s24 - Vegas revamped [WB3]

Vegas, NV - The expected quiet offseason for the Vegas Golden Knights was somewhat turned upside down.

Coming off the clubs best postseason run since moving to Vegas, the teams core and a lot of their secondary piece were signed for this season too. So why not run it back? A bit of luck in the Conference Finals and they knock off Chicago and get a Stanley Cup final berth. 

The club was somewhat up against the cap so any transactions would be dollar in and dollar out.

To help tidy that up they moved forward Darren Helm and some later round draft picks for defence prospect Adam Pelech and a 2nd round picks. This created about $4 million in room. Allowing the team to promote forwards Patrik Berglund and Nikolai Kulemin. Which almost comes out as a wash cap wise. 

The big deal was presented to Vegas by Toronto and required a lot of thought by the Golden Knights. Especially since Maxim Lapierrie was coming off a career year in which he led the team in points. He also had spent his entire career blooming in the organization too. However another former highly touted Golden Knight was on the table to come back. Along with a 1st round pick. After much deliberation, Vegas pulled the trigger and netted Val Filppula, 1st round draft pick, and a 2nd round draft pick for forwards Maxim Lapierrie and Mason Raymond.

“I had zero intention of moving Lapierrie but the deal was just too good to turn aside,” Vegas General Manager David Zammit told the media. “I received the better centre and some great draft capital. Yes I gave up one year of term on the centre swap but it put me in an all in mode for this year and landed me a player I was attached to when I developed him here.” 

What else did the team do? 

Through two other minor deals they dealt Kevin Klein out for nothing and picked up veteran defenceman Brad Ference.

They bought out forward Ryan Malone and defenceman Michal Rozsival.

And I’m free agent to fill those spots added defenceman Andrei Zyuzin and forward Jack Skille. 

To fill Raymond’s spot, they grabbed forward Jimmy Hayes as a free agent.

The dispersal draft also offered up forward Pascel Dupuis to the team. 

Now ignoring one big/small move was buying out goalie Ray Emery who only won one game last year in 11 games. It cost the team major points and Vegas didn’t want a repeat. So they filled the spot with Rob Zepp who’s been great to start going 3-1 so far.

WC - 440