The Vegas Golden Knights are one of many teams very close to the salary cap this season and would benefit if they could make a trade or two to free up some cap space. They have a number of players locked in long-term or others on too good of deals to consider trading.
The Golden Knights are in a great position this season ranking third in the NHL and first in the division by four points. They will be looking to add the right pieces to get them the first Stanley Cup as a franchise and they are equipped to do so. That brings us to the two players on the team that the Golden Knights could trade to free up money to utilize better, Alec Martinez and Laurent Brossoit. Let’s look at why.
Alec Martinez
The Golden Knights’ defence looks very strong this season. Everyone is healthy and locked into contracts past this season. Among the six defencemen, Martinez’s contract has the shortest amount of time remaining on it. The 35-year-old defender’s deal lasts through next season at $5.25 million AAV which is a hefty price to be paying.
Don’t get that wrong, Martinez contributes. It is just a lot of money to be paying a stay-at-home defenceman who isn’t even logging 20 minutes a night this season. Considering the ice time he gets and how close all three left defencemen are in ice time per game, it is easier to fill the hole if the Golden Knights were to move him.
Martinez blocks a massive number of shots and has 99 through just 23 games this season. He doesn’t help out offensively, but the team is covered on that front with Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore. Martinez would be a bigger loss than Brossoit and could be more easily moved in the offseason so it doesn’t impact the team’s success too much this season. But if the Golden Knights want to make a significant addition, Martinez has the larger cap hit in order to free up that space.
Laurent Brossoit
Brossoit is the likely choice for the Golden Knights as it seems as though the opportunity has passed him by with the team. He started the season on the injured reserve and knowing this information, Vegas went out and traded for Adin Hill to back up/split time with Logan Thompson. That tandem has worked out great this season as the team has the sixth-best goals against per game in the NHL.
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The tandem of Thompson and Hill have come down to Earth after an amazing start. Bruce Cassidy said, “As you can see, our goaltending numbers have leveled off from the start of the year. We figured out that would happen eventually. These are two young guys. So there’s a little adversity there that they have to (work through). We knew that would come.” But this is no reason to call up Brossoit. The team is still using $1.2 million of his $2.325 million contract against the cap even though he is in the minors. The team signed Michael Hutchinson as a third string goaltender if needed. A team will definitely come along who is in need of goaltending help, and Vegas can offer Brossoit in a situation that will benefit them.
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