Vegas Golden Knights: Grading an explosive Trade Deadline
NHL Trade Deadline Final Grade
This was an impressive Trade Deadline for the Vegas Golden Knights.
While they did not add a superstar in the ilk of Mark Stone as they did last year, the Knights still got significantly better.
After acquiring veteran defenseman Alec Martinez days before, Vegas addressed other areas of need on Monday while making a major splash.
The trade for Robin Lehner was an unexpected but brilliant move, and the Golden Knights now have one of the best goalie tandems in the NHL.
Also, having Lehner in the building will allow the Knights to control Marc-Andre Fleury’s workload down the stretch, thus keeping their future Hall of Famer fresh for the postseason.
The Knights also addressed their lack of secondary scoring by acquiring forward Nick Cousins from the Montreal Canadiens for a 2021 Fourth-Round pick.
Finally, the Golden Knights also re-signed veteran defenseman Nick Holden to a team-friendly contract, locking up another vital piece of their blueline for at least the next two years.
Vegas only had to give away two picks and a mid-level prospect to get back Lehner and Cousins, while the front office clearly felt they had reached the end of the road with Malcolm Subban who was sent to the Chicago Blackhawks as part of the Lehner trade.
Next. Front Office deserve praise for being aggressive. dark
Overall, the Vegas Golden Knights bolstered their roster in impressive fashion on Monday and became the favorite for the Stanley Cup in the process, justifying the moves they made.
You could argue that there was another move to be made but, with limited cap space, they managed to upgrade their goaltending while beefing up their bottom six.
You can’t ask for more than that.