Vegas Golden Knights Sign Oscar Lindberg
The Vegas Golden Knights have inked one of their restricted free agents, signing Oscar Lindberg to a two-year, $3.4MM deal. Lindberg was the Golden Knights’ selection from the New York Rangers, a player the Rangers had to replace earlier today with David Desharnais.
With just a two-year deal, the Golden Knights will carry Lindberg to unrestricted free agency in 2019. That allowed them to keep the cap hit relatively low at $1.7MM, especially for a player who has shown an ability to hold down a checking role and contribute on the scoresheet from time to time.
Lindberg scored 20 points last season in 65 games, playing just under 11 minutes a night for the Rangers. Stuck behind Derek Stepan, Mika Zibanejad and Kevin Hayes at the center ice position, Lindberg didn’t get much of a chance to operate with high end talent but still provided some nice secondary scoring. Though the center ice position is a little crowded in Vegas right now, Lindberg should get a chance to see the ice more often than in New York, and show off the offensive talent he had in the AHL and Sweden.
Vegas has Vadim Shipachyov, Cody Eakin, William Karlsson penciled into the center position already, but there’s a real chance the team moves on from one of them (not Shipachyov) before the season begins. Jonathan Marchessault who also has center experience, could play the wing for the club this year and try to turn in another 30-goal season. Either way, it’s likely that the team spreads the icetime out a bit more and Lindberg should get an opportunity to contribute.
Marcus Kruger Traded To Carolina Hurricanes
As expected yesterday, the Carolina Hurricanes have acquired Marcus Kruger from the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for a 2018 fifth-round pick. Kruger was acquired by the Golden Knights just a few days ago in a pre-arranged deal with Chicago. The Blackhawks had to wait to pay out a $2MM signing bonus on July 1st before moving Kruger for future considerations (which in all likelihood are nothing). It’s cap relief the Hawks were after, and they had to allow Trevor van Riemsdyk to be picked in the expansion draft to do it. 
van Riemsdyk was also traded to the Hurricanes after the draft, making this a pretty handy selection for the Golden Knights. In essence, instead of taking a player from the Blackhawks they received a second and a fifth-round pick. Carolina GM Ron Francis had this to say about his new center:
We were determined to bring in experienced players with winning pedigrees and Marcus is another addition who fits that mold. He’s a solid, two-way center who has achieved success both in the NHL and internationally.
Kruger has won two Stanley Cups with the Blackhawks, and several international medals with Sweden including Olympic Silver. The 27-year old already has 87 career playoff games under his belt, and should bring some of that experience to a young Carolina team looking to make an impact this season. The most important part, is that Kruger’s salary structure fits perfectly for the cap-floor team.
After the signing bonus was paid out, Kruger is owed just $1.45MM for the rest of the 2017-18 season despite his cap hit of $3.08MM. Next year his salary is just $2.3MM, meaning the Hurricanes will pay out a grand total of $3.75MM for two years of the checking center. Contracts like that are the lifeblood for a team that simply can’t pay up to the salary cap ceiling. Even better, Kruger is still a very useful player right in his prime. Though he’ll never be a top scoring threat, Kruger is a very effective checking center who has received Selke votes twice in his career, and is generally well regarded in a shut down role.
The Hurricanes have become a landing spot for several former Blackhawks, now with van Riemsdyk, Kruger, Teuvo Teravainen and Scott Darling set to play key roles next year. They’ve become a scavenging team, set to prey on teams that are in cap trouble. That plan looks like it will work for them, as with a new goaltender and maturing young core the Hurricanes should be a contender for a playoff spot as soon as next season. If they can acquire another offensive player for some of their defensive depth as many have expected, they’ll be even more dangerous.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Marcus Kruger Could Be Flipped By Vegas Golden Knights
After acquiring Marcus Kruger in a long-expected trade yesterday, the Vegas Golden Knights may not be keeping him around very long. John Shannon of Sportsnet tweeted last night that the team had yet to make up their mind on whether to keep him or not, while Brian Hedger of NHL.com today reported that a second trade is likely for the former Blackhawks center.
Kruger was due a $2MM signing bonus on July 1st, meaning that even though he comes with a $3.08MM cap hit, any acquiring team would only have to pay out $1.475MM in actual salary this season. Next year, the salary drops on its own to $2.3MM. For a team that has the cap room, grabbing two years of Kruger for less than $4MM in total salary is extremely affordable.
Though Chicago couldn’t afford him going forward, Kruger remains a useful player. Even with little offensive upside an effective checking center is an important piece to any team, and one who comes at a discount and is still relatively young—Kruger turned 27 in May—would be interesting to several teams. He’s even received Selke votes as the top defensive forward twice in his career, and has two Stanley Cups under his belt already.
Teams like Pittsburgh, New York or even Anaheim could use a good checking center, though they each have internal options as well. Craig Custance of The Athletic chimes in with Carolina as a possible destination as well. It’s not like there would be a dozen teams breaking down the door to acquire him, but it shouldn’t be a hard flip if the Golden Knights choose to. That said, Vegas themselves could use him if they wanted. The Golden Knights have a large group of players who could play center for them next year, but few outside of William Karlsson are experienced in a purely checking role. If they wanted to stick players like Erik Haula and Jon Marchessault full-time on the wing, Kruger could be a useful piece down the middle.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
Oscar Dansk Signs With Vegas Golden Knights
- The Vegas Golden Knights have signed Oscar Dansk to a one-year, two-way deal according to Mike Kelly of the NHL Network. The Golden Knights needed to add some depth goaltending for their minor league affiliates, and after Dansk didn’t receive a qualifying offer from the Blue Jackets he was a prime candidate. Dansk was a second-round pick of the Blue Jackets in 2012, but returned to Sweden after one unsuccessful season in the minor leagues. After two better—but not outstanding—seasons with Rogle, he’ll likely return to play for the Chicago Wolves, Vegas’ new AHL affiliate. Still just 23, he has a long way to go to make an impact at the NHL level.
