The Vegas Golden Knights are about to enter the stretch period of the regular season and it is clear that they need some help.
Once the NHL Trade Deadline passes on Feb. 24, all eyes will be on the race for the postseason and the Vegas Golden Knights will be right at the heart of it.
However, it is no sure thing that the Golden Knights will even stamp their playoff ticket given how inconsistent they have been so far this year.
It is expected that the front office will be active at the Trade Deadline in order to try and spark this team into life, but the Knights won’t be able to address all of their needs due to their salary cap constraints.
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As of today, Vegas will have just under $3 million in cap space by the Trade Deadline while they will also try to move some contracts off the book in order to free up some more cash.
That may not be enough to bring in secondary scoring and a top-four defenseman, though, with Vegas in dire need of both.
But, there is a solution.
It is common practice for NHL teams to promote some of their high-end prospects to the big leagues down the stretch or for the postseason.
The Boston Bruins did it with Charlie McAvoy in 2016-17 while the Colorado Avalanche brought in stud defenseman Cale Makar for the playoffs last year.
And the Vegas Golden Knights have been known to give some of their prospects a taste of the NHL in the final few games of the regular season.
Well, with a number of high-end prospects in the system, the Golden Knights could look to promote from within if they can’t address all of their needs at the Trade Deadline.
And, on that note, we’ve picked out three young studs who could potentially come in and make an impact for the Vegas Golden Knights both down the stretch and during the postseason.