Vegas Golden Knights Sign Reid Duke to Three-Year Entry Level Contract

The Vegas Golden Knights have made their first player transaction in franchise history.

The dog days of March in hockey are exciting times for hockey fans. Teams fighting for the final playoff spots and bad teams playing spoiler. Nothing better than that, except if you’re a Vegas Golden Knights fan.

News has been very dry for the new expansion franchise for what seems like forever now. General Manager George McPhee will be at the GM meetings this week in Florida so we’ll see if he makes any deals while he’s down there. However, the Golden Knights have seemed to sign their first player in franchise history.

The Golden Knights have signed Reid Duke to a three-year entry-level deal. Duke was originally drafted by the Minnesota wild in the sixth round of the 2014 NHL Draft. Currently, he’s playing his hockey in the WHL (Western Hockey League) with the Brandon Wheat Kings and has been for the past three seasons.

The 21-year old is having a great season for the Wheat Kings thus far scoring 35 Goals, 32 Assists and 67 Points. Kelly McCrimmon was Duke’s head coach in Brandon for his first  two seasons with the team. Now McCrimmon is the Assistant General Manager of the Vegas Golden Knights so his fingerprints are all over this one.

“I think what’s impressive with Reid is a real high skill level and yet a guy that’s able to play a big, strong, heavy game.” “When we project Reid, we think his game will evolve as he becomes a pro. We believe he’s going to be an NHL player.”– Vegas Golden Knights Assistant General Manager Kelly McCrimmon

Duke is a little undersized at 6’0 for a Center, but the game is trending in his favor with smaller players having more success around the league. The Golden Knights press release announced that Duke will report to the development camp this summer. The date and time of the development camp will be announced at a later date.

Duke is putting up some outstanding numbers for the Wheat Kings so it’s easy to understand why the Golden Knights decided to take shot on this player. From what I’ve seen over the internet, he seems like a gritty player that loves to lay out some big hits and not afraid to fight despite his lack of size.

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Well this is exciting, finally some movement from George McPhee and the front office. I wouldn’t be shocked if we see a lot more of this in the coming weeks. NHL development camp rosters are huge, so the Vegas Golden Knights have lots of room to fill as in terms of the camp roster. McPhee and Duke will hold a conference call later on in the day.