Jonathan Marchessault

Jonathan Marchessault To Hit Open Market

July 1, 2024 at 8:01 am CDT | by Josh Erickson 2 Comments

It appears the Jonathan Marchessault era in Vegas is over. The Golden Knights’ 2023 Conn Smythe Trophy winner didn’t agree to an extension as of last night and is set to find a new home in free agency today, Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic reports.

Getting a Marchessault extension done in Vegas was always going to be a difficult proposition without a significant cap-clearing move, something that hasn’t happened to date. He’s likely to command upward of $6MM annually on the open market, a figure that would have swallowed up all of the Golden Knights’ remaining space, even with goaltender Robin Lehner’s $5MM cap hit projected to remain on long-term injured reserve next season.

Among the teams expected to express interest in the 33-year-old today include the Devils, reports The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta. They’re on the hunt for a top-six winger, especially after parting ways with prospect Alexander Holtz via trade to the Golden Knights and with Dawson Mercer and Ondřej Palát coming off underwhelming seasons.

Both Vegas and Marchessault were intent on a reunion, but today’s news isn’t the most surprising. LeBrun had indicated last week that Marchessault was preparing to move on from Sin City without an agreement in close reach.

The Québec native immediately becomes one of the most attractive goal-scoring options on the market and will almost certainly have a new home within hours. He’s coming off a career-high 42 goals for Vegas while also playing in all 82 games for the second time in his career. He added 27 assists for 69 points, six short of his career-high of 75 set with the Knights back in 2017-18. Some regression should be expected, though, as he shot 4.2% higher than his career average of 11.6% last year.

LeBrun’s Latest: Guentzel, Skjei, Stamkos, Kane, Marchessault, Askarov

June 28, 2024 at 4:39 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson 6 Comments

The 2024 NHL Draft is mere hours away, but this year’s compressed schedule means we also only have three days until the opening of the UFA market. That means for most of the usual insiders, there’s a lot of reporting tidbits coming out on the fly. That was the case today for Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic, who has more than a few notable updates about some of the top pending UFAs and some ripple effects of this week’s moves:

While things have seemingly been trending in the wrong direction between the Hurricanes and trade deadline pickup Jake Guentzel for weeks, LeBrun writes the Hurricanes have upped their offer in a last-minute bid to retain his services. Their last pitch comes in at around $64MM total on an eight-year deal, working out to an $8MM cap hit. That’s close to what Guentzel’s camp was asking for at the beginning of negotiations with Carolina, LeBrun writes, but with his name still available this close to going to market, there are likely other teams willing to offer more annually. It is worth pointing out that the Hurricanes still hold an advantage by having the ability to offer him an eighth year of term, allowing them to sign him for the same amount of total cash for a slightly lower cap hit. A seven-year, $9MM AAV deal that he’s rumored to be able to land on the open market would leave him $1MM short of the total compensation he’d get from Carolina.
There’s still “a chance for Carolina” to retain defenseman Brady Skjei, who checks in as the top left-shot option available should he remain unsigned come Monday. But it still appears unlikely at this stage, especially considering he could command in the $7MM AAV range on the open market. LeBrun expects the Predators to be one of the most aggressive teams in pursuit of Skjei should he not ink a new deal with the Canes.
Following up on a statement from Steven Stamkos’ agent earlier today that the longtime Lightning captain projects to hit the open market, LeBrun said Tampa GM Julien BriseBois is trying to make his tight cap situation work by offering Stamkos a low-AAV deal at the maximum eight-year term. He speculates they’ve offered him a deal with a $3MM cap hit, working out to a total value of $24MM. On a four-year deal, something the 34-year-old is much more likely to land on the open market, that would be twice the cost against the cap ($6MM annually). It’s something BriseBois has tried and failed to do before, with LeBrun confirming that was his strategy to attempt to keep winger Alex Killorn from departing in free agency last year. He ended up rejecting an eight-year, $20MM deal ($2.5MM cap hit) from Tampa to sign a four-year, $25MM deal ($6.25MM AAV) with the Ducks.
If Patrick Kane moves on from the Red Wings next week, don’t expect him to travel very far. LeBrun reports the future Hall-of-Famer’s preference is to stick in the Eastern Conference as he signs what could be the final contract of his career.
The Golden Knights remain hard at work trying to retain 2023 Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Marchessault, but they’re not on the verge of an extension, his agent Pat Brisson told LeBrun. Vegas has around $6.2MM in projected cap space with Robin Lehner on long-term injured reserve, which they’d likely use all of on a Marchessault extension. More moves are needed for financial flexibility, and LeBrun reports Marchessault is “readying himself for the realistic possibility that he might have to move on.“
Lastly, Predators top goalie prospect Yaroslav Askarov is all but officially on the trade block with yesterday’s report that Juuse Saros is nearing an eight-year extension to stay in Smashville. There’s still a strong chance Askarov remains with Nashville last season and enters his first full-time NHL campaign as Saros’ backup, but LeBrun reports the Preds are leveraging him to try and move into the top five of tonight’s draft. It’s not the first time they’ve done this – we wrote the exact same piece last year about the Preds trying to send him to the Canadiens to acquire the fifth-overall pick. Montreal holds the same selection this year.

