons, $6.25 million AAV
12. John Marino
Right Defense, Pittsburgh Penguins
Age: 25
Stats: 81 GP, 1 G, 24 A, 25 Pts
Contract: 5 more seasons, $4.4 million AAV
13. Semyon Varlamov
Goaltender, New York Islanders
Age: 34
Stats: 31 GP, 10-17-2, 2.88 GAA, .912 Sv%
Contract: 1 more season, $5 million AAV
Scoop: Ilya Sorokin is the guy on the Island. There’s no question about that. Yes, you need two goaltenders to share the workload now more than ever, but Lou Lamoriello may be able to lean on Sorokin and use Varlamov’s $5 million to help rebuild a defense corps that is in desperate need of help. The Islanders had two 40-year-olds make up one-third of their blueline last year. There’d be lots of interest in Varlamov, who had a strong season and will have just one year’s worth of string attached.
14. Evgenii Dadonov
Left Wing, Vegas Golden Knights
Age: 33
Stats: 78 GP, 20 G, 23 A, 43 Pts
Contract: 1 more season, $5 million AAV
Scoop: s the Golden Knights will actually check his 10-team, no-trade list this time. And hey, they might not have to give up a second-round pick to move him now. HE GONE- we all know why.
15. One of Jesse Puljujarvi or Kailer Yamamoto
Forwards, Edmonton Oilers
Ages: 24, 23
Stats: 65 GP, 14 G, 22 A, 36 Pts / 81 GP, 20 G, 21 A, 41 Pts
Contract: Both Pending RFAs, both Arbitration Eligible
Scoop: It’s a safe bet that one of these two players will not be returning to the Oilers next season. Both are fan favorites. But both require new deals, likely both raises, and GM Ken Holland acknowledged that Edmonton will have to watch every dollar. “Am I willing to trade some assets in a deal that will make us better? Yes I am,” Holland said Wednesday. Edmonton’s preference would likely be to keep Yamamoto, but he would bring the bigger return.
16. Patric Hornqvist
Right Wing, Florida Panthers
Age: 35
Stats: 65 GP, 11 G, 17 A, 28 Pts
Contract: 1 more season, $5.3 million
17. Carson Soucy- wasn’t he in the Usual Suspects ? Kevin Spacey the perv ?
Left Defense, Seattle Kraken
Age: 27
Stats: 64 GP, 10 G, 11 A, 21 Pts
Contract: 1 more season, $2.75 million AAV
18. Tanner Pearson, Jason Dickinson
Forwards, Vancouver Canucks
Ages: 29, 26
Stats: 68 GP, 14 G, 20 A, 34 Pts / 62 GP, 5 G, 6 A, 11 Pts
Contracts: 2 more seasons, $3.2 million AAV / 2 more seasons, $2.65 million AAV
Scoop: Rutherford said recently on the DFO Rundown that the amount of money the Canucks can move off their books will determine how big of a player they are on the trade and free agent market this summer. We know from Pittsburgh that Pearson is not Rutherford’s type of winger. He’s already traded him once. Dickinson is vastly overpaid for his production, but it will cost assets to move him. The Canucks will be working to try and find suitors for both.
19. Filip Zadina
Right Wing, Detroit Red Wings
Age: 22
Stats: 75 GP, 10 G, 14 A, 24 Pts
Contract: Pending RFA, not eligible for arbitration
Scoop: There was no shortage of excitement around Zadina when the Red Wings selected him at No. 6 overall in 2018. GM Steve Yzerman doesn’t tip his hand, but the sense league-wide is a change of scenery is in order for Zadina. He is a gifted shooter, but the knock on him is that he’s become more of a perimeter player – and only a select few players (Alex Ovechkin and Steven Stamkos) can consistently score in today’s NHL from the outside. The big question is whether Yzerman pulls back to see how Zadina might respond under a new coach.
20. Contracts of Oscar Klefbom (EDM) and Shea Weber (MTL)
Klefbom: 1 season remaining, $4.17 million AAV
Weber: 4 seasons remaining, $7.86 million AAV
Scoop: We know there are no current plans for these players to resume their careers. But if at all possible, teams don’t like operating in LTIR, because they do not accrue salary cap space throughout the season. It’s not always easy to move these contracts, but they may help a team artificially reach the salary cap floor, or stockpile an additional asset or two. Montreal and Edmonton will both try – but the Canadiens might also have Carey Price on LTIR, which would make the point moot.
22. Justin Holl
Right Defense, Toronto Maple Leafs
Age: 30
Stats: 69 GP, 3 G, 20 A, 23 Pts
Contract: 1 more season, $2 million AAV
23. Ethan Bear
Right Defense, Carolina Hurricanes
Age: 24
Stats: 58 GP, 5 G, 9 A, 14 Pts
Contract: Pending RFA, Arbitration Eligible
Scoop: After a solid start, Bear fell out of favor in Carolina. He was a healthy scratch for all 14 Hurricanes playoff games. There are questions lingering about Bear’s fitness and maturity, and this is unquestionably a massive summer for his career and future. Someone will take a shot to see if they can unlock a clearly talented player.
