Vegas Golden Knights and Nikita Gusev: Are they any closer?

We have hit that time of the week again when we get ready to bring you yet another Nikita Gusev related article – sorry in advance.

In what has rapidly become an offseason saga, there is still no concrete news on whether or not Nikita Gusev will return to the Vegas Golden Knights for 2019-20. He’s currently a restricted free agent and there seems to be no light at the end of the tunnel.

Here’s what we know so far; according to our good friend Jesse Granger at The Athletic, Gusev and his camp wants a two-year deal worth $4 million per year. However, the Golden Knights are only willing to give a two-year deal carrying an average annual value of $2 million.

There was a report that surfaced online earlier this week suggesting that Gusev’s agent, Yuri Nikolaev will take the Russian stud back to the KHL with SKA St. Petersburg if a new deal or trade doesn’t happen by a certain date, which has yet to be disclosed.

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That could just be a major flex from Gusev’s camp on his behalf, of course, in order to give the player some leverage when it comes to deciding his immediate destiny. Gusev wants to play in the NHL and you can’t really blame his representatives for wanting to get something done sooner rather than later.

However, something happened on Tuesday that may well have swung the pendulum back in Vegas’ favor when it comes to thrashing out a deal with Gusev. What was that do you ask? Well, let us answer that for you. The Golden Knights front office pulled off another masterstroke by sending David Clarkson‘s albatross of a contract to the Toronto Maple Leafs, along with a fourth-round pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft in exchange for goaltender Garret Sparks.

By shedding Clarkson’s hefty $5,250,000 average annual cap hit, they are back under the cap hit of $81.5 million for 2019-20 and now have the flexibility to be aggressive in negotiations with Gusev if that is indeed the road they decide to head down.

Now, the main caveat at play here, of course, is the fact that the Knights now have $,1,025,001 in cap space to spend. Obviously, that isn’t nearly enough to go out and re-sign Gusev while remaining under the cap. So, what needs to be done?

Well, the Golden Knights have got some breathing room now when it comes to the cap and, if they are determined to have Gusev on their roster next year, they will need to look to trade one of Cody Eakin, Nick Holden or Ryan Reaves. They could even opt to buyout Holden’s contract which has one-year left on it with a cap hit of $2,200,00.

As I’ve mentioned before, I don’t think Reaves will be traded given how highly thought of he is by Head Coach Gerard Gallant and President of Hockey Operations George McPhee. Plus, not only does Reaves bring a bucketload of grit, tenacity and snarl to this Vegas team, he can also provide secondary scoring as seen last year when he posted career-highs in goals (9), assists (11) and points (20).

That leaves Eakin as the most expendable option when it comes to trading someone in order to create cap space to then go out and give Gusev the deal he wants. Eakin has one-year left that carries a cap hit of $3,850,000. He will be an unrestricted free agent in the summer of 2020 and will be allowed to walk for nothing next offseason.

It is likely given the contracts Vegas already have on the books that this year will be Eakin’s last year in Sin City anyway, so do you just take the blow to the head now, deal with the short-term pain and look to trade the third-line center who is coming off a career-year?

He posted 22 goals and 19 assists for 41 points in 78 regular season games, achieving career-highs in both goals and points while he had a winning percentage of 50.96 in the faceoff circle. Eakin could slot into a plethora of NHL teams on the third line and is a proven two-way forward who can provide secondary scoring, depth and extra help in the defensive zone.

Plus, Cody Glass is waiting in the wings and is primed and ready for the NHL now, so he could be a perfect replacement for Eakin in that third-line pivot spot and he boasts far more potential and upside at this stage of his career.

On the flip side of that, Vegas would be gaining a deadly playmaker in Gusev who totalled 147 goals and 253 assists for 400 points in 458 games in the KHL, which equates to 0.873 points per game. Gusev had better production in Russia’s top league than both Evgenii Dadonov and Artemi Panarin, with the latter having just received one hell of a payday from the New York Rangers.

And, as per Dom Luszczyszyn at The Athletic, Gusev’s offensive production in the NHL could represent 80 percent of his production in the KHL, which would translate to roughly 21 goals and 36 assists for 57 points. Vegas would obviously bite your hand off for that level of secondary scoring and it would add another potent weapon to the Knights’ already formidable armoury.

Sit back for a minute and just imagine a third-line featuring Gusev-Cody Glass-Alex Tuch – how lethal could that be? On paper it certainly has all the ingredients required to morph into one of the most productive and fun third-lines to watch in the NHL.

The above is just a dream for now, of course, and whether that becomes a reality remains to be seen. But, one thing is for certain and that’s the fact the Vegas Golden Knights are making all the right moves when it comes to clearing cap space. If they fail to sign Nikita Gusev then it won’t be for the want of trying.