Pacific Notes: Marchessault, Mantha, Vladar, Wouters

June 19, 2024 at 7:58 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

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.

Golden Knights Hoping To Re-Sign Jonathan Marchessault

May 31, 2024 at 4:32 pm CDT | by Gabriel Foley 27 Comments

The Vegas Golden Knights could find a way to re-sign hallmark winger Jonathan Marchessault, per David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period a recent NHL Now segment (Twitter link). Pagnotta shared that both sides have mutual interest in signing a new deal, though Vegas’ slim cap space has kept the team from engaging in any contract talks just yet. Marchessault spoke about these negotiations at the World Series of Poker, telling the Las Vegas Review, “They said they were interested to definitely re-sign me and we’ll see. Technically they have time until June 30, so we’ll see how it goes.”

Marchessault recently concluded a six-year, $30MM contract signed with Vegas in January of 2018. He earned the deal in the midst of a breakout season with the inagural Golden Knights, scoring 27 goals and 75 points in 77 games. The new extension marked Marchessault’s first time earning a salary north of $1.0MM and he’s only become more valuable, posting 165 goals and 342 points across the 437 games he played over the course of the deal. That includes Marchessault’s career-high 42 goals this season, making him just the second Golden Knight to hit the 40-goal mark alongside William Karlsson’s breakout 2017-18 campaign.

Marchessault has managed the strong scoring while serving a stout role on Vegas’ second line – averaging roughly 17 minutes of ice time in six of his last seven seasons. His modest spot in the lineup has been supplemented by a commanding role on the team’s powerplay, with no other Golden Knight playing more power-play minutes than Marchessault since 2018. And he’s vindicated the minutes, scoring 36 power-play goals and 87 points in a collective 1121 minutes.

Marchessault’s ability to offer consistent goal-scoring from the second line has been a big factor in Vegas’ recent lineup creativity. He’s fully carved out his role in Vegas and will be hard to replace should he enter free agency. But that could be the ultimate outcome, as the Golden Knights currently boast just $897.5K in cap space. They could look into trimming their cap hit on the trade market or through LTIR relief, per Pagnotta, though they’ll likely need to make a series of to afford Marchessault’s next deal.

The same factors that’s led Vegas to their cap constraints are likely also what’s kept them from engaging Marchessault in talks of an extension up to this point. The veteran winger told the Las Vegas Review that he expressed interest to Vegas about signing an extension last summer – sharing, “I asked last summer. I was like, ‘You know what? I would rather do it in the summer before the season.’ And they said they’re not ready to do that…”

The Golden Knights instead spent the season getting as close to the salary cap as they could, even using lucrative trading to acquire Noah Hanifin’s contract at just 25 percent of its original cap hit and even getting the San Jose Sharks to retain 17 percent of Tomas Hertl’s cap hit. Timely LTIR relief helped them make the moves without exceeding the salary cap, though Vegas is now paying for the antics with a stressful summer ahead. Pagnotta added that pending free agents William Carrier, Michael Amadio, and Anthony Mantha are each expected to leave the Golden Knights for free agency.

Carrier is notably an original Golden Knight, with the Buffalo Sabres sending Vegas a sixth-round draft pick to ensure they’d select him in the 2017 Expansion Draft. He’s since played in 372 games across seven seasons with Vegas – totaling 53 goals, 99 points, and 183 penalty minutes while averaging just 10:32 in ice time.

