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Vegas Golden Knights Roster Maneuvers Paying Off

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When the Vegas Golden Knights sent Vadim Shipachyov, Alex Tuch and Shea Theodore down to the minor leagues just prior to the season, many believed it was only a paper transaction to give them a few more days of trade negotiation. When none of the three were back up for the opener, people started to scratch their head and wonder what the front office was doing. It seemed counter-intuitive for a team that wanted to make a good first impression on a fan base.

But after five games that impression has been made. The Golden Knights are 4-1, with Shipachyov and Tuch only having to wait a few games before making their debut. Both came in the Golden Knights’ most recent match, when each recorded their first NHL goals. While there were reports that Shipachyov was upset about the temporary demotion, everything seems to be sorted out now and he’s up where he belongs.

Shea TheodoreThe interesting story comes with Theodore, who remains in the minor leagues. The 22-year old defenseman was one of the top prizes of the expansion draft process, coming by trade from the Anaheim Ducks in order to take Clayton Stoner’s contract off their hands. Theodore has tremendous upside and is one of only a handful of players expected to be around long term in Sin City. But that term hasn’t even begun yet, as he instead has suited up for three games in a Chicago Wolves sweater.

Theodore has shown that he’s too good for the AHL in the early going, scoring seven points in three games—remember, he’s a defenseman—while logging big minutes in all situations. While that makes many fans scratch their head on why he’s not up with the big club, it actually could pay off in the long run.

Theodore is in the final year of his entry-level contract, and will head into offseason negotiations without a full season under his belt. The longer the Golden Knights keep him in the minor leagues while still winning games, the more money they could save in contract talks. While it’s entirely likely that Theodore’s side will end up asking for a short term deal to prove his worth, there is also a very real possibility that if given substantial minutes over the entire 2017-18 season he could have demanded a long-term deal with a big cap hit. The Golden Knights know what his potential is, and right now are betting that he won’t stagnate at all by spending some more time in the minors.

If the team continues to play well, holding onto the nine defensemen currently on the roster may not be the worst solution. They obviously don’t want to lose any of them on waivers, and right now having Theodore in the minors is only doing positive things for the organization. Chicago gets a player that could be considered one of the biggest defensive weapons in the AHL, while a couple more dollars are knocked off his next deal. There is a tipping point where a relationship could be harmed, but GM George McPhee likely has a better handle on that than anyone else. For all the confusion that has surrounded the Golden Knights’ decisions in the early going, they seem to have the answer to every problem. If they keep winning, so be it.

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

Golden Knights Place Fleury, Marchessault On IR

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The Las Vegas Golden Knights may have had a nice start to their inaugural season, but Chris Johnston of Sportsnet tweeted that the team just placed two of their best players on injured reserve today in Marc-Andre Fleury and Jon Marchessault. No word on how serious their injuries are. The Golden Knights confirmed the transactions and announced they will call up prospect Alex Tuch and goaltender Maxime Legace from Chicago of the AHL.

The loss of Fleury, who has been the face of the franchise, is devastating to a team who lacks a solid backup goaltender. Fleury has helped lead Vegas through their first three victories, but the goaltender took a knee to the head from Anthony Mantha in the middle of Friday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. While nothing has been officially declared by the Golden Knights about his injury, rumors that he has suffered a concussion have surfaced. Fleury has had multiple issues with concussions in his career with the Pittsburgh Penguins, so the team will likely be cautious with the 32-year-old veteran. He was having a good season so far in four games with Vegas, as he 2.48 GAA and a .925 save percentage. If you remove the last period he played (coincidentally, after he took the knee to the head), those numbers would be even better as he allowed four goals in that one period alone.

For the time being, the team will have to put their faith in backup Malcolm Subban. In fact, Subban will start tonight against his former team, the Boston Bruins. Just 12 days ago, Vegas decided to claim Subban from the Bruins and place their veteran backup, Calvin Pickard, on waivers. Pickard cleared waivers and the Golden Knights traded him to Toronto in exchange for prospect Tobias Lindberg and a 2018 sixth-round pick three days after that. Subban has little NHL experience. He played one partial game back in 2014-15 and another partial game last year, totaling 62 minutes and allowed three goals in each outing. In the preaseason this year for the Bruins, Subban played in four games, finishing with a 2.71 GAA and a .889 save percentage.

