We are just over a week away from the NHL Trade Deadline and it appears the Golden Knights and George McPhee are already the talk of the town. As mentioned previously on SinBin.vegas the Expansion Draft is causing teams to hesitate a bit on pulling off deals, but one thing they haven’t waited to do is to reach out to Vegas.
We’ve been taking calls from teams already that are interested in doing something to bolster their team for the playoffs, but they’ve also got us to worry about and they don’t want to go and add some players that they are going to lose right away to us. -Geroge McPhee, GM
That nugget was dropped on a recent interview with Tyler Bischoff and Jim Bola on the Coaches Corner. (Interview starts at 25:30)
They’re interested in talking to us about some sort of deal. What can they give us to lay off of certain people and our answer so far is, we’re not sure yet. It’s got to be something good, it’s gotta be better than the player we are looking at. You want that player now we’ll take something for the future and it’s got to be pretty darn good. -McPhee
The question that now needs to be answered is whether McPhee and his crack staff will know exactly what they’re willing to take before the clock strikes noon on March 1st.
The name Matt Duchene is one that comes to the front of mind when you think about possible players being moved that will cause expansion headaches. The center from the Avalanche is just one of many players with years left on their contract that if moved will change the protection strategies of both teams involved in the deal.
That’s where Vegas comes in, but like McPhee said, with four months from the Expansion Draft itself, it’ll be difficult to come up with a fair price that’s worth locking Vegas into anything specific this far out. Especially when you consider once each team is eliminated from postseason contention their rosters are re-opened to pre-Expansion Draft maneuvering.
We’ve probably talked to six or eight teams already and it’s only going to increase in volume in terms of phone calls and discussions over the next few weeks. -McPhee
But will any deals actually get done in time? My guess is no, but my heart and keyboard are actively rooting for something to happen, because there’s nothing I love than some good old fashioned “future consideration” speculation.
Phisig150
So if a trade does go down we’ll get say a 3rd round pick and the other team will get future considerations? And these future considerationns can just be won’t select a specific player without attaching a future pick or cash to it?
RJ
That’s certainly what this seems like, and if so it can be a powerful tool. GMGM said above that what the team offers has “gotta be better than the player they’re looking at”. Well, better can be relative, right?
Take Duchene as an example. Say the Avs and the Blue Jackets work out a deal that moves Duchene to Columbus. Kekalainen is smart, so he makes sure that the Avs include a 4th round pick along with Duchene. Then that pick is offered to Las Vegas in exchange for considerations, those considerations being GM agrees not to take Duchene. Now is this 4th rounder more valuable than Duchene? Probably not, but Vegas STILL gets to pick from Columbus in the draft, so say instead Duchene we take William Karlson. Now, essentially the value we get for not taking Duchene is Karlson+a fourth rounder, probably a good value, especially considering the cap implications of each player.
Careful manipulation of these types of opportunities and the rules surrounding the expansion draft is how Las Vegas could have our cake and eat it too. I want a playoff team in three seasons, Phisig is worried that’ll mortgage our future and we should hoard draft picks and essentially put an AHL team on the ice until McDavid 2.0 is available. I think we can have it both ways, and part of the blueprint to how is the kind of value based thinking described above.
PhiSig 150
I still don’t think you can have it both ways. Trying to do that just makes you a perennial middle of the road team. Just good enough to qualify for the playoffs but never good enough to make a serious run. I don’t want us to be the 14th best team in the NHL. I think it’ll be easier sell locals on say three straight top 3 picks than a team that got their asses handed to them in the 1st round.
I’m glad you bring up the AHL because a minor mentality is exactly what the Knights need. Our team is going to lose more than it’s going to win so sell us on the youth we have. Make them accessible before and after games and on their off days. Have them go around the Valley selling the game and the community will start to embrace them and begin to have special connections with the players they watch on ice. If I’m a 5 year old, the player that takes the time to sign my jersey is now my new favorite player.
Make going to the games an event. Put that Vegas style spin on the game presentations. Have fun things for families to do pregame and more adult fare after games. Since you’re not breaking the bank on coaches or star players yet then make the beer and concessions more affordable than other arenas. Have creative and fun promotions like some minor league teams do. Give away a ton of free shit. Not forever but for the first few years I think you got to throw a lot of money at chasing new fans and building a solid fan base.
There’s a lot you can do to bring new fans to the game outside of winning. The most important thing we can do for the health of this team is to land a super star. Easier said than done I know but if do we land one it’s going to through the draft or accumulating enough assets (draft picks and prospects) to swing a trade for a disgruntled star. By going after players that will get us into the playoffs in three years you’re going to have to overpay in money and years surrendering any cap flexibility in the process. You also likely lower where we’ll be slotted in the draft which greatly diminishes our chances of landing that McDavid 2.0 which was a long shot to begin with but now becomes a near impossibility.
Todd Little
they would not be agreeing to not take Duchene. Duchene would be protected. GM would be agreeing to take player that now wouldn’t be protected.