Vegas Golden Knights’ offseason going as planned so far

It has been a summer of getting it done for the Vegas Golden Knights who are rapidly firing through their lengthy to-do list.

Entering the offseason with a Stanley Cup contending core in place and offensive juggernaut Mark Stone signed to an eight-year deal, this summer was all about minor tweaks for the Vegas Golden Knights rather than a radical makeover.

After making the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural year in 2017, before suffering a disappointing early exit at the hands of the San Jose Sharks last season, the Vegas front office knew it was a case of fine tuning what they already had.

And, it has been a case of so far so good for the Golden Knights who have already accomplished much of what they set out to achieve with the summer still very much in its infancy.

The biggest priority was, of course, signing star center William Karlsson to a new long-term contract which was achieved in June when the forward put pen to paper on an eight-year deal with an average annual value of $5.9 million.

That was a huge piece of business for the Knights who now have every member of their potent top six locked down for the foreseeable future.

You need stars and firepower in order to be successful in the NHL, along with elite goaltending of course, and the Golden Knights possess all three in abundance heading into 2019-20.

Karlsson’s new deal came just days after a hugely productive 2019 NHL Entry Draft for Vegas who replenished their farm system with eight intriguing prospects, including young stud Peyton Krebs.

Forward Erik Haula and offensive defenseman Colin Miller were traded to the Carolina Hurricanes and the Buffalo Sabres respectively, as the Vegas front office worked wonders and did what was necessary in order to ease their salary cap concerns.

Then came free agency last Monday and it was never going to be a hugely productive window for this franchise, who have a Stanley Cup contending roster in place already.

Instead, the Golden Knights opted to bring back members of the team that have served them well over the last two years, including Tomas Nosek and Brandon Pirri.

Both Nosek and Pirri have provided depth and secondary scoring for Vegas, and Nosek in particular could play a huge role for the Knights next year following Pierre-Edouard Bellemare’s decision to head to the Colorado Avalanche as a unrestricted free agent.

Vegas also added depth signings Jaycob Megna, Patrick Brown, Brett Lernout and Tyrell Goulbourne to their roster, which will help pad out a Chicago Wolves team who battled their way to the Calder Cup Finals in 2018-19.

A deal to bring locker room leader and veteran defenseman Deryk Engelland back to Sin City for a third year is thought to be close, while there should be cap space left to sign talented blueliner Jimmy Schuldt to a new deal too.

Malcolm Subban was inked to a new one-year contract today, meaning that the Knights have a reliable and pretty significant goaltending tandem in place for the third straight year.

The one remaining question mark, however, of course hovers over the future of Russian forward Nikita Gusev.

The 27-year-old lit up the IIHF World Championships with 16 points (four goals, 12 assists) and a plus / minus rating of +12 for Team Russia.

He forged a strong connection with Tampa Bay Lightning star Nikita Kucherov and the left-wing looks primed and ready to take the NHL by storm.

Should the Golden Knights be forced into trading away Gusev then that will of course alter how we will eventually assess this offseason, even if the forward nets the Knights an attractive package in return.

However, let’s focus on the present for now and what the Golden Knights have been able to accomplish so far.

They’ve locked down one of their best players in Karlsson, they’ve kept their depth intact while bolstering it further, they have flooded their farm system with a slew of high-end prospects, they have successfully got themselves into a more manageable position with the salary cap and they have young studs in the ilk of Cody Glass and Nic Hague who are ready to make the leap to the NHL.

All in all, the Vegas Golden Knights have attacked this offseason with ruthless precision, pulling the trigger on tough decisions for the long-term betterment of the franchise and all the while clawing a number of moves out of the hat to ensure that this team’s Stanley Cup window remains wide open.

Now, don’t get us wrong, there is still work to do and, as already mentioned, working out what to do with Gusev will now become the main narrative of the summer for the Knights.

But, for now at least, the Vegas Golden Knights as a franchise should get an A Grade for the way they have navigated their way through this instrumental offseason.