With the Evgenii Dadonov trade off the table, Vegas has made a different move to give them some short-term cap space as CapFriendly reports (Twitter link) that winger Reilly Smith has been placed on LTIR.
Smith was originally placed on injured reserve on March 14th so the conversion to LTIR is likely backdated to that point although his last game came back on the 8th. Smith would then be required to miss 10 games and 24 days which would keep him out until the second week of April. The 30-year-old has been a capable secondary scorer throughout his time in Vegas and has provided similar production this season with 16 goals and 22 assists in 56 games.
Of course, there is a money element to this move. Smith’s $5MM cap hit is added to their LTIR pool and with the demotion of defenseman Zack Hayes to AHL Henderson, Vegas now has just under $7MM available in their LTIR pool. That’s enough cap space to activate blueliner Alec Martinez if he’s ready to return. Alternatively, if the Golden Knights dropped down to a minimum-sized roster, they could free up enough space to bring back winger Mark Stone whenever he’s able to come back.
If Smith is able to return this season, this will only be some short-term relief for the Golden Knights. If, however, he’s going to be out for another month or so, this may be enough to give them the relief they were seeking in the Dadonov trade that was invalidated by the NHL earlier this week without needing to attach an asset to get out of Dadonov’s contract.
Don’t be suspicious
They need to close this loophole. It’s starting to become a mockery!
Remember the GM ratings in the EA NHL game? Turns out those are real. Vegas has burned it’s reputation.
Also, Vegas the hockey team has fallen into the trap of Vegas the city.
The team that almost won a Cup was a TEAM of no names, now they are a handful of stars and some roster filler. It’s shiny but it’s not going to work.
Why does it seem like the VGK posted a flyer in their locker room asking if anyone wanted some time off with pay?
Gotta give Vegas some credit for even still being in the playoff hunt with the amount of top end players who’ve been out of their lineup throughout the season. This would’ve sunk most teams a long time ago.