s23 - New-look Golden Knights [WB1]

Vegas, NV - Now that the offseason appears over and preseason action is underway it’s safety to conclude the Vegas Golden Knights we’re not happy with their season 22 performance.

Missing the playoffs narrowly led Golden Knights General Manager David Zammit to turn over half the clubs roster in the offseason (with only 11 players are returning).

Why don’t we start with the team landing a pair of top six centre’s in Henrik Sedin and Mike Fisher. The first came early via the trade market with San Jose as Sedin was bought up for a 1st, 2 2nds, and Brett McLean. And Fisher was inked to a great deal to round out free agency.

“I wanted a true number one centre to add some skill to our lineup and I went after it by trade,” Zammit told the media as training camp opened up. “I got lucky and convinced Fisher to sign a fairly team friendly deal as well.”

Between the pipes also saw the Golden Knight revamp the position. They traded starter Roberto Luongo and backup Johan Holmqvist. And bought out rookie Alex Stalock. They were able to land the best goalie on the free agent market in Marc-Andre Fleury to a four year deal with an average annual value around $5.4 million. They also signed backup Ray Emery to a four-year contract.

“I was thrilled to see MAF agree to come to Vegas,” Zammit said. “I’ve been searching for a legit top flight starting goalie for awhile now and I hoped Luo would be that and he wasn’t last year. I’m hoping Fleury is this year.”

The defence saw some movement as well as for the second summer, Robyn Regehr signed with the Golden Knights. The team also traded for Dennis Seidenberg and signing 7th defenceman Kevin Klein.

To help fill out the bottom six, Tomas Fleischmann signed a sweetheart deal on a four year term to be the fourth line centre. The club also promoted Shawn Matthias and Nikolai Kulemin. All three will carry most of the forward penalty killing minutes and Matthias will get a shot on a second powerplay unit too.

NHL

In 

Henrik Sedin

Marc-Andre Fleury

Mike Fisher

Robyn Regehr

Tomas Fleischmann 

Ray Emery 

Kevin Klein

Dennis Seidenberg 

Promotions 

Shawn Matthias 

Nikolai Kulemin

Out

Brett McLean

Matthew Lombardi 

Joe Corvo

Shean Donovan 

Marek Malik

Steve Ott

Justin Williams 

Roberto Luongo 

Johan Holmqvist 

Alex Stalock

The AHL saw a ton of turnover as well.

Owen Sound added top forwards Fredrik Sjostrom and Mike Zigomanis. And top defenceman Dan Boyle and Anton Stralman.

The team also created the most talented top four prospects. Three of them first rounder and the other an early second rounder. Defenceman Dougie Hamilton and Colton Parayko. And forwards Josh Anderson and Mikael Granlund.

AHL

In 

Fredrik Sjostrom 

Dan Boyle

Mike Zigomanis

Anton Stralman

Niclas Bergfors

Jamie Storr

Prospect Creation 

Dougie Hamilton

Josh Anderson 

Mikael Granlund

Colton Parayko 

Out 

Steve Downie 

Ladislav Smid

Mark Eaton

Lubomir Visnovsky 

Johan Franzen 

Denis Arkhipov

Vernon Fiddler

James Wisniewski

Calle Jarnkrok

Vegas pulled off 16 trades in the offseason on top of a dozen signed free agents. A crazy offseason to say the least.

WC - 528