The Athletic says what we knew all along about the Golden Knights and contract value

People laud Kelly McCrimmon for his work as the Vegas Golden Knights' general manager. He's up there with Bill Zito and Jim Nill regarding finding the best value for their deals, making Vegas a consistent Stanley Cup contender. A new study proves that's the case for the general manager.

Once again, Dom Luszczyszyn of The Athletic cooked up a banger of an article on Wednesday, talking about the teams with the best contract value. Lo and behold, the Golden Knights got a solid grade for their efforts, earning an A.

Pretty good, eh?

You better believe it, Jack Eichel and Mark Stone.

Overall, the Golden Knights did an excellent job finding value contract-wise. Only three grades below a B- (all in the forward group) and a positive value below 50% were found. Granted, that came with two grades of an A- or better. However, the overall value fetched Vegas a total surplus of $62 million, putting them at an average position value of 66%.

The biggest value on the Golden Knights (and the man responsible for the A grade) was Shea Theodore. His positive value sat at 90.9%, fetching a total surplus of $20.7 million. The defenseman's model value sat at $10.4 million (over and out!), making him arguably the biggest steal.

Looking at the overall value of the Vegas Golden Knights

Looking at the study, the Golden Knights ranked seventh overall in terms of overall value. The NHL team with the best value was the Tampa Bay Lightning, with a total surplus of $107 million, earning an A+.

Still, that doesn't diminish what McCrimmon did with the Golden Knights roster for this season. Players like Reilly Smith (B+) and Kaedan Korczak (B+) earned plenty of praise for being value contracts. For Smith, his model value was $3.8 million, giving Vegas a total surplus of $1.8 million. Korczak's deal was estimated at a surprising $5.2 million, leaving a total surplus of $7.6 million.

Other players like Brandon Saad (total surplus of $1.6 million) and William Karlsson (total surplus of $2.5 million) anchored the savings for Vegas. However, the strongest showing was in the blue line, where every player was graded at a B- or better.

In fact, the worst deal of the group was Noah Hanifin, clocking in at a positive value of 52.4%. Even with the lower positive value, he had savings of $1.2 million. Another standout on the blue line was Brayden McNabb, clocking in at $4.5 million for his total surplus.

As mentioned, only three players had a positive value below 50% and grades below a B-. That consisted of Mark Stone (46.7%), Keegan Kolesar (37%), and Colton Sissons (20.1%). While Sissons is the worst on the team, one can't forget that the Nashville Predators are retaining half his salary for the 2025-26 season. Thus, the value goes up further.

Overall, The Athletic's study tells us everything we already knew about McCrimmon as a general manager. He's d**n good and he knows how to spot a bargain. If recent trends are any indication, that puts the Golden Knights in a great position for the 2025-26 season.

Don't plan the parade yet, mi amigo. Just keep it in the back of your mind. Stuff like this will be valuable down the road.