NHL Free Agency: Vegas Golden Knights sign Alex Pietrangelo
Alex Pietrangelo is finalizing his contract with the Vegas Golden Knights in NHL free agency.
The Vegas Golden Knights have made a huge splash in NHL free agency, as they’ve finalized a deal with the top free agent defenseman, Alex Pietrangelo. Pietrangelo used to be the captain for the St. Louis Blues, but now he’ll be headed to Sin City, according to Pierre LeBrun.
This deal, once announced, will be for seven years and worth $8.8 million annually. According to Elliotte Friedman, the deal will also have a full no-movement clause. Vegas is banking on Pietrangelo remaining an elite defenseman for most of his contract.
The Golden Knights are currently over the salary cap ceiling of $81.5 million. They’ll have to make some roster moves in order to get under. It’s alright to be over in the offseason (up to 10%), but teams must be compliant by the start of the 2020-21 season, which will most likely be in January.
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The Golden Knights are currently a bit more than 10% over with Pietrangelo, so they’ll have to make some moves by tomorrow at 5 p.m. EST to get under the 10% over limit.
Most likely, the Golden Knights will try to move on from Marc-Andre Fleury, but teams have been reluctant to take on his entire $7 million cap hit.
Vegas has tried to get teams to take on 50% of his deal, but haven’t found any takers yet. Most likely, they’ll have to include a sweetener or two in order to get someone to agree to it.
The Colorado Avalanche have made some big moves this offseason as they’ve tried to improve their roster. Now the Golden Knights have answered with a monumental move of their own. This move makes Vegas the clear cut favorites to emerge from the Western Conference and will likely make them the Stanley Cup favorites to start the season.
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All eyes are on Vegas now, as they’ve got to make some moves to be compliant with the salary cap. This move likely won’t be officially announced until those moves are made. But one thing’s for sure – Vegas just made one heck of a statement.