Vegas Golden Knights: Shea Theodore’s Contract Holdout Becoming A Concern

Shea Theodore’s contract holdout has gone on for long enough; it’s time to bring him back to Vegas Golden Knights camp.

The Vegas Golden Knights are back in full swing as they get ready for the second season of their young existence. The team may have come up short in the Stanley Cup Final last season, but they have already put last season behind them. Golden Knights general manager George McPhee made it a point to improve this years team, and he most certainly did the job.

Although the team decided to part ways with players such as James Neal, David Perron, Tomas Tatar, and Luca Sbisa, McPhee made it a plan to be aggressive in free agency and the trade market. The team signed center Paul Stastny and defenseman Nick Holden while also acquiring left wing Max Pacioretty from the Montreal Canadiens.

However, just before the team broke into camp, we found out Nate Schmidt violated the league substance policy and will miss 20 games. And to make matters worse for the Golden Knights, the team has still yet to agree on a deal with promising young defenseman Shea Theodore. Vegas starting the season without Schmidt and possibly Theodore could be a disaster waiting to happen on the blue line of the Golden Knights.

We all know there’s no getting out of the Schmidt suspension, so let’s end that. That ship has already sailed long ago. What the Golden Knights need to focus on is getting Theodore signed and immediately.

The reason why this has to get done as soon as possible is quite simple. Let’s say Theodore doesn’t have a contract signed as long as Schmidt’s suspended. You can’t ever win a season in the first 20 games, but you can definitely lose it in the first 20.

Missing both Schmidt and potentially Theodore for a long stretch of time could create problems the way head coach Gerard Gallant wants to align his defensive pairings. Potentially putting an offensive defenseman such as Colin Miller in an unfamiliar expanded role could go one of two ways. Miller could exceed expectations and prove to be an all-around blueliner, or he flat out loses confidence, and his game deteriorates, and he may never recover.

That’s not a chance I want to take especially with the talent level of a player like Miller. The good news is the Golden Knights have a ton of serviceable NHL defenseman at their disposal. But how long will it be able to hold up until the team starts to hit a rut?

It’s best that the Golden Knights go the safe route and sign Theodore to the contract that he desires. Whether its a two-year bridge deal, or a long-term contract with the club. Because if this team misses the playoffs, do we really want to look back at the team’s poor start and not having Theodore to help earlier in the season?

All in all, the Vegas Golden Knights need to get this situation with Shea Theodore settled. If the deal gets done before the regular season begins, then the blue line shouldn’t be an issue. But make no mistake about it, if these negotiations continue to drag into November and December, we have to question both the player and general manager.