The Vegas Golden Knights shake up the defense
Technically, the Vegas Golden Knights have already shaken up their defense a tad bit with the acquisition of well sought after NCAA defenceman Jimmy Schuldt. However, I’ll make the bold prediction that Vegas does more to shake up their defense corps.
We already know that the team has been fielding trade proposals for Colin Miller, but what about Brayden McNabb? He is 28 years old and has a rather favorable AAV of $2.5 million. Either one of these defencemen would be a way for Vegas to pass the torch to their next wave of young and up and coming defenceman, namely Shuldt.
A team that tried to land Erik Karlsson just a year ago, Vegas may also look to free agency, not just trade to add to their defensive group. Maybe a player like Jake Gardiner or Tyler Myers makes sense? That being said, if Vegas wants to spend on July 1st, they will need to free up some cap space. As per CapFriendly, the Golden Knights have the highest projected cap hit in the entire NHL.
They also have Nicolas Hague and Zach Whitecloud in the system, both of whom may be near ready to make the jump to the NHL. This offseason could see the Golden Knights shed some defencemen, welcome some new ones in, and hope that their young d-men are indeed ready to take the next step.