Marchessault, who has been playing on the Golden Knights top scoring line, is listed out with a lower-body injury. The 26-year-old wing scored 30 goals for the Florida Panthers last year before being claimed by Vegas in the expansion draft. He so far has just one goal in the team’s first four games. He will be replaced by Tuch, who was one of the top players for Vegas in the preseason. A physical player, Tuch was praised for his work on the boards and gritty, hard-working style. He was forced to go to Chicago because he was waiver-eligible on a roster full of non-waiver eligible players. Tuch has taken advantage of his time in Chicago. In three games with the Wolves, Tuch had four goals and an assist. The 21-year-old was a first-round pick by the Minnesota Wild back in 2014.

The team also recalled Lagace to be the team’s backup. Lagace, 24, has spent the last few years going back and forth between the AHL and the ECHL. He played for the Texas Stars last year in the AHL and played in 32 games, putting up a 3.56 GAA and a .883 save percentage. This year for the Wolves, Legace has allowed eight goals in two games with a 4.05 GAA.

Haula To Miss One Week

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  • The Vegas Golden Knights issued an update on injured wing Erik Haula, who was placed on injured reserve today with a lower body injury. According to the Golden Knights’ website, Haula is expected to miss at least a week with his injury. That will give general manager George McPhee more time to manipulate his roster before he must make a cut to activate Haula.

Vegas Recalls Vadim Shipachyov, Will Make Debut Sunday

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The Vegas Golden Knights have finally recalled center Vadim Shipachyov today from the Chicago Wolves, tweeted Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston. In a corresponding move, Johnston tweets that Vegas has placed Erik Haula on injured reserve after a fight with Detroit’s Tomas Tatar last night.

For Shipachyov, it’s been a long wait to make his NHL debut. Considered to be a key signing by Vegas and quite possibly one of their best playmakers on the team, Shipachyov fell into a numbers crunch with the team’s extreme defensive depth of non-waiver eligible defensemen. In hopes of making a late trade, general manager George McPhee instead decided to option the Russian center to avoid having to place one of those defensemen on waivers and lose them. The 30-year-old has played his entire career in the KHL, putting up big numbers last season for St. Petersburg with 26 goals, 50 assists and 76 points, all career-highs. He signed a two-year deal with Vegas on May 4.

Instead, while he had been optioned to Chicago in the AHL, he never played for them, having stayed in Vegas. There were reports he was upset about the situation and his agents were looking for a way out of his contract situation. McPhee later said that he had no options, although that might be debateable, however, he said he spoke to Shipachyov’s camp and explained the situation better to the KHL veteran. Now, it looks like Shipachyov will make his debut Sunday at T-Mobile Arena against the Boston Bruins.

As for Haula, the 26-year-old wing has had a goal and an assist in four games. Claimed from the Minnesota Wild in the expansion draft, Haula had 15 goals and 26 points for the Wild last season and did score his lone goal last night against the Red Wings. The speedy wing had trouble getting minutes in Minnesota despite four years with the team and then chose to sign a three-year deal with Vegas, making him the Wild’s expansion selection.

Neal Open To Long-Term Extension; Reinhart And Hunt Likely To Clear Waivers

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Although many have speculated that he will be a prime trade candidate between now and the trade deadline, Golden Knights winger James Neal told Eric Duhatschek of The Athletic (subscription required) that he is open to signing a long-term extension to remain with Vegas.  Neal is off to a torrid start with the team, scoring six goals (including all three game-winners) through the first four games of the season and is their undisputed top scoring threat.  Perhaps even more impressive in his start is the fact that his hand has still not fully recovered from the surgery he underwent in the offseason.  Neal didn’t acknowledge if GM George McPhee is amenable to discussing a long-term deal but it would appear that him being the top rental available for trade may not be as clear-cut as originally expected.

  • Still with Vegas, while the Golden Knights have been hesitant to place any of their surplus defensemen on waivers, Sportsnet’s John Shannon suggested to 630 CHED in Edmonton (audio link) that both Griffin Reinhart and Brad Hunt would likely pass through unclaimed if the team tried to send them down. The fact that both have two-year, one-way contracts could potentially stand as a deterrent to some teams who might be interested in claiming one of them.  It will be interesting to see if GM George McPhee eventually takes the risk in waiving at least one of them with core players in defenseman Shea Theodore and center Vadim Shipachyov currently being victims of their waiver exemption.

