When the Vegas Golden Knights traded Kaedan Korczak to the Pittsburgh Penguins, the intention was to trade away a $3.25 million AAV contract. Kelly McCrimmon saw too many bloated contracts and wanted to make room for useful talent. Thus, Parker Wotherspoon came over as part of the deal.
But here's the kicker. The Penguins retained 50% of his salary, leaving the Golden Knights to pay... $500,000.
Ahh, Nintendo ads. Covering up the lack of competitiveness that still rings true today for the Seattle Mariners. It's like Howard Lincoln's lifeless corpse and Nintendo also bought the Seattle Kraken and made them painfully mediocre. Great news for the Golden Knights.
Anyway, Wotherspoon brings plenty of experience for the Golden Knights. Aside from playing with the Penguins for a season, he also spent two seasons with the Boston Bruins and one season with the New York Islanders. However, he's known for his breakout campaign last season with Pittsburgh.
Here, he had 27 assists with Pittsburgh, playing 80 games. He also had 112 blocked shots and 162 hits, making him a viable two-way defenseman. But is that sustainable for Wotherspoon as he heads into his first foray with the Golden Knights? Or will he suffer a serious regression?
Looking at what Parker Wotherspoon brings to the table for the Vegas Golden Knights
Obviously, Wotherspoon had a breakout season offensively for the Penguins last season. He also does well on the defensive front, which will help the stay-at-home aspect for the Golden Knights. But he's also an upgrade overall over the other trade piece, Korczak.
Player | Offensive Point Shares | Defensive Point Shares | Overall Point Shares |
|---|---|---|---|
Kaedan Korczak | 0.3 | 3.6 | 3.9 |
Parker Wotherspoon | 1.2 | 4.4 | 5.6 |
These stats are from last season and show how much better Wotherspoon is than Korczak. Not only is he more serviceable on an offensive front, but he does more defensively than his predecessor. Add in a penchant for picking other players' pockets (26 takeaways last season) and things look much better. On the surface, that looks much better for the Golden Knights heading into the 2026-27 season.
After all, McCrimmon is all about getting the most value for his players. He doesn't waste too much time overpaying for players, such as Pavel Dorofeyev. However, that doesn't mean that there's no caution associated with Wotherspoon. In fact, there's some fear with the player after his solid 2025-26 season.
Golden Knights fans should be extremely careful on one front with Wotherspoon
Let's look at those 27 assists for a second. The Golden Knights are getting a player who had a solid year offensively, setting up scoring opportunities for the Penguins. However, there's a catch: 15 of those 27 assists were secondary assists.
He also doesn't create too many rebounds, with his six last season being a career-high. That could be a problem offensively and leaves him prone to a massive regression. That's not even mentioning how he only had three goals last season with Pittsburgh.
Giveaways are also a problem, with Wotherspoon amassing 118 last season. 80 of those were in the defensive zone, which will cause plenty of concern for the goaltending. Remember what happened during last season's Stanley Cup Final, when Rasmus Andersson and Noah Hanifin weren't responsible with the puck. That's what could happen with Wotherspoon this season.
Still, $500,000 for a 28-year-old defenseman isn't a bad deal. It's much better than paying $3.25 million per year for an underachieving defenseman who disappoints the fans. Who knows? He might follow the Jeremy Lauzon path and get an extension done if things work out.
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