Losing the trio of Carrier, Amadio, and Mantha will leave notable holes in the Golden Knights’ bottom-six. With such little money to go around – especially if they re-sign Marchessault – the Golden Knights are likely hoping those holes can be filled by top young players like Pavel Dorofeyev, Brendan Brisson, and Grigori Denisenko.

Pacific Notes: Marchessault, Smith, Oilers

May 28, 2024 at 4:30 pm CDT | by Brennan McClain 3 Comments

Heading into the offseason, the Vegas Golden Knights have just shy of $900K in cap space with notable players such as Jonathan Marchessault and Chandler Stephenson headed for unrestricted free agency in just over four weeks. Unfortunately for Vegas, even if the organization were to free up cap space on the trade market, they would likely be unable to open up enough flexibility to keep both players.

Between the two, Stephenson is not expected to sign for as rich of a contract as Marchessault on the open market, which could entice the Golden Knights to pursue his services instead. Keeping that in mind, Mark Anderson of the Associated Press reported today that Marchessault has still not been approached by Vegas’ front office about a contract extension.

It may be a tough pill for both player and team as Marchessault recently completed the highest goal-scoring season of his career. As one of the original ’misfits’ still on the Golden Knights, Marchessault has been adamant about finishing his career in Nevada. However, due to the financial constraints the team imposed upon itself at this past year’s trade deadline, Marchessault is expected to be wearing another team’s jersey by the start of next season.

Other Pacific notes:

Already showing tremendous humility as a young NHL prospect, Will Smith of the San Jose Sharks organization is not expecting to be gifted a spot in the NHL out of the gates. Although his entry-level contract should be made official today, Smith told Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now that he is more than willing to join the organization’s AHL affiliate if the Sharks think it is best for his development. Nevertheless, the former fourth overall pick of the 2023 NHL Draft should immediately jump into San Jose’s top six if he can make the roster after scoring 25 goals and 71 points in 41 games for Boston College last year.
The Edmonton Oilers have extended their ECHL affiliate with the Fort Wayne Komets according to an announcement from the organization. The partnership between the two teams began just before the 2022-23 season, and Assistant General Manager Keith Gretzky was quoted as saying, “Our players have also relished their time in the city of Fort Wayne. They have received first-class treatment during their time there and we truly believe that the Komets and their fans make them the premier organization in the ECHL“. In the two years as Edmonton’s ECHL affiliate, the Komets have won 69 games in total, qualifying for the Kelly Cup playoffs during the 2022-23 ECHL season.

Snapshots: NCAA Rule Changes, Marchessault, Pettersen

May 16, 2024 at 12:49 pm CDT | by Josh Erickson Leave a Comment

The NCAA Men’s and Women’s Ice Hockey Committee wants to give on-ice officials more discretion in disciplining checking from behind and head contact penalties and has put forth an official proposal for a rules adjustment, per an announcement from the organization Thursday. The proposed changes must still be approved by the NCAA Playing Rules Oversight Panel, which meets next on June 6.

Regarding examples of “clear violations” of the anti-head contact rule, officials would be required to supplement a five-minute major penalty with either a game misconduct or disqualification. Under previous rules, officials may have assessed a standalone five-minute major for head contact, but that option will disappear. Instances of head contact that officials deem to be inadvertent or otherwise legal may still be assessed as minor penalties.

Officials will also now have all penalty options available for checking from behind infractions, opening up a more extended use of minor penalties in response to collisions where the player on the receiving end of the hit turns or changes position just prior to contact. Other proposed rule changes include modifying the NCAA’s definition of playing the puck with a high stick to match NHL rules (above shoulder height as compared to the NCAA’s current 4 feet rule) and mandated shootouts after five-minute, 3-on-3 overtime for regular-season play across all conferences.