St. Louis Announces Affiliate, Colorado Awarded AHL Franchise

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Though it had been reported much earlier this summer, the San Antonio Rampage finally officially announced their new five-year partnership with the St. Louis Blues. The Blues are operating this season without a primary AHL affiliate, after the Chicago Wolves signed a new deal with the Vegas Golden Knights. The Colorado Avalanche, who are currently affiliated with the Rampage, will be partnered next season with the Colorado Eagles, the AHL’s 31st franchise.

For St. Louis, this season has already been a tough one to operate through as they split their prospects between several teams around the league. Jordan Binnington, for example, was originally assigned to the Chicago Wolves before a logjam of Vegas goaltenders forced them to find a him a new home. Binnington is now playing in Providence with the Bruins’ affiliate. They do have many players already in San Antonio, getting used to the city and facility. The team will gain control of hockey operations and the coaching staff next year, giving them an increased ability to develop their prospects.

San Antonio was one of the AHL’s worst teams last year, registering just a 27-42-7 record and missing the playoffs for the second straight season. In fact, the team has won just a single playoff series in their entire existence, something the Blues organization will look to change from day one. Already their prospects have made their presence felt, with Samuel Blais and Jordan Schmaltz scoring to lead them to a win in their opener. Schmaltz, a first-round pick of the Blues scored the winner and is expected to be a leader on the team’s blueline this season.

For Colorado, this is not a loss. While they’ve had a fine relationship with San Antonio since 2015 (the team previously had affiliations with Florida and Arizona), getting the Eagles franchise is a solid step forward. Their primary minor league affiliate will now be right next door—the Eagles currently play in Loveland, CO—giving them even better coaching, development and scouting opportunities. The Eagles were previously an ECHL franchise, who won the Kelly Cup as league champions last season.

Snapshots: Matheson, Harpur, Three Stars

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Michael Matheson might not be the definition of a household name, but the Florida Panthers clearly understand what he can bring to the table. The team inked him to an eight-year extension yesterday, which was officially announced earlier today. Panthers’ GM Dale Tallon was complimentary of the young defenseman, and how he went about the negotiating process.

He’s going to skate, carry the puck and log a lot of minutes for us for a long time. The fact that he wanted to be a Panther for life, for us, was really impressive.

Matheson is an elite skater, but hasn’t yet take the next step to being an offensive force for the Panthers. They’ll hope he can find that next level after registering 17 points last season. The 23-year old will see his eight-year, $39MM contract ($4.88MM AAV) kick in next year.

  • Ottawa Senators defenseman Ben Harpur has been placed on injured reserve with a shoulder injury according to Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia. The Senators have nine defensemen on the roster after the call-up of Thomas Chabot, but both Erik Karlsson and Johnny Oduya are still not locks to get back into the lineup. The team may have to go with seven defensemen anyway in their next game, as they look to rebound from consecutive shootout losses to open the season.
  • The NHL released its first “Three Stars of the Week” for the 2017-18 season, and who else but Alex Ovechkin could be number one. Ovechkin scored an incredible seven goals in his first two games, almost as a direct response to all those who doubted his place on the Capitals going forward. After so much was written about how the Capitals may have to break up their core in order to win, Ovechkin came storming out of the gate and helped the club to two wins to start the season. Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, and Philadelphia Flyers forward Wayne Simmonds were the second and third stars respectively.

Latest On Vadim Shipachyov

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2:35pm: Vegas GM George McPhee spoke to reporters, including those from SinBin.vegas, to clarify the Shipachyov situation. McPhee said that Shipachyov’s camp didn’t understand the situation at the beginning, but do now and that “he can’t [return to the KHL], he’s under contract with us.”

While that’s partly true, Shipachyov can’t just go home to play in the KHL, he could technically “retire” from the NHL to return home. It would void his contract, burn bridges and likely be the very last option. It’s more likely that he just waits out this period and eventually makes his return to the Golden Knights.

11:06am: The Vegas Golden Knights were backed into a corner to start the year, unable to trade any of their NHL defensemen. Unwilling to lose any on waivers for nothing, the team instead decided to send Vadim Shipachyov and Shea Theodore—two waiver-exempt players—to the minor leagues despite being obvious NHL talents. Shipachyov especially was an interesting choice, after the team signed him to a two-year $9MM contract this summer.

Now, according to a report out of Russia, Shipachyov’s representatives are already looking for a way out of the contract. The 30-year old KHL veteran isn’t with the AHL’s Chicago Wolves, despite being listed on their opening roster, and is also not travelling with the Golden Knights.