24. Josh Anderson
Right Wing, Montreal Canadiens
Age: 28
Stats: 69 GP, 19 G, 13 A, 32 Pts
Contract: 5 more seasons, $5.5 million AAV
Scoop: GM Kent Hughes’ phone has rang consistently with teams inquiring about Anderson, whose skillset makes him a rare breed in today’s NHL. Anderson has skill, he can move, he’s big and has brawn. Oh, yeah, and he’s locked up for five more seasons at a very reasonable number for a guy who has knocked on the 30-goal door. To date, the Habs have resisted the urge and likely some tempting offers, but you have to at least allow for the possibility that they get a ‘Godfather’ offer they cannot refuse.
25. Mark Scheifele
Center, Winnipeg Jets
Age: 29
Stats: 67 GP, 29 G, 41 A, 70 Pts
Contract: 2 more seasons, $6.13 million AAV
Scoop: When asked whether he expected Scheifele back next season, Jets GM Kevin Cheveldayoff said last week: “Yeah, I do.” He wasn’t going to say: “No, I’m trading him.” I don’t believe trading No. 55 is high atop the Jets’ priority list,
Some interesting replacements should SMITH decide to go elsewhere and VGK let him go.
Ken
Crap! I got tired just rolling thru this long whatever it is, let alone trying to read it! This god guy is a complete mess. I’m surprised whoever runs this place lets him continue on?
THE hockey GOD
Ken,
You ever hear of Frank Sarvalli ? Trades of the day? And you are posting on this forum ?? HELLO WAKE Up from your drug induced coma ! Light weight.
Take your insults and stick them up your keyster, oh wait a minute there isn’t enough room because your head is up there too.
Get a life, useless putz.
Ken
Oh gee! Did this light weight get under your skin there god? Ha ha
THE hockey GOD
says the 12 year old who insults people in first place, get a life loser
knights fan in minny
the insult king at his best
THE hockey GOD
I didn’t start this, but I sure finished it !!
knights fan in minny
shut the hell up insult king
knights fan in minny
thg the insult king is a asshole
knights fan in minny
get bent loser thg
THE hockey GOD
sounds like you need to banned
Cory
Sounds like Shea Weber maybe a fixer upper to work on and play again someday ? He sure was a force on the blue line with Montreal and Nashville . Let’s hope he is ready to go again sometime for Vegas .
SMH
Just in case the following helps to enlighten any remaining knuckleheads out there (taken from Yahoo Sports):
“Landing Weber contract without giving up picks = salary cap slam-dunk trade for the Golden Knights
It’s easiest to see the logic of the Dadonov – Weber trade from the Golden Knights’ side.
Most pressingly, the Golden Knights get out of that $5M Dadonov salary cap hit.
They conceivably heighten their salary cap relief with Shea Weber’s contract. The 36-year-old’s cap hit is about $7.857M per year through 2025-26.
Put that cap hit on LTIR, and it’s almost $8M in space.
Weber’s actual cost is also lower than his cap hit.
In 2022-23, he’s owed a $3M signing bonus (likely already paid) plus $1M in base salary. Over the following three seasons (2023-24 to 2025-26), Weber’s owed a $1M signing bonus plus $1M in base salary. It’s also possible that factors such as insurance might soften that already-manageable cost.
There may also be some fuzziness if Weber retires (rather than essentially being retired while getting paid, Chris Pronger-style).
So … yeah, the Dadonov – Weber trade seems like a huge salary cap win for the Golden Knights. They still have serious work to do this offseason, but Montreal really eased Vegas’ burden. It remains resounding that the Golden Knights pulled this off without even coughing up a marginal draft pick.
After all, they almost forked over a second-rounder to the Ducks.
Among other things, contenders should keep this in mind as another lesson. You might as well just go for it, because there’s almost always another team waiting to bail you out. Sometimes for cheap.”
knights fan in minny
thanks smh it clears things up
Mike StG
SMH – your calculation is wrong. Weber is on LTIR and it’s a net zero deal. The savings comes in Dadonov’s $5M being gone. Vegas cap is reduced now by $5M, not 7.8M.
THE hockey GOD
nice post SMH !!
(too bad some people with attention span of a gnat will see as too long to read, and insult people for posting something because they are off their ADD meds for no reason at all. Maybe they are bi polar?._
knights fan in minny
maybe your just a nauseating dip shit
knights fan in minny
the pin head thg spews crap again
THE hockey GOD
fake knight fan who doesn’t even live in vegas and trolls all the time:
you are an evil, hateful , spiteful person; take your stalking harassment posts elsewhere CREEP.
