Chicago Blackhawks’ Marcus Kruger has been traded to the Vegas Golden Knights, according to TSN’s Darren Dreger. The trade will be for future considerations.
The long-expected trade was expected several weeks ago when the Blackhawks worked out a side deal with the Golden Knights and allowed defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk to be exposed in the expansion draft. Vegas took the young defenseman and flipped him to the Carolina Hurricanes with a seventh-round pick in 2018 for a 2017 second-round pick. The Golden Knights used that pick on Jake Leschyshyn. The original agreement had the Golden Knights taking on Kruger’s contract of $3.08MM for the next two seasons. Evidently, Chicago waited until after they paid him his $2MM signing bonus yesterday before completing the transaction.
In Kruger, Vegas gets a 27-year-old center who played in 70 games last year for the Blackhawks, scoring five goals and adding 12 assists. He is a defensive forward, who was always trusted to close out games when the team was leading. He is known as a depth player that makes good teams great. How he will fit into the Golden Knights plans is unknown unless their plan is to attempt to flip him.