Imagine if your favorite team gets a goaltender like Alexandar Georgiev or Karel Vejmelka in a trade. Robin Lehner suffers another hip injury, turning him to LTIR fodder. They come in and bomb, leaving your team to miss the playoffs. The fanbase is angry and is demanding answers from the front office.
"What happened?"
"Why did we make this move?"
Sometimes, there are decisions you make in life that you instantly regret. You get annoyed because you wasted precious time doing something you could've simply avoided. Whether it's going to a boring party or seeing an awful movie, it leaves you in a bad mood. That's never a good thing, especially with hockey trades.
The Vegas Golden Knights know first-hand about this feeling, with duds such as dealing Nick Suzuki to the Montreal Canadiens. It was a nice deal in the short term, providing the team with a bona fide scorer in Max Pacioretty. However, Suzuki has become a great playmaker, giving Montreal fans hope for a 25th Stanley Cup.
Still, some good moves happened on the flip side, such as acquiring Jack Eichel from the Buffalo Sabres or getting Adin Hill from the San Jose Sharks. These moves got the Golden Knights a Stanley Cup championship in 2023, capped off by a breathtaking save in Game 1. It beats having Georgiev in net, huh?
So let's explore some of the bullets that Kelly McCrimmon and company dodged. What happened with these players after they were looked past by the Golden Knights? Why were they passed up in a potential trade? Here are three deals that we're glad never happened for Vegas.
The Vegas Golden Knights pass up Karel Vejmelka for Jonathan Quick
The Vegas Golden Knights were dealing with a wave of goaltender injuries heading into the 2023 trade deadline. They needed a stop-gap netminder who could hold the fort down once Laurent Brossoit or Adin Hill returned. One of the names considered was Arizona Coyotes goalie, Karel Vejmelka.
The native of the Czech Republic was a cheap option, carrying a $2.725 million cap hit. Knowing how Kelly McCrimmon operated, somebody else could carry a bulk of the hit. It was a win-win for the Golden Knights, especially since they were desperate to stop the bleeding in net.
But there were another option in Jonathan Quick, who was passable as a Golden Knights netminder. The former Conn Smythe winner had a save percentage of .901 in 10 games, bridging the gap for Vegas before the cavalry returned. He had a renaissance with his childhood team, the New York Rangers, posting a GAA of 2.62 and a save percentage of .911 in 27 games in 2023-24. Meanwhile, Vejmelka had a GAA of 3.35 and a save percentage of .895 in 38 games. It's safe to say picking Quick worked out for Vegas, getting them their first championship.