I have your IP address and will report you to proper authorities. Harassment is illegal in NV.
knights fan in minny
your such a man your going to report me your like a little 3rd grader if its illegal they would have contacted you a long time ago my ip adress you dont have shit dumb ass
knights fan in minny
i see the doctor did not finish your brain scan thg you piece of shit
Galdom
I read the article and understood the article and I still think it was a good trade by the Vegas Golden Knights. To those of you who disagree that’s fine because you are entitled to your opinion.
Good trade for Montreal as well. Actually even better for them. They will probably trade Dadonov at the trade deadline and get a second or third round pick depending on what kind of season he has.
There is a difference between trading someone’s cap hit for an entire season or trading someone who is playing well at the deadline. You’re going to get a much higher return at the trade deadline. That’s why Vegas got nothing for Fleury but Chicago got a second round pick for Fleury at the trade deadline.
However, Vegas needs to become cap compliant before the beginning of the season so they had to trade Dadonov now.
THE hockey GOD
galdom I agree with everything except your comment on MAF, the reason they got very little is because MAF knew he was being traded (maybe that’s co GMGM fault or Emily Kaplan of ESPN). Regardless he opened his opened his mouth and said he was going to retire. Stabbing the franchise, it’s fan’s, and FO in the back. MAF is the reason they got nothing except SAL CAP relief
In reality they used to money to pay more players, but they didn’t get an asset in return.
Galdom
https://www.nj.com/sports/2022/06/stars-close-to-hiring-former-devils-head-coach-nhl-insider-says.html
Pete DeBoer likely to be named coach of the Dallas stars very soon.
THE hockey GOD
wow Galdom, he goes directly to a key VGK rival team; this is going to come back to haunt VGK. He knows how to beat VGK in playoffs. I thought the Red Wings would take him and he would return to his old stomping grounds. Good luck to PDB. He’s a top five coach in NHL.
Galdom
Yes THG. I knew he would not be out of work for long.
Obvious
Thank god fat bastard got rid of a 43 point player and one of very few who actually showed up to play. After all the team is just dripping with 43 point players!
I think everyone would have been happier if fat bastard mcridiot got hit by a truck crossing the street after leaving another all you can eat buffet on the strip
knights fan in minny
why are you so bitter did your wife or girlfriend leave you if they did i can see why
Mike StG
Obvious,
They traded a 43 pt player with 1 year left on his contract for an elite point-per-game play-driving center that is 8 years younger and under contract for 4 more years. Easily one of the top 5 centers in the league.
Yes, a very good deal.
THE hockey GOD
obvious, ignore the hater, who insualts everyone and should STFU with posts containing no value.
Although I don’t agree with everything you post, I don’t go all agro like some people do with their insults showing their immaturity and mental health issues. They need therapy, lots of it.
knights fan in minny
talking about yourself again moron
THE hockey GOD
to Fake knight fan who doesn’t even live in vegas and trolls all the time:
you are an evil, hateful , spiteful person; take your stalking harassment posts elsewhere CREEP.
I have your IP address and will report you to proper authorities. Harassment is illegal in NV.
knights fan in minny
why would they ignore me your the only one i rip on you moron
Richie-Rich
So, Cap hell for the near future all due to McIdiot.
Tell me again why he remains in the GM role? I simply don’t get it.
The only good thing is that McIdiot can’t fuck this team’s cap situation any worse than it really is right now.
Rob S.
RR, *please* don’t challenge him!
RR: “The only good thing is that McIdiot can’t fuck this team’s cap situation any worse than it really is right now.”
McIdiot: “Hold my beer!”
Blitz
^^ Exactly! 🙂
THE hockey GOD
RR McFoley signs the checks, the buck stops with him. It worked for the BOLTS, obviously they are following that blueprint.
You have a problem with TB Bolts process ??
knights fan in minny
a lot of us have a problem with assholes like you punk
THE hockey GOD
go stalk and harass someone else, creep.
you have been reported to authorities, I have your IP address.
knights fan in minny
tough talk you dont have shit punk
knights fan in minny
its okay when you insult people on here when i do it ti you you cry like a little bitch punk report me 3rd grader so what if i dont live in vegas i must be getting under your skin cry baby
knights fan in minny
the authorities good one your such a cry baby punk
VGK Fan
RR,
You nailed it!
It is funny how most people on this site ignore the fact VGK management created the cap hell we are in. They just seem to give to credit to management for one mistake after another.
Ken
Oh oh, he has your IP address. Better go a hide ! Ha ha
knights fan in minny
shaking in my boots
Chuckles
Ok Cassidy is here. Great now who is this Sundance Kid? And who is your Dadonov now with? Montreal. Isn’t that the home of the guy we gave up for him. Having trouble following this picture. Who’s on Goal? What’s at Center? I don’t know about this Cap situation.
knights fan in minny
one interesting summer chuckles