Mission accomplished for Vegas Golden Knights and William Karlsson

We are just a week or so into the offseason and already the Vegas Golden Knights have ticked off the biggest objective on their to-do list.

After it was reported on Sunday by The Athletic and Pierre LeBrun of TSN that the Vegas Golden Knights and star center William Karlsson were nearing a contract extension, it was made official Monday night.

Karlsson has put pen to paper on a new eight-year deal that will carry him through the 2026-27 season with an average annual value of $5.9 million.

That represents superb value for the Golden Knights who lock up one of their faces of the franchise for the long-term future with a cap hit that is manageable.

It also gives Karlsson the max deal he always craved and it ensures that the Knights keep their potent top-six intact for the foreseeable.

It’s a huge start to the offseason for Vegas who are currently riding the crest of a wave after replenishing their farm system at the 2019 NHL Entry Draft at the weekend, as well as gaining an elite playmaker in Peyton Krebs.

Karlsson now gets the long-term security he’s always demanded while the Knights were able to come to agreement on an average annual value that won’t act as a albatross around their necks.

The next mission, of course, is to clear some cap space in order to squeeze under the $81.5 million cap that has been set for 2019-20.

That will have to be done via trades and by sorting out the futures of the franchise’s four unrestricted free agents and four restricted free agents.

But, for now, the Golden Knights front office can rest easy in their beds tonight knowing that they have one of the most talented centers in the NHL locked down for the next eight-years.

Karlsson posted 24 goals and 32 assists for 56 points in 2018-19, finishing the year with 13 multi-point games, including three games where he recorded three-point games.

That came hot off the heels of a dream first year in Vegas where the 26-year-old tallied 43 goals and 35 assists for 78 points in 82 games, in addition to a further 15 points (seven goals, eight assists) in the postseason as the Knights made a magical run all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.

Karlsson is a high-end two-way forward who plays a 200 foot game and that has been recognized with a sixth-place finish in Selke Trophy voting in 2017-18, as well as votes for the same award this year.

He has 184 points in 347 career NHL games and his 67 goals over the past two seasons rank 17th in the league overall, ninth among centers. Karlsson is also the only player to appear in every regular-season and postseason game in franchise history (191 games).

The Golden Knights will now get to work on their other tasks this summer as they plot to pull the trigger on a handful of trades in order to create cap space.

They will also have to work out what to do with unrestricted free agents in the ilk of Deryk Engelland and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, while also getting to work on the team’s four remaining restricted free agents.

But, the main job of the offseason has now been accomplished with William Karlsson, along with Mark Stone, now locked down in Sin City for the next eight years.

Karlsson’s new deal is a terrific piece of business by the Vegas Golden Knights and it now sets the tone for a busy offseason as they once again aim to be a Stanley Cup contender in 2019-20.