Vegas Golden Knights: Give up depth for Nikita Gusev

We’re into the dog days of summer now and we are all suffering from the lack of Vegas Golden Knights hockey in our life.

Following the 2019 NHL Entry Draft and free agency frenzy, we are now experiencing a major lull when it comes to meaningful hockey news and golden nuggets concerning the Vegas Golden Knights.

Offseason madness is getting the better of all of us, I mean how long will it be until Chance loses his collective mascot mind and runs through a glass window just like NJ Devil?!

This is never a fun time of year for hockey fans and, for those of us who are lucky enough to be able to write about this brilliant, magical sport, this dull period of the summer can be tough to navigate in terms of generating consistent content.

However, we love the Golden Knights for a plethora of reasons and one of those reasons is the fact that they always give us something to talk about.

And that is certainly the case at the moment as we continue to wait for news on Nikita Gusev and his future with this franchise.

After the front office did an excellent job of locking down franchise center William Karlsson to a team-friendly eight-year deal with an average annual value of $5.9 million, the main point of discussion this offseason now revolves around Gusev.

We did a deep dive on the whole situation last week but it is worth recapping some of the key points before we proceed further.

Gusev is a restricted free agent this summer after signing a one-year, entry-level deal prior to Vegas’ playoff series against the San Jose Sharks in 2018-19, although he has yet to lace up his skates in the NHL.

According to Jesse Granger of The Athletic, who gave us a brilliant interview last week, Gusev and his camp are looking for a two-year deal at $4 million per year.

But, and here’s the main caveat at play, the Golden Knights are still navigating the murky waters of the salary cap and are only prepared to offer Gusev a two-year deal worth $2 million per year.

Keeping Karlsson in Sin City for the long-term was the main objective of the offseason for the Knights, who have also done a good job of bringing back depth players in the ilk of Tomas Nosek and Brandon Pirri.

This is where it gets tricky and complicated, though. Defenseman Deryk Engelland is expected to sign a new one-year, bonus-laden deal before training camp, while a contract for rookie Jimmy Schuldt is also being thrashed out.

Those moves would take the Golden Knights to just under the $81.5 million salary cap for 2019-20, and that is without Gusev on the roster.

So, the million dollar question is where do the Vegas Golden Knights and Nikita Gusev go from here?

The answer at this point seems fairly straightforward – the Golden Knights are going to have to bite the bullet and pull the trigger on some more trades.

That brings us onto the following questions: Who is the most expendable player for the Knights and who should sit atop the trade bait board?

Well, we’ll try and answer those questions here. Firstly, Cody Eakin and Nick Holden are two names that keep cropping up when it comes to trade buzz and they would make the most sense when it comes to moving players.

Ryan Reaves has also come up in trade talks but it is hard to see the bruising enforcer getting flipped due to the fact that he is loved by head coach Gerard Gallant and President of Hockey Operations George McPhee, coupled with the reality that Reaves actually plays a valuable role for this team.

Not only is he arguably the toughest slugger in the NHL, but he can also provide secondary scoring as backed up by his career-highs in goals (nine), assists (11) and points (20) in 2018-19.

In regards to the second question, it seems likely and more logical that Eakin would sit atop the trade bait board.

Here’s why; he’s entering the final year of his current deal which carries a cap hit of $3.85 million and, in all likelihood, he will walk next summer as a unrestricted free agent.

It would be a tough pill to swallow at first if Eakin were to be traded given that he too enjoyed a career year last season, setting career-highs in goals (22), points (41), goals created (17), points per game (.53) and plus/minus (+19).

However, the reason Eakin is so expendable is because the Knights have a stud rookie waiting in the wings in Cody Glass.

Glass has absolutely dominated at every level he’s played at and he’s ready to make the leap to the NHL right now.

He impressed in Development Camp before getting hurt and he possesses all the tools in his armoury that are required in order to morph into a high-end playmaker in the NHL.

If you put Glass as a third-line pivot between Brandon Pirri and Alex Tuch then you would be confident of getting a decent amount of secondary scoring.

But, just imagine the damage and havoc a third-line consisting of Gusev-Glass-Tuch would wreak? It would arguably be one of the strongest and most formidable third-lines in all of hockey and having two high-end wings either side of him would no doubt help to elevate Glass’ game and ease his transition into the big leagues.

That is why, given the way this roster is currently constructed and the depth and talent available in the farm system, the Golden Knights could afford to flip Eakin for a package of picks as a way of creating the cap space needed to sign Gusev.

The same can be said with Holden. As mentioned in the Report Card we did on the blueliner on Monday, the 32-year-old didn’t stand out in his first season in Sin City and he’s likely to only take on the roll of a depth defenseman in 2019-20, which is a total waste of $2,200,000.

Plus, given the slew of stud defensemen the Knights have on the depth chart in Nic Hague, Zach Whitecloud and Dylan Coghlan to name just a few, it now doesn’t make sense to keep Holden around when you are in desperate need of cap space.

This is the reality of living in a salary cap world and General Managers and other front office executives are paid the big bucks in order to make these tough but shrewd decisions.

There is one more factor at play here, and this again came up in our conversation with The Athletic’s Jesse Granger.

Nikita Gusev will go down as one of the most productive scorers in KHL history with 147 goals and 253 assists for 400 points in 458 games, which equates to 0.873 points per game.

That is better production in the KHL than both Florida Panthers forward Evgenii Dadonov and Artemi Panarin achieved, with the latter having just earned one hell of a payday from the New York Rangers.

The Athletic’s analytics expert, Dom Luszczyszyn also worked out, based on other KHL stars who have made the transition to the NHL, that Gusev’s offensive production in the NHL would represent 80 percent of his production in Russia, which would translate to around 57 points (21 goals, 36 assists).

If that proved to be the case then that would turn out to be the best possible outcome for the Knights who would all of a sudden be able to boast another potent offensive weapon on their roster.

That would ease the pain of giving up someone like Eakin because, when you think about it, yes Eakin tallied 41 points last year but if Gusev can produce between 45-60 points and Alex Tuch can carve out another 52 point season, then you are looking at a third-line that could easily eclipse 100 points and that isn’t even including the impact Glass could make in his rookie year.

Furthermore, Gusev also proved at the IIHF World Championships that he can mix it with the best of the best the NHL has to offer after forging a lethal partnership with Tampa Bay Lightning star and Hart Trophy winner Nikita Kucherov, registering four goals and 12 assists for 16 points.

Overall, the way the Vegas Golden Knights are currently constituted, coupled with the incredibly smart way they have built this franchise from the ground floor up, allows them the freedom to be able to sacrifice one or two depth players.

Trading away Cody Eakin would be a tough decision but, when you have the opportunity to add a talent like Nikita Gusev to your roster, you do what it takes to make it happen.

Yes, the Golden Knights will still be a Stanley Cup contender in 2019-20 even if they don’t have Gusev on the team, that is abundantly clear.

But, at a time when star power is prevalent in all of the major sports, being able to boast a potent weapon in Gusev would give the Knights an edge over a lot of their fellow contenders and the Russian’s talent, if it indeed translates to the NHL, would more than make up for any depth that may have to be shed this offseason.