Is Logan Thompson Ready to Step-up for the Golden Knights?
By Evan Mead
How the Vegas Golden Knights Can Get Salary Cap Compliant
The Vegas Golden Knights, when they acquired Jack Eichel from the Buffalo Sabres, knew that they were going to be in some trouble with the cap yet again. Now, they could do something similar to what the Tampa Bay Lightning did with Nikita Kucherov this past year. By that I mean- keep him on IR until the playoffs since they are injured and you want them to be healthy. However, I don’t feel that is a reasonable solution given the Knights current situation.
With Mark Stone dealing with some injuries, Max Pacioretty on the IR after getting wrist surgery, and simply just knowing the Vegas Golden Knights injury problem this season- that’s not a great idea. So, what can they do? We’ll there are a couple of different Ideas. First, the Vegas Golden Knights Could trade away defenseman, Alec Martinez.
That Idea has actually become something a lot of people have begun talking about. With him dealing with injuries for most of this season. He hasn’t exactly lived up to his contract. Which, given the Knights situation, has to be considered. You can’t have him on the IR when he’s always hurt. You have to make something happen.
Second, you could trade Evgenii Dadonov and Mattias Janmark. Between the two wingers, the Knights would be able to clear $7,000,000 off the books and would be able to obtain a pick or two for them. Dadonov, who they just acquired this past off-season, hasn’t quite done what Knight fans have expected. Now, the expectations might have varied depending on the person, but I was personally expecting him to have a 30 goal season. Now, he may still get there but it doesn’t appear so.
As for Mattias Janmark, I expected him to produce and have a 20 goal season, maybe more depending on his role. With him primarily working the fourth line, he hasn’t really been in a role that would allow him to put up numbers like that. But, with him being on the fourth-line, he is very dispensable. The Knights have a ton of people who can play the fourth-line so what makes him stand out? Not much.
There are a lot more options, but for now there is one that stands out too me. It’s not been talked about much, but this one definitely seems to help in more ways than one- Trade Robin Lehner.