3 Vegas Golden Knights Who Will Get Traded by the Deadline

Can’t say we didn’t see this day coming.  But the time has come for the Vegas Golden Knights to start finding trade partners for a player or two on the roster. With Jack Eichel returning soon the question that needs to be asked is: Who are some players that the Knights could move?

It wasn’t that long ago that we thought the Knights could look to move Shea Theodore in order to make room for Eichel’s contract or to simply just clear some cap space up. Now, there is no way to that they would trade him. Even knowing their current situation.

There aren’t too many holes in the Vegas Golden Knights roster right now. However, that doesn’t mean they don’t need to make moves to clear cap. Because as you guys know, you have to be cap compliant. It’s not something you can negotiate.

Now, there are a couple different paths the Vegas Golden Knights could take in order to get compliant with the cap. First, they could look to move a big salaried player like Jonathan Marchessault, Shea Theodore, Evgenii Dadonov, Reilly Smith, or Alec Martinez. Or Second, they could a couple little pieces that would total their cap.

Obviously the first choice remains the most likely but the second option shouldn’t be dismissed. If you use the first option you’d be able to keep a lot of players on your current roster, but the second gives you the ability to make two or three lines with so much talent.

In this article I’ll be going over the big names primarily. However, I do want to touch on who could be on the trade block for the Knights that may be a ‘smaller name’.

Vegas Golden Knights Potential Trade Pieces

The Vegas Golden Knights have a lot of depth that can play at the NHL.

Throughout this season, many Golden Knight prospects have gotten their shot at the NHL. With guys like Jake Leschyshyn, Jonas Rondbjerg, and Logan Thompson still up in the NHL- it just goes to show how much faith they have in their prospects.

So if they were to trade some low-end contract talent- who could get moved?

Well, looking at the contracts and who’s played worth their contract I think we can make an argument here for the following players to get moved: Mattias Janmark, William Carrier, or Brayden McNabb.

If you guys want to hear my thoughts on that section, make sure to let me know. For now, let’s get into the top three names the Golden Knights could move via. trade at the deadline.

#1- Reilly Smith

Reilly Smith is the type of guy that does everything you could ever want him to and he never complains. Everyone in the locker room loves him. He’s truly a great leader, a great player, and a great guy that you want to have in that locker room. However, I believe his time as a Golden Knight has come to an end.

Smith is making $4,500,000 this season which would be a huge help as to getting Jack Eichel’s contract on the books. Unfortunately for Smith, I think just about everyone out there would agree that they would take Eichel over Smith.

The only concern I have when it comes to trading away Smith is the fact that it only really helps this year. With him being an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, one, your not going to get much back for him and two, it doesn’t really help you out next year because you’ll still have to clear more cap to get Eichel’s to fit.

Nonetheless, Reilly Smith has been on the trade block for awhile now and it feels as though the fan favorite misfit line will finally be coming to an end.

#2- Evgenii Dadonov

Evgenii Dadonov is one of the newer Vegas Golden Knights along with Nolan Patrick. Both of them were brought in this off-season in order to help fill out the Knights roster with more depth pieces. However, a short lived Vegas Golden Knights career might be in store for Dadonov.

Similarly to Reilly Smith, Dadonov has become a fan favorite due to the nickname ‘Daddy’ that has people always cheering loud, and cheering proud for him. However, with only 10 goals and 11 assists in 40 games, it’s safe to say that he hasn’t quite performed to his value.

After signing an extension with the Ottawa Senators, he has now found himself making $5,000,000 this year before getting a pay raise and making $6,500,000 next season. Given the fact that Dadonov isn’t averaging a point per game, and quite frankly hasn’t really been a big part to the Knights success, it’s hard to make the argument that he’s worth the money.

When it comes to trying to clear cap space like the Knights currently are, I’d assume he’d be one of the first to go.