ESPN, Sportsnet, and NBC Sports graded all 31 NHL team’s offseason thus far, and unsurprisingly, many weren’t impressed with what George McPhee and Kelly McCrimmon have been up to.
On NBCSports.com, the Golden Knights were ranked #22 on their power rankings, and two names were the reason for the low mark.
Vegas Golden Knights. They are going to miss Colin Miller, and might really miss out on Nikita Gusev if they move him before they even realize what they had. –Adam Gretz, NBCSports
Greg Wyshynski of ESPN took a much more global approach while looking at Vegas’ offseason. It really doesn’t matter who’ve they’ve lost, or added, if the Golden Knights’ stars play at an elite level, they’ll be a Cup contending team.
Vegas Golden Knights: If Max Pacioretty, Paul Stastny and Mark Stone play like they did in the playoffs, the Golden Knights will have a new top line. It makes sense, as the trio of Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson and Reilly Smith has been successful because the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. … Where does Alex Tuch fit in? He was fourth on the team in scoring last season (and could have been first with a full 82 games), but comes into this season penciled in outside the top-six. –Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
SportsNet’s Luke Fox was extremely high on VGK’s offseason so far, especially how they were able to negotiate multiple team-friendly deals.
George McPhee continues to impress. Securing a 26-year-old William Karlsson — a top-two centre whose defensive attributes don’t get enough credit — through his prime at under $6 million per season should look like a steal a couple of years from now. The trading of Colin Miller was a necessary cap casualty, and getting two years of 28-year-old playmaker Brandon Pirri (12 goals in 31 games last season) for a hair over the league minimum was my favourite bargain buy on Canada Day. –Luke Fox, SportsNet
For the most part, analysts have been kind to the Golden Knights and their offseason decisions. The main reason for that is the core of the team is intact and under contract. Colin Miller has been brought up by several outlets as a big-time loss, I think most of us would disagree.
However, as far as we’re concerned here at SinBin.vegas, the Golden Knights offseason gets a grade of incomplete. Their offseason will be judged on one move and one move alone.
Mike G
I think their offseason should be judged on (2) moves. The first is taken care of in getting William Karlsson signed to a very nice contract. We know what the other one is …
if they get Gusev under contract without trading a top 6 then it’s A+ for me. What else could they have done to deserve better?
Scott Carlson
Great comment, I completely agree with your statement. When are we going to get wise and trade Ryan Reeves, poor Ken is the only one making sense of what they need to do with an aging 4th line guy who is getting paid double of what he should be making!!! I love Reeves but we dont need him when her have other players who can do the same for way less!!!! Its an incomplete for now but we need to sure up our top 9 and figure out the bottom 3 down the road!!! It only makes sense in my humble opinion.
jeff
Gusev should be a top 6 forward so trading out a top 6 forward to make cap room is the only viable option in my opinion. Ig he is everything we all hop he is yu’ll have to make cap room for him anyway for the massive contract he could demand in a couple seasons. Trade Smith, sign Gusev, trade Reaves and sit on the cap space for a deadline pickup.
Larry Cruz
I strongly agree. I love Reeves, but I feel he lacks defensive skills and hustle.
Scott Carlson
Great comment, I completely agree with your statement. When are we going to get wise and trade Ryan Reeves, poor Ken is the only one making sense of what they need to do with an aging 4th line guy who is getting paid double of what he should be making!!! I love Reeves but we dont need him when her have other players who can do the same for way less!!!! Its an incomplete for now but we need to sure up our top 9 and figure out the bottom 3 down the road!!! It only makes sense in my humble opinion.
DOC
Hi all … I’ve posted on various SinBin articles here before. This one is different. I’m an old man and HUGE Knights fan. I’ve been there at the very beginning, going to their first ever game at T-Mobile, a pre-season game in late Sept. 2017. This was of course before 1 Oct and the resulting Knights explosion in the city. I paid $20.00 ea for 2 tickets for my wife and I. (If you can believe that)! Ticket prices have been so expensive for the two seasons we have not been able to go to another game! I’m old in not so good health.
We would like to see the Knights play SJ on the opener (Oct 2nd) or even the preseason game (Sept 29th). We have been saving money, little by little for months. I could afford about $200 a ticket for Oct 2nd opener or $100 a ticket for the sept 29 preseason game. (needs to be in lLOWER BOWL only). IF anyone knows season ticket holders or friends or anyone who could help us, PLEASE let me know. Humbly, DOC (my e-mail is: DLWilliams2008@aol.com)
(Please let me know if this post is inappropriate or wrong. It will never be done again)
Dman
my comment from a couple days ago reposted—
here is the real kicker………. teams are only offering a 2nd round pick and a lower tier prospect in return.
so, if McPhee makes that trade, he is completely incompetent.
He would basically be saying that Holden and Reaves are more important than Gusev, Haula, and Miller… COMBINED
He ends his gm role in total disgrace if he goes that route
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Grade= F (if he trades Gusev)
William Grigsby
Hey Jason:
I’m an editor and writer for lastwordonhockey.com. We cover the entire NHL and I’m sure you’ve heard of us. I also do a radio show every Saturday for three hours on KDUS 1060am, an NBC radio affiliate here in Phoenix. Dave Isaacs, the main host and his son Greg invited me to join the show in March. The reason I’m writing you is Dave is an avid Knights fan and is investigating how to syndicate the show to the Vegas market. He is working on doing a simulcast at some point. We have maybe 30,000-40,000 listeners to the show and are looking into ways to expand our market. We need sponsors mainly, since the expense of broadcasting the show can be excessive. Dave has a small accounting firm and foots the bill. We could really use your help in how we find sponsors or can generate some revenue. If you can’t help us please let us know if you know someone who can. After I joined the show my CEO at LWOH said I could write up an article about the weekly show with the link to the show so listeners who missed it can still listen to it. I’ve been doing that and the show last Saturday was really a good one with all the free agency and trades going down. The article has about 200 views so far. Our LWOH site does almost 800,000 views a month so we are well known. I guess if you can give us some help or connect us with someone who could that would be great. I have been receiving the emails from this site since you guys got the Knights. I think your success drew me to write you to see if you can brainstorm what we need to do to expand our listening market.
Thanks for your time and I hope to hear from you soon!
William Grigsby
LWOH Editor/writer
KDUS Real Hockey Talk radio show co-host
Richard Santomauro
Signing Gusev now should be a top priority. Colin Miller? Really? I was more upset about losing Belly. Not sure why we brought Englannd back either. Let’s get the Gusev deal done!
James Cumming
Win now! It’s what have you done for me lately in pro sports. Look at the top 4 free agents in the NBA leaving 207 million on the table to get a better shot at a ring. Sign Gusev, it’s just that simple!