3 potential trade packages for Golden Knights's Shea Theodore

The Vegas Golden Knights are loaded at the blue line heading into next season. They have seven defensemen set to dress up for the 2024-25 season, leaving the organization to possibly send one of them out. The person of interest? Shea Theodore, who is entering the last season of his current seven-year, $36.4 million deal. There's good reason behind the rumors: Vegas is tight on salary cap space, leaving them without much wiggle room in free agency or to re-sign key players.

It's not to say that the 28-year-old has been, well, bad. He's been an excellent complementary piece on offense, a rare title to give to a defenseman. Granted, he's not going to be Erik Karlsson and rack up points. But he's been consistent, notching more than 30 assists in the past five seasons. He also does a lot for the team on the attack, which includes the power play. The much-maligned unit has been kept afloat thanks in part to the defenseman.

Theodore is a $5.2 million cap hit next season. Offloading that would get the team closer to either re-signing Jonathan Marchessault or getting a big-time star. Trading the Canadian defenseman wouldn't just free up cap space, though. It would also free up the blue line cluster, with players like Ben Hutton getting more time. In short, it might not be the most popular move to do. But something must be done to help the team this offseason.

Still, some potential trades can work out for Vegas. Some teams will need a shot-blocking defenseman with an offensive edge, so the market is out there. Get ready because this will cause some controversy among Golden Knights fans and other fans. Here are three potential trade packages for Shea Theodore.

Shea Theodore goes to Toronto

Now this is a scenario that might happen if Marchessault doesn't return. If he does come back, there won't be much consideration for this trade (or there might be because Kelly McCrimmon has worked crazier deals before). Still, it's worth noting the entire salary of Shea Theodore would be offloaded to bring in Mitch Marner. But could some salary be retained by Toronto for Marner? It would likely happen given McCrimmon's past.

Still, this would be a deal that Vegas Golden Knights fans would love to see in a potential post-Marchessault world. The franchise hasn't been shy about trading first-round picks to get better pieces, with this instance being no different. But Toronto Maple Leafs fans? They would lose their collective minds. However, they'd still get a great defenseman who's 28 years old and would help the power play.

It's possible that Vegas would offload Theodore's contract as a means to simply add more forward depth. That's the more logical solution given their lack of viable forward prospects in their farm system. But it doesn't hurt to have a little fun with trade possibilities like this. That's especially true with the Golden Knights in the middle of a Stanley Cup contention window.

A Devil-ishly good deal?

Now, what was initially thought with this deal was getting Dawson Mercer. Yes, that Dawson Mercer. The question was whether general manager Tom Fitzgerald would bite on giving up a player due for a massive extension. After further review, that's just a pie-in-the-sky dream as the New Jersey Devils have the cap space to work that out. Besides, the Vegas Golden Knights did all their heavy lifting at this year's trade deadline, which put them in their current cap situation.

Still, the Devils do have some holes to fill, specifically on the left side defensively. Theodore would give New Jersey more depth on the blue line and enhance the power play. Plus, there still would be wiggle room for the Devils to make this move and give a reasonable extension to Mercer ($18,823,603 in current cap space). If Vegas wanted to, they could even throw in Keegan Kolesar for more space.

Even though David Puddy's favorite team would prefer a goaltender (i.e. Adin Hill) to come over, it's still plausible for the Golden Knights to send over their star defenseman. They'd offload their salary cap hit as needed and would have more draft picks. Overall, this could be a deal that's a win-win for both teams if done right.