It's safe to say that Vegas Golden Knights fans are still feeling the aftershocks of a earth-shattering Pavel Dorofeyev trade. The Golden Knights offloaded him to the New York Rangers for draft picks, sparing Kelly McCrimmon the possibility of him handing out an $11 million AAV deal.
Yeah, I know. How in the world could you trade away such a player? He was sooooo good on the power play and broke single-season records. Well, dear reader, there's a good explanation for that.
First, this isn't the first time that the Golden Knights have dealt with such situations before. Fans will remember the Jonathan Marchessault controversy surround the team, yet he still hasn't matched his total from 2023-24 during his time with the Nashville Predators.
But how about this, dear reader? How about I give you three reasons why the Golden Knights were justified in trading Dorofeyev? That's right, three reasons! You'd want to trust Kelly McCrimmon since he's known to pull off incredible moves (hello, John Tortorella). But these three reasons lend credence to his thought process.
1.) Dorofeyev wasn't much of a factor in even strength situations
I know this seems like a shocking thing to say, but... the stats tell a completely different story from his production. How much you ask? Well, he was supposed to do better in even strength situations. Let's take last season's statistics as a perfect example.
Player | Expected Goals (Even Strength) | Expected Goals (Power Play) | Goals Above Expected (Even Strength) | Goals Above Expected (Power Play) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Pavel Dorofeyev | 14.5 | 12.9 | 0.5 | 6.1 |
These stats tell one of two things. First, he overachieved on the power play and broke the single-season franchise record for most power play goals. Second, it proves the point that Dorofeyev is a power play merchant who was expendable. That leads to the second point...
2.) Why pay $11 million AAV for a power play merchant?
The Vegas Golden Knights are the type of team that only hands out $10+ million AAV contracts to players who do it all. We're talking about guys like Mitch Marner and Jack Eichel, two guys who can do it all and have earned their contracts.
So why give that deal to someone that specializes in power play tactics? Paying $11 million AAV for seven years to a guy who scores power play goals and not much else? That's what McCrimmon was up against, which led to him saying "adios!"
3.) The Golden Knights are looking to get much cheaper and don't have the cap space
Having $4.625 million in cap space (again, minus Alex Pietrangelo's contract not being on season-ending LTIR) doesn't help matters much for the Golden Knights. They're looking at extending Rasmus Andersson and also want to fill out the roster.
Having that $11 million AAV on the roster complicates matters and creates a top-heavy situation similar to the Toronto Maple Leafs. Fans know how well that turned out for the Maple Leafs, who saw Marner come to Las Vegas and make a Stanley Cup Final.
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