Other news and notes from around hockey:

If Jonathan Marchessault is able to re-sign with the Golden Knights, don’t expect it to be on a huge discount. In a mailbag Thursday, Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal says Vegas is prepared to dole out a raise on his current $5MM cap hit to get him to stay. They’ll need to make some significant roster moves to accommodate him, though, as the Golden Knights have less than $1MM in projected cap space next season with a roster size of 20. Moving the final season of injured goaltender Robin Lehner’s $5MM cap hit to long-term injured reserve will give them some much-needed flexibility, but they’ll still likely need to move out one contract to keep their 2023 Conn Smythe Trophy winner around. Evolving Hockey projects a Marchessault extension in Vegas to come in at roughly $7.2MM per season for four years.
Norway has added Stars prospect Mathias Emilio Pettersen to its roster for the 2024 World Championship, Daily Faceoff’s Steven Ellis reports. Pettersen, 24, was drafted by the Flames in the sixth round of the 2018 draft and spent parts of four seasons playing for their AHL affiliate before being dealt to Dallas in a minor-league swap just before this year’s trade deadline. The 5’11” forward closed out the season on a high note, notching eight points in 12 regular-season games for AHL Texas and adding five points in seven playoff games. This marks his second appearance at the Worlds and his first since 2021 when he had a goal and a -2 rating in six games. He’s a pending restricted free agent and is eligible for arbitration this summer.

Golden Knights Notes: Marchessault, Hague, Lehner

May 7, 2024 at 9:29 pm CDT | by Josh Cybulski Leave a Comment

The Vegas Golden Knights met with the media today to discuss their season and the future of the franchise. One player whose future is unclear is Jonathan Marchessault, a player who has been with the organization since the beginning in 2017. According to Jesse Granger of The Athletic, Marchessault told the media that he and Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon met earlier in the day with both sides saying that they have a mutual interest in working out an extension to keep the 33-year-old in Vegas.

The Conn Smythe Trophy winner from last year’s Stanley Cup run is one of just five players remaining from Vegas’ inaugural 2017-18 season and he is the Golden Knights all-time point leader with 417 points in seven seasons with the team. While both sides have mutual interest in an extension, the Golden Knights are pushed right up against the salary cap and have several key free agents including Chandler Stephenson, William Carrier, Alec Martinez, and Anthony Mantha.

In other Golden Knights notes:

Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hague reportedly has a lower-body injury that will not require surgery (according to SinBin Vegas). Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon told the media that the 25-year-old should be healthy and available for the start of next season. Hague suffered the injury in game 1 against the Dallas Stars and did not play for the rest of the series. Hague took his physicality to another level this season, dishing out 153 hits in just 73 games. The Kitchener, Ontario native doesn’t put up much in the way of offence and struggled down the stretch going scoreless in the final 20 games.
SinBin Vegas also reported that Kelly McCrimmon offered an update on the status of goaltender Robin Lehner. McCrimmon told reporters that if Lehner can’t play next season he will remain on the long-term injured reserve. McCrimmon went on to add that it might very well be the case that Lehner can’t play and the news isn’t overly surprising given that Lehner missed the last two seasons and hasn’t played since April 2022 after undergoing hip surgery. Lehner has one year left on his contract with a cap hit of $5MM and if he remains on LTIR it would allow Vegas to exceed the cap by that amount.

Golden Knights Have Discussed Extension With Jonathan Marchessault

March 22, 2024 at 9:00 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 1 Comment

Back in August, Golden Knights winger Jonathan Marchessault noted that there had yet to be any discussions about a possible contract extension. However, his agent Pat Brisson told Mark Anderson of the Associated Press that there have been several discussions throughout the year. However, a decision on re-signing or testing the open market is unlikely to come before the end of the season.

The 33-year-old is in the middle of one of his best seasons, setting a career high in goals with 38 along with 22 assists; his 60 points are the third most of his career. This continues what has been a recent trend for Marchessault after putting up 66 and 57 points in his previous two campaigns, two of the highest point totals of his career. At an age where a lot of players start to see their production slow down, his has gone up which bodes well for his next deal.

Brisson declined to get into specifics about what type of money or term he’d be seeking for Marchessault’s next deal while GM Kelly McCrimmon declined to comment. That said, it stands to reason that the veteran will be seeking a fair-sized raise on his current $5MM AAV along with a multi-year agreement.

As things stand, Marchessault is tied for third in scoring among pending unrestricted free agents heading into Friday’s action. He’s behind Florida’s Sam Reinhart and Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos while being tied with Carolina’s Jake Guentzel. All in all, pretty good company to be in.

