Vegas Golden Knights: Grading the Alec Martinez Trade

The Vegas Golden Knights made a major splash on Wednesday when they acquired veteran defenseman Alec Martinez from the Los Angeles Kings.

Addressing a real need, the Vegas Golden Knights sent a second-round pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft and a second-round selection in 2021 to the Kings for the two-time Stanley Cup champion.

Despite ranking high in a plethora of metrics, the Knights haven’t got the job done this year and a lot of their woes boiled down to an imbalanced blueline, in addition to subpar goaltending.

They have struggled with the transition game, giving up a bevy of turnovers as a result, while they lack a real heavyweight on the blueline.

Shea Theodore has been fantastic and has already set a new career-high in points with 39 (eight goals, 31 assists), and we are still in February.

However, Theodore has received little help with Nate Schmidt enduring a down year and the Golden Knights needed a real horse on the blueline.

They now have that in Alec Martinez although the 32-year-old is hardly a move the needle type move.

On that note, let’s delve into the trade from the Vegas Golden Knights perspective before we give it a final grade…

The Vegas Golden Knights addressed a real need by trading for a proven defenseman in Alec Martinez.

He has skated in 597 career regular season games in the NHL with 62 goals and 136 assists for 198 points, while the blueliner is a proven performer in the postseason with 64 playoff games under his belt.

Only Paul Stastny (79) and Marc-Andre Fleury (142) have more postseason experience, and you can never have enough proven winners in the locker room.

Martinez has a history of coming up clutch in huge moments, scoring the game-winner in overtime of Game 7 of the 2014 Western Conference Final against the Chicago Blackhawks, before going on to tally the goal that clinched the Stanley Cup for the LA Kings in the same year against the New York Rangers.

A left shot, Martinez can play on both sides and he is a significant upgrade should he play on the second or third defensive pairing.

Martinez is also a shot blocking machine with 85 blocked shots this year, ranked 46th in the NHL, while he can eat monster minutes, averaging 21:31 minutes of total ice time this year.

The Golden Knights could use Martinez on the penalty kill, too, and he adds much-needed depth which should prove invaluable both down the stretch and in the postseason.

However, on the flip side, Martinez has declined somewhat this year and the underlying numbers are ugly to look at.

First and foremost, the 32-year-old allowed the fourth-most 5v5 goals against per hour of any Kings blueliner, min. 500 minutes, while LA allowed more shot attempts, unblocked shot attempts, shots on goal, scoring chances and goals against with Martinez on the ice since 2014.

Now, you could argue that has more to do with the fact that the Kings have been trending downward for a while now and they have been bad this year, prompting them to tear everything down and start again.

But Martinez has also seen his offensive production dry up, which isn’t ideal given that it was never that great to start with anyway.

His career-high was 39 points (nine goals, 30 assists) in 2016-17, which is hardly elite, while his production has completely fallen off a cliff this year with one goal and seven assists for just eight points through 41 games.

Martinez has yet to record a primary assist this year, which is incredible, and he’s also missed significant time both this year and last year which should be a concern going forward for the Golden Knights.

Then there is the price.

The Golden Knights sent a 2020 second-round pick and a second-round selection in 2021 to the LA Kings for Martinez, which is a hefty price to pay for a 32-year-old defenseman.

Yes, Martinez is under contract through 2020-21 but when you consider that the Washington Capitals only gave up a second-round pick in 2020 and a conditional third-round selection in 2021 for Brenden Dillon, who is younger and is also having a better year, that gives you some idea as to how much of an overpayment this was by the Knights.

And the fact that the Winnipeg Jets only had to part with a 2020 third-round pick for Dylan DeMelo further puts the spotlight on what the Golden Knights stumped up for Alec Martinez.

That is the market, however, and the Vegas Golden Knights had to upgrade their defense no matter what, but there is no question that they overpaid significantly.

Grade: B- 

The Vegas Golden Knights addressed a real need by adding a horse in Alec Martinez to a less than stellar blueline.

He can eat monster minutes every single night and will put his body on the line for the team, while acting as a mentor to rookies in the ilk of Zach Whitecloud and Nic Hague.

Martinez is an upgrade and his vast experience and knowledge of how to win will both prove invaluable for this team down the stretch and in the postseason.

However, the 32-year-old is not a game-changer and he doesn’t move the needle for the Golden Knights, who could still be in the market for a puck-moving defenseman.

And, with plenty of tread on the tyres and visible signs of decline this year, sending two second-round picks to the LA Kings for Alec Martinez was a major overpayment, despite the fact that he’s under contract through 2020-21.