Vegas Golden Knights Trade Simulator: Reilly Smith Edition

Vegas Golden Knights Trade Simulator: Reilly Smith Edition

The Vegas Golden Knights are in a tough spot given their current outlook for the upcoming seasons. Actually, if the Knights kept their current roster, and they didn’t make any trades- they’d be playing over the NHL’s Salary Cap. Which is, well… they can’t.

So, now looking ahead to Jack Eichel’s return to the ice- they are going to need to move Reilly Smith in order to create some room. So, first things first, who can even afford him?

Teams Who can Afford Reilly Smith

According to CapFriendly.com, there aren’t many teams that actually have the cap space in order to take on Reilly Smith’s contract. In fact, there are actually only nine teams in the NHL that have over $5,000,000 available in their cap space. The teams; Arizona Coyotes, New Jersey Devils, Seattle Kraken, Nashville Predators, Ottawa Senators, Detroit Red Wings, Anaheim Ducks, Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers, and Buffalo Sabres.

So, now if we eliminate those that are in the running to win their division, or ready to compete, we shorten the list too; New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers, Nashville Predators, Detroit Red Wings, Anaheim Ducks, Columbus Blue Jackets.

So, now it’s a matter of narrowing down the teams that would actually be willing to make that move. If you do that, it’s probably going to be to a team who’s in win now mode because his contract is up at the end of the year.

After doing so, the list gets narrowed down to; Columbus Blue Jackets, New York Rangers, and the Detroit Red Wings.