An original Golden Knight, Vegas would certainly love to keep Marchessault around. However, that’s a task that will be easier said than done. After adding Tomas Hertl at the trade deadline, they have nearly $78MM in commitments to 16 players for next season, per CapFriendly. Even if we suppose that they can fully utilize Robin Lehner’s $5MM on LTIR which isn’t a given with the technicalities involved with LTIR, that only gives them around $14.7MM to work with in the summer and several players to sign to fill out their roster.

Marchessault isn’t their only pending UFA of note either. Chandler Stephenson, one of the better bargains in recent seasons, is also on an expiring deal and is primed to potentially double (if not more than double) his current $2.75MM price tag. They’ll likely want to take a run at extending Noah Hanifin as well which would be expensive with a price point likely to push past the $7MM mark on a long-term agreement. Anthony Mantha, William Carrier, and Alec Martinez need to be re-signed or replaced as well.

It’s safe to say there isn’t enough money to go around to keep their current team intact; some veterans will be departing in July. We’ll find out by then if Marchessault will be one of them.

Pacific Notes: Marchessault, Bouchard, Blackwood

August 13, 2023 at 6:32 pm CDT | by Brian La Rose 2 Comments

While there have yet to be any extension discussions between the Golden Knights and Jonathan Marchessault, SinBin.Vegas’ Jason Pothier notes that this shouldn’t be construed as Vegas being willing to move the veteran. The 32-year-old is entering the final year of his contract which carries a $5MM AAV and after putting up 123 points in 152 games over the last two seasons plus earning the Conn Smythe Trophy for playoff MVP, it stands to reason that he’ll be in line for at least a small raise. Vegas doesn’t generally rush to give their players early extensions but considering Marchessault’s importance to the team, it seems like only a matter of time before those discussions begin.

Snapshots: Marchessault, Ellis, Kerfoot

August 10, 2023 at 10:40 am CDT | by Brennan McClain 3 Comments

During the Vegas Golden Knights run to their first Stanley Cup championship in franchise history, forward Jonathan Marchessault played a vital role in that effort. Finishing as the Conn Smythe Trophy winner of the 2022-23 Stanley Cup playoffs, Marchessault has cemented himself as a fan and locker room favorite in Vegas. With one year remaining on his current contract with the club, Marchessault should be one of the more important extension candidates for the team.

In an interview with TVA Sports, Marchessault spoke on extension talks, and also his relationship with head coach Bruce Cassidy. In his article on this relationship, Chris Gawlik of VegasHockeyNow reports a quote from Marchessault saying, “It hasn’t always been the rainbow and the good weather between us. We got into each other a couple of times, on the bench, during games, during the playoffs. But I think he wanted the best out of me and we managed to be able to work together“. Although interesting, it is hardly a surprising take from Marchessault, as Cassidy was regularly noted as an incredibly difficult coach to play for during his time with the Boston Bruins.

On the extension front, it does not sound like anything is close between the two parties. Marchessault said, “There are no negotiations that have been done. I know that sometimes the Golden Knights like to take their time with that. We will see what it will give“. Over the years, the Knights have been known to move some of their veteran original members, such as Reilly Smith and Marc-Andre Fleury, and if an extension cannot be agreed upon at a reasonable price for both player and team, Vegas may need to make another difficult decision with Marchessault this upcoming season.

Other snapshots:

Speaking with the new President of Hockey Operations for the Philadelphia Flyers, Keith Jones, Adam Kimelman of the NHL reports that Jones firmly believes that the playing days of defenseman Ryan Ellis are over. Due to a back injury, Ellis has only been able to suit up in four games for the Flyers during the 2021-22 season and missed the entirety of last year. Ellis still has four years and $25MM remaining on his current contract and will spend the rest of that time on LTIR if his contract is not moved off the team before then.
One of the several signings made by the Arizona Coyotes this offseason, Alexander Kerfoot is more than excited to get started with his new club. Speaking with Patrick Brown of the NHL, Kerfoot shed some light on his choosing Arizona over other offers saying, “It just feels like they’re in a different spot now. It feels like they’re trying to take the next step. Being part of that change and helping grow the culture is fun to be a part of. Things are trending really well for this group, and I’m happy to be part of it“. It is hard to envision the Coyotes returning to the playoffs anytime within the next two years, but they have set themselves up nicely by developing their core players and bringing in solid auxiliary pieces.

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