Remember when I talked about how Kelly McCrimmon mastered the art of handling his restricted free agents? Leo Carlsson was a perfect example of this, as the Philadelphia Flyers gave him an $18 million AAV offer sheet for five years. That's a perfect example of what not to do with your restricted free agents.
Well, it seems that Kelly McCrimmon looks like a genius once again. This time, it involves former Golden Knights netminder Akira Schmid. The new Florida Panther was one of 15 players who filed for arbitration on Sunday, along with noteworthy stars such as Trevor Zegras and Jason Robertson.
15 players have filed for arbitration:
— David Pagnotta (@TheFourthPeriod) July 5, 2026
Bourgault, Xavier (Ottawa Senators)
Dach, Kirby (Montreal Canadiens)
Drysdale, Jamie (Philadelphia Flyers)
Greaves, Jet (Columbus Blue Jackets)
Jefferies, Alex (New York Islanders)
Krebs, Peyton (Buffalo Sabres)
McMichael, Connor (St. Louis…
The Golden Knights traded Schmid to the Panthers for a 2028 third-round pick in the NHL Draft. The Swiss Olympian posted a GAA of 2.59 and a save percentage of .893 last season, adding two shutouts to the mix. One can argue that he was Vegas's best regular season goaltender.
Schmid's qualifying offer number was $918,750, which would've been a nice deal for the Panthers. However, they're looking at something far more expensive, meaning that McCrimmon made another good move. Imagine the cap space that would've been eaten if Schmid stayed on board.
The same can be said for Pavel Dorofeyev, who is a far more extreme case. Imagine if you added another $10+ million player to the Golden Knights. That would be a massive anchor on the team's salary cap space, leaving McCrimmon to make even more drastic cuts. That would hurt Vegas's depth to unbridled levels, leaving them in the realm of mid.
That's a place that McCrimmon doesn't want to be, especially with the team's current Stanley Cup window. You want balance and cohesiveness to make as many Stanley Cup runs as possible, which is what makes the general manager so great. The Schmid news is the latest example of this, where he avoids another catastrophe (albeit, smaller than Dorofeyev's).
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