s23 - Vegas sellers [WB8]

Vegas, NV - Word around the VHL the past few days has the Vegas Golden Knights as potential sellers come the trade deadline.

On the surface, the term “sellers” is very interesting given the team is seventh in the entire VHL and fifth in the Western Conference.

However, they’re only four points up on the ninth place team in the west. A slight drop in play could easily lead to them slipping out of the playoffs.

What are they selling? Well apparently Mike Fisher was one of the trio of pieces. Perhaps the biggest or most flashy one.

The other two names floating around I’m told is forward Patrick Eaves and defenceman Michal Rozsival.

The former is an interesting one as Vegas tends to shy away from trading their forward they’ve spent years developing and drafting.

Eaves had a massive season just two years ago recording a team high 72 points, 38 of them being goals. Since then he’s been on a downward trajectory for some weird reason. He had 18 goals and 51 points last year but was a -15. This year his pace is even worse. Just 10 goals, 26 points, -9 through 58 games.

I’d imagine Vegas is trying to craft a more defensive responsible third line instead of a top flight scoring one. As both Eaves and Fisher played on that line and for some reason their skill didn’t net a lot of production.

Now the other name. Michal Rozsival, is just a numbers game I think. He’s easily a top four defenceman on most teams in the league but with the team recently landing Zdeno Chara, it’s pushed Rozsival to the bottom pairing. I’d bet the team is hoping to shed a touch of money if they move him and maybe get younger whether it’s pick(s)/prospect(s) or a younger defenceman.

I think part of the reason they’re selling is because they did a ton of offseason buying and like mentioned just added defensive standout Zdeno Chara.

WC - 332