The Vegas Golden Knights faithful have adored William Karlsson for almost a decade. They've reveled in his "Day F*****g One" speech that talked about his buddy, Jonathan Marchessault. They marveled at his 43-goal campaign in the opening season, which became the single-season franchise record. But it seems that Karlsson himself can't shake the trade rumors swirling around the Golden Knights.
Nick Lariviere of The Sick Podcast proposed the idea for a Karlsson trade, suggesting that Montreal take on the Misfit's services in a stop-gap deal. Highlighted in this proposal is a need for a salary cap cleanup and the Canadiens needing a 2C.
"The Canadiens are still hard at work looking for that centre that could be a fit for the team, either for the long term or as a stopgap until their top prospect is ready to take on that role. In terms of stopgap options, there may be no easier option to get than Karlsson. He may not be the most skilled option on the market for the Habs, but the Vegas Golden Knights desperately need to shed cap space before the end of the off-season, as they are currently $8,611,182 over the cap for the 2026-27 campaign. It could be solved by putting Alex Pietrangelo‘s $8.8 million cap hit on LTIR, but they won’t be able to have much movement salary-wise if they go that route and therefore should look to move salary out. This is where a player like Karlsson could be an option to be a cap casualty."Nick Lariviere
For Vegas, that sounds good on the surface. Karlsson is 33 years old and has faced an avalanche of injuries in the past couple of seasons. He scored four goals and three assists in 2025-26, marking a massive downturn in offensive production. But are hockey players built solely for scoring goals and getting apples? The short answer: no.
The Golden Knights need Karlsson to handle faceoff duty in the closing moments. The Original Misfit has a career faceoff winning percentage of 51.3%, including a 2024-25 showing of 58.1%. If you're trying to win a hockey game, who are you going to call and prevent teams from scoring with the extra attacker?
You also need your best penalty killer on the ice, especially with players like Colton Sissons leaving town. The Golden Knights lost a good chunk of their penalty killing unit in the offseason (tied for sixth last season with a penalty kill percentage of 81.4%), leaving the unit to look for reinforcements. You need Karlsson's faceoff-winning ways and active stick to keep the ship afloat and eat more time. What sense would it make to trade away an efficient penalty killer and weaken the unit further?
General manager Kelly McCrimmon has already done his due diligence in trading away players to clear up cap space. That included figures like Keegan Kolesar and Kaedan Korczak, leaving room for future moves. Sure, trading Karlsson sounds nice on the surface. But is it worth sacrificing the penalty kill and overall depth to make this happen?
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