Vegas Golden Knights: What a Zucker trade would have looked like

The first big domino fell on Monday after the Pittsburgh Penguins acquired Jason Zucker from the Minnesota Wild, a forward that would have improved the Vegas Golden Knights.

We’re rapidly approaching the Trade Deadline now and the Vegas Golden Knights will no doubt be hammering the phones and throwing their chips into the middle of the table, along with the rest of the buyers in the NHL.

And the first big trade went down on Monday with the Penguins sending forward Alex Galchenyuk, prospect Calen Addison and a conditional first round pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft to the Wild for Zucker.

It was one of those rare win-win trades for both teams with Pittsburgh adding more firepower in the form of Zucker, while the Wild got back a high-end prospect and a draft pick to help aid their rebuild, in addition to an interesting reclamation project in Galchenyuk.

But, what would the trade have looked like for the Vegas Golden Knights?

Of course, we don’t have any inside knowledge to suggest that Zucker was on the radar of the Vegas front office, but let’s just play GM for a minute.

We’re going to provide two mock trades for Jason Zucker, using the real life trade between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Minnesota Wild as a rough guide.

Let’s go.

Trade 1

So, in this instance the Vegas Golden Knights would get a proven and established offensive threat in the NHL in Jason Zucker, who can slot straight into the top six.

Through 46 games this year, Zucker has 14 goals and 15 assists for 29 points, with nine of those points coming on the power play, while it is worth remembering that he has missed time this year with a broken fibula.

He has averaged 15:26 minutes of total ice time this year and can be used as a key weapon on the power play.

Zucker has also recorded 40 or more points in each of the last three seasons, while he is likely to reach that plateau again this year.

In a nutshell, the Golden Knights would be acquiring a proven scorer and playmaker to really add an offensive punch to their top six, while helping to add depth to the lineup with Reilly Smith dropping down to the third line.

In terms of what the Minnesota Wild would get back, the Knights would have to give up a first-round pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, which is a fair price for a top six forward.

Also, the Knights would send across prospect Lucas Elvenes who has flourished in his rookie season in North America, leading the Chicago Wolves in points with 39 (11 goals, 28 assists), while also attending the AHL All-Star weekend.

And the Wild would also get back Alex Tuch, a player they drafted 18th overall in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft, before trading him to the Golden Knights in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft.

Tuch is a young forward who is under control through 2025-26 with an annual average value of $4,750,000.

While the two-way forward is having a down year, he did break out last season with 20 goals and 32 assists for 52 points.

In conclusion, the Vegas Golden Knights would be getting a potent and proven weapon in Jason Zucker while creating some cap space by shedding Alex Tuch’s contract.

For the Minnesota Wild, they would be getting back a first-round pick in this year’s draft in addition to a high-end prospect and a top-six forward in Alex Tuch, who could become a cornerstone piece in their rebuild.

Trade Two

Again, in this trade the Vegas Golden Knights would be getting just Jason Zucker, but that is more than enough considering how good a player the wing is.

Not only can he score and create goals as we detailed above, but Zucker is also responsible in his own zone, he’s speedy and he’s incredibly aggressive on the forecheck, which would tick all the boxes for the Golden Knights.

And it is hard not to get excited when thinking about the damage a top-line of Zucker, William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault could wreak.

Now, in terms of the package the Minnesota Wild would get back, this trade is based on what the Pittsburgh Penguins tried to offer back in the summer.

It was widely reported that the Penguins were attempting to persuade the Wild to trade Jason Zucker by offering Phil Kessel as part of the deal, but the elite wing vetoed any such trade due to his unwillingness to play for Minnesota.

So, using that attempt as a guide, in our second mock trade we have the Golden Knights sending Paul Stastny to the Wild.

Although Minnesota are in a state of transition, they do still have a number of veterans on the team and Stastny could be used as a role model for some of their younger centers in the ilk of Luke Kunin and Joel Ericsson EK.

Plus, from a Vegas perspective, shedding Stastny’s $6,500,000 cap hit would give them the freedom to accommodate Zucker’s $5,500,000 average annual value.

The Wild would also get back prospect Zach Whitecloud who is one of the Golden Knights’ better defensive prospects and has impressed in the handful of NHL outings he’s made this year.

Given Vegas’ bevy of high-end defensive prospects, including young stud Kaedan Korczak, they could afford to package Whitecloud in a trade for a big name.

And, again, Minnesota would also receive a first-round pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft as part of the package.

Overall, the first trade seems a lot more realistic than the second one given where the Minnesota Wild are in terms of appearing to be on the cusp of tearing everything down and starting over.

Of course, Jason Zucker is now a member of the Pittsburgh Penguins and a Zucker-Sidney Crosby combo is just scary for the rest of the NHL, but this was a fun exercise to do nonetheless.