Few teams helped themselves more than the Vegas Golden Knights at the NHL trade deadline, and they can easily go from being a wild card hopeful to a top-three contender given the extent they “bought” between Tuesday and Friday.
It started with the Anthony Mantha trade when Vegas shipped off a 2024 second-rounder and a 2026 fourth-rounder for the 29-year-old, who found the net 20 times at the time the trade occurred. Two days later, however, one of the biggest blockbusters of the 2024 trade deadline season occurred when Vegas traded a conditional third-rounder in 2024, a conditional first-rounder in 2026, and Daniil Miromanov to the Calgary Flames for star defenseman Noah Hanifin.
Because of Hanifin’s price tag, the Philadelphia Flyers also retained a portion of Hanifin’s contract, prompting Vegas to also give up a fifth-rounder in 2024, the third team taking part in the deal.
The NHL trade deadline was ultra-kind to the Golden Knights
Mantha and Hanifin will take a Golden Knights team that has struggled since the calendar year began, where they have posted an 11-13-2 record to better heights once they’re acclimated into the system. This should be reassuring to Golden Knights fans everywhere that better days are ahead for the defending Stanley Cup Champions.
We also can’t forget about a third blockbuster deal that also occurred, this one involving Vegas acquiring Tomas Hertl from the San Jose Sharks plus a pair of third-round picks, one in 2025 and the other in 2027. Vegas sent a youngster in David Edstrom to San Jose along with a first-round pick for 2025.
The Hertl trade isn’t one that will help the Golden Knights clinch a playoff berth, but barring a setback, we should see him in a gold jersey for the postseason. Hertl has been an amazing asset for the Sharks, and it’s one reason the team locked him to such a long-term deal not long before they went into full rebuilding mode.
Overall, the Mantha trade gives Vegas more forward depth while Hanifin and Hertl add star-caliber talent, and best yet, the latter will be more than just a rental for this talented Golden Knights team.
(Information provided by Cap Friendly)