The Golden Knights are continuing their discussions with Jonathan Marchessault’s camp in advance of his pending unrestricted free agency, relays The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta (Twitter link). The 33-year-old had a career-best 42 goals in 2023-24 on the heels of winning the Conn Smythe Trophy in their Stanley Cup title in 2023. That has him well-positioned to earn a fair-sized raise on the $5MM he made in each of the last six years but that increase will be tough for Vegas to fit on their books with less than $1.2MM in regular cap space, per CapFriendly. Yes, Robin Lehner and his $5MM should land on LTIR again but they also need to re-sign Pavel Dorofeyev and shore up their depth in the coming weeks.
More from the Pacific:
- Speaking of Golden Knights pending unrestricted free agents, Anthony Mantha told RDS that the team has told him he will not be offered a deal for next season. The winger was acquired just before the trade deadline from Washington after putting up 20 goals with the Caps but he struggled with his new team, eventually being scratched in their first-round exit to Dallas.
- Flames goaltender Daniel Vladar is expected to be ready for training camp after undergoing hip surgery back in March, relays team reporter Ryan Dittrick. The 26-year-old struggled this season, posting a 3.62 GAA with a save percentage of just .882 in 20 appearances. However, he’s now the veteran netminder on Calgary’s roster as it’s expected that he’ll team up with top prospect Dustin Wolf as their tandem for next season following the trade that saw Jacob Markstrom go to New Jersey today.
- Vancouver’s farm team in Abbotsford announced that they’ve signed captain Chase Wouters to a two-year contract extension. The 24-year-old has spent the last three seasons with the Canucks’ affiliate and posted nine goals and 14 assists in 66 games in 2023-24. Rick Dhaliwal of CHEK and The Athletic reports (Twitter link) that the deal pays the forward $225K per season.