Vegas Golden Knights: Predicting what might have happened on July 1

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Alex Pietrangelo #27 of the St. Louis Blues reacts to his power play goal. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

Scenario 1 – Alex Pietrangelo

Long craving an absolute horse on the blueline, the Vegas Golden Knights had their sights set on St. Louis Blues Captain Alex Pietrangelo for a considerable amount of time.

With the elite defenseman hitting the open market, the front office decided to offload Paul Stastny‘s $6,500,000 cap hit at the 2020 NHL Entry Draft while also moving around a few other pieces, including allowing backup goalie Robin Lehner to test the open market.

In doing so, the Golden Knights created the cap space needed to go big-game hunting yet again.

So, armed with cap space, the Knights go all out on the opening day of Free Agency to try and establish themselves as a real powerhouse at the top table of the National Hockey League.

Although the competition is fierce, the Golden Knights boast a number of selling points including the fact that they are right in the middle of their win-now window and they boast one of the most talented rosters in the NHL.

Alex Pietrangelo #27 of the St. Louis Blues waits for a faceoff against the Toronto Maple Leafs. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /

With that in mind, Vegas is one of the main frontrunners for Pietrangelo and, after a day full of relentless speculation on social media, NHL Insider Bob McKenzie finally has the Tweet:

“The Vegas Golden Knights have signed defenseman Alex Pietrangelo to a six-year contract with an AAV of $7.5 million.”

There you go.

Automatically upgrading their blueline significantly and creating a potential lethal one-two punch with a tandem of Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore, the Golden Knights cemented their status as a force to be reckoned with in the NHL.

Pietrangelo ending up in Sin City was also the headline of the day, emerging as easily the biggest deal on the first day of Free Agency.

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