Vegas Golden Knights deal Erik Haula to Carolina Hurricanes

It’s started. The Vegas Golden Knights have pulled the trigger on what should be the first of many trades after sending Erik Haula to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for forward Nicolas Roy and a conditional fifth round pick in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.

Already over the $81.5 million salary cap for 2019-20 even before signing William Karlsson to an eight-year, $47.2 million deal earlier this week, the Vegas Golden Knights needed some relief under the cap.

And they have started that process after shedding Haula’s $2.75 million salary by sending the 28-year-old to Carolina.

Now, of course, there is still more work to do for Vegas who currently have a cap hit of $86,274,999 for next year.

After extending qualifying offers to restricted free agents Malcolm Subban, Nikita Gusev and Jimmy Schuldt and a deal expected to get done with Tomas Nosek in the coming days and weeks, the Golden Knights will have no choice but to line up more trades.

Both Colin Miller and Cody Eakin, who have a cap hit of $3.875 million and $3.85 million respectively, are believed to be on the trade block while fourth-line enforcer Ryan Reaves could also be moved.

Vegas will also in all likelihood place David Clarkson (remember him?) on the long term injured list in order to shift his hefty $5.25 million salary off the books.

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Losing Haula is a bitter pill to swallow but a necessary one for the Knights, who know they must pay a small price for keeping their potent top six intact in order to extend their Stanley Cup window.

Haula made an instant impact for Vegas after being selected in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, playing a key role in the franchise’s stunning run to the 2017 Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural year.

The center tallied 29 goals and 26 assists for 55 points in 76 regular season games in 2017-18, in addition to nine points (three goals and six assists) in the playoffs.

Haula added to the Golden Knights’ abundance of riches in the offensive zone and he started this year with two goals and five assists for seven points in 15 games, but a knee injury suffered on Nov, 6 brought his season to a premature end.

After undergoing surgery, Haula was expected to be fit and raring to go for the start of training camp and there is no doubt that the Hurricanes are gaining a versatile third-line center who can provide secondary scoring and excel in the face-off circle.

In terms of what Vegas are getting back from Carolina, Nicolas Roy is projected to be a bottom-six forward and could start the year in the AHL.

He was selected 96th overall in the 2015 NHL Entry Draft and has played in seven NHL games for the Canes.

With Cody Glass expected to win a full-time NHL roster spot out of training camp, Roy can offer depth at center down the line and could even be handed a bigger role if Cody Eakin is indeed traded too.

Standing at 6’4″ and weighing 207 lb, Roy is a power forward who can dominate on the forecheck and lay the body on in order to give his team a jolt of energy.

He’s not all brute force, however, and can bring good puck-handling skills to the table as well as a dangerous net-front presence.

The Knights franchise know all about Roy, of course, with the 22-year-old a pivotal figure in the Charlotte Checkers’ Calder Cup Finals success over Vegas’ AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves.

Roy posted six goals and nine assists for 15 points in 19 games during that postseason run and he certainly adds more depth at center.

He also carries a cap hit of $720,000 through 2020, where he will become a restricted free agent, so this year will be a crucial one in terms of proving that he can be a valuable commodity in the NHL.

All in all, the Golden Knights are having to face up to the reality of living in a salary cap world and they have given up a player who certainly left his mark during his time in Sin City.

Who can forget Haula’s double-overtime winner against the LA Kings in the first round of the 2017-18 playoffs? It sent the place into euphoria and will without a doubt go down as Haula’s finest moment in a Golden Knights jersey.

In reality, Vegas probably didn’t get the return they would have wanted for a player of Haula’s calibre, but that is the price you pay when you opt to sign one of your faces of the franchise to a long-term deal.

William Karlsson was rightly the priority but, as a direct result of that, the Vegas Golden Knights are now going to have to deal with the necessary evil and accept bottom dollar for players who have served this franchise well.

It may sting to in the short-term to see players like Erik Haula traded away for virtually nothing but, looking at the long-term, these kind of deals are a must when it comes to keeping the Vegas Golden Knights under the cap while remaining competitive in their current Stanley Cup window.