3 Trades That Could Fix the Vegas Golden Knights
The Vegas Golden Knights are broken.
When the season began, the fifth-year franchise had championship aspirations, and while those dreams aren’t dead yet, there is significantly more work to be done in Sin City than originally expected.
The issues in Nevada have been amplified in the last week, as the team has now dropped three consecutive games, all in regulation. One of those games was against the Buffalo Sabres, while another was against the Philadelphia Flyers. Vegas has scored four goals in those last three games, including one in each contest against the two struggling teams mentioned above.
The power play struggles, goaltending slumps, and injury woes have all contributed to the lackluster campaign in Vegas. With