Obviously, this entire fiasco (if you can even call it that) could be resolved at any moment by an injury or opening a roster spot through trade or waivers. The Golden Knights could recall Shipachyov to the NHL, plug him into the lineup and forget anything even happened. But as long as he remains off the roster—Vegas is now 2-0 after their first two games—the more defecting back to Russia for the KHL and Olympics would seem attractive. Of course, that would mean sacrificing his salary with the Golden Knights.

There is no telling if that option is a realistic one, or if this is just a way of his camp expressing their frustration with the situation. While taking the idea of defection with a grain of salt, expect the speculation around the Golden Knights trade block to continue to increase.

Vegas Goaltending Coach Wanted Subban

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  • Cat Silverman of The Athletic (subscription needed) writes that Vegas Golden Knights’ goaltending coach Dave Prior was a big fan of recently claimed Malcolm Subban and might be the reason why the team swapped backup goaltenders recently. Subban, a flashy, quick-moving goaltender becomes Prior’s long-term project. The goaltender has only two games of NHL experience, but had solid numbers for the Providence Bruins and had a good preseason. According to Silverman, Prior was not overly thrilled to work with Calvin Pickard, who lacked the speed and was a more by-the-book goaltender. Pickard has since been moved to the Toronto Maple Leafs.

The Enigma That Is The Vegas Golden Knights

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General Manager George McPhee and the NHL’s newest team, the Vegas Golden Knights, are about to play the franchise’s first game in its inaugural season in just under and hour and they have their sights set on one goal: being the worst team in the NHL. Well, maybe not, but it certainly seems that way.

An off-season of confusion has come to a head in the past 24 hours for Vegas. However, it started when the team was first announced back on June 21st. Among the players that McPhee had to pick from in the Expansion Draft were Sami Vatanen, Josh Manson, Jack Johnson, Darren Helm, Petr Mrazek, Matt Dumba, Calvin de Haan, Michael Grabner, Bobby Ryan, Paul Martin, Philipp Grubauer, Toby Enstrom and more. Instead, they took 13 defenseman, only two goalies with term on their contracts, and three unrestricted free agents. Sure, through side deals and trading recently-drafted players they received the likes of Shea Theodore, Alex Tuch, and Reilly Smith as well as a more than a few draft picks. However, at the end of the day they were left with a roster that looks like this. The team is severely lacking in offensive talent, overflowing with defenseman (none of whom are especially outstanding), and have major questions in net.

However, McPhee wasn’t done. Yesterday, he placed promising young goaltender Calvin Pickard, selected from the Colorado Avalanche, on waivers. When he surprisingly passed through, McPhee still decided to get rid of him, trading him to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Starter Marc-Andre Fleury, who has issues of his own, is now backed up by former Boston Bruins first-round prospect and recent waiver claim Malcolm Subban, who has made only two NHL starts and has been pulled from each of them, with a .727 save percentage and 5.81 GAA. Subban had been passed up by 2010 sixth-round pick Zane McIntyre for third-string in the Bruins system, but now jumps to second-string for Vegas. Then, since McPhee drastically overestimated the market for the defenseman he had selected and has been unable to move out several one-way blue liners, the GM was forced to demote superstar Russian import Vadim Shipachyov and promising youngsters Theodore, Tuch, and Hyka to the AHL ahead of tonight’s season opener. The waiver-exempt foursome will likely stay there until the team can free up some roster space by trading away two or more of their nine defenseman. What’s left for tonight’s first ever game is a roster lacking talent, upside, and experience at nearly every position.

So, what of the future? McPhee also managed to select three impending unrestricted free agents as arguably his three most talented forwards: James Neal, David Perron, and Jonathan Marchessault, with defenseman Brayden McNabb likely eager to move on as well. As the season progresses and the losses likely pile up, those pieces are sure to be dealt away as the trade deadline approaches. Despite the promise of owner Bill Foley that Vegas would win a Stanley Cup in their first five years, his general manager has built a team that should be the worst in the league, by design, and doesn’t look to have the makings of a team anywhere near playoff contention in the next two, three, maybe four years. The stockpile of draft picks may pan out, but that’s a question that only time will answer. For now, a Stanley Cup is long, long, long ways away.

A (not-so-bold) bold prediction for the 2017-18 season: after seeing a bad Colorado Avalanche team rack up just 48 points in 2016-17, things are about to get worse this season. The 1974-75 Washington Capitals went 8-67-5 for 21 points; the Vegas Golden Knights may be closer to that point total than Colorado’s 48.

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