Chicago Trades Marcus Kruger to Las Vegas
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.
Emelin Officially Traded To Nashville
The Nashville Predators have officially acquired veteran defenseman Alexei Emelin from the Vegas Golden Knights for a 2019 third-round pick, according to the Nashville Predators. According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun, Vegas will retain just under $1.2MM of Emelin’s salary on their books.
Emelin was recently acquired by Vegas through the expansion draft as they took the 31-year-old blueliner from Montreal with the expectation they would flip him for future picks, which they did. Emelin boasts a $4.1MM salary for this year before he hits unrestricted free agency next summer. A defensive defenseman, Emelin scored just two goals and eight assists on the season for the Canadiens. With this move, he will rejoin former Canadiens teammate P.K. Subban in Nashville.
There were thoughts the Golden Knights might have trouble trading Emelin, who many question to be a top-4 defender, along with his contract, which proved to be an issue if Vegas had to retain almost $1.2MM of his salary. However, a third-round pick is a quality return for someone who they thought they might have to hold onto. The 2019 third-rounder gives Vegas 12 picks in the 2019 draft and seven in the first three rounds.
Darren Dreger of TSN was the first to report the deal.
Montreal, Ottawa Interested In Alexei Emelin
- LeBrun also reports that the Montreal Canadiens have looked into a possible reunion with Alexei Emelin, selected last week in the expansion draft. Like many of the other veteran defenders, Emelin is expected to be flipped from the Vegas Golden Knights in the coming days, and Montreal could possibly re-acquire him. LeBrun adds that the Ottawa Senators have also shown interest in the big defenseman, perhaps as a replacement to their own expansion loss, Marc Methot.
Marc Methot Turned Down Teams On No-Trade List
New Dallas Stars defenseman Marc Methot spoke to the media today, and talked about the tough last few weeks as he was selected by the Vegas Golden Knights and then flipped yesterday. According to Stephen Whyno of the Associated Press, the former Ottawa Senator confirmed he said no when teams on his no-trade list tried to inquire about him.
Methot holds a 10-team no-trade list, and it is reported to have every Canadian team (save for Ottawa, of course) on it. Whether it was those, or some of the remaining four that had interest in him is unclear. Methot has the right to exercise it, and clearly valued steering his future somewhat.
Ending up in Dallas, Methot is in a nice scenario for success going forward and as Chris Johnston of Sportsnet points out a much lower tax bracket. Methot saves quite a bit of money (almost $700K) and is likely to play with John Klingberg, a player who does have some similarities to Erik Karlsson. Not a bad situation even if you do have to be shipped across the continent.
Vegas Golden Knights Trade Marc Methot To The Dallas Stars
The Vegas Golden Knights have traded defenseman Marc Methot to the Dallas Stars for a 2020 2nd round draft pick and goaltender Dylan Ferguson, drafted in the seventh round at 194th overall this summer. The deal was first reported by Dallas Stars Senior Digital Correspondent Scott Burnside, and then subsequently confirmed with terms by Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. The Golden Knights initially selected Marc Methot from the Ottawa Senators in this summer’s NHL Expansion Draft.
Methot was an integral part of the Senators’ defense last year, averaging just under 20 minutes a night in the regular season, and over 22 minutes a night in the playoffs. He scored 0G and 12A in 68 games, and an additional 2G and 2A in 18 playoff games. Methot is in the third year of a four-year deal worth $4.9MM a year.
Dylan Ferguson was drafted by the Stars in the 7th round (pick 194) of this year’s NHL Entry Draft. He posted a 2.74 GAA and a .922 SV% for the Kamloops Blazers of the WHL this season.
The 2020 pick is the Knights’ third 2020 pick so far. It now has its own, the Pittsburgh Penguins‘ from the Marc-Andre Fleury selection, and now Dallas’s. It looks like Vegas is trying to space out its prospect pool so that all of its contracts do not expire at the same time.
The Golden Knights were expected to trade defensemen. Before this deal, the team had 12 defensemen on its roster. With this trade, however, the team has no NHL-calibre defensemen signed past this year. Losing Methot also rids the team of arguably its best defenseman. And now that Vegas has set the market for its defensemen, it will probably receive even less for the rest.
Vegas Golden Knights Can Technically Trade Players Back
Though it had been thought for quite some time that there was a rule preventing the Vegas Golden Knights from trading any player selected in the expansion draft back to his original team until January 1st of 2018, Pierre LeBrun of TSN clarifies the rule. There is no rule to block those trades, and teams are free to reacquire the players lost in the draft should they come to an agreement with Vegas.
Instead, the rule in place which was misunderstood is one blocking teams from reacquiring players they traded to other teams just before the draft. That would have stopped teams from just moving pieces around to block Vegas from selecting them, only to move everyone back after the draft. The new understanding though adds some wrinkles to the next few months, as teams like Nashville or Ottawa could potentially bring back players like James Neal or Marc Methot.
While there likely won’t be many instances of players being sent back, it could come into play for some teams who can’t seem to fill the new hole in free agency. For teams like Washington, who lost Nate Schmidt and may have trouble finding a suitable replacement after also losing both Kevin Shattenkirk and Karl Alzner to free agency, having at least the option of bringing him back is helpful. This is just another way in which the league can help Vegas, by opening up another team for them to negotiate with as they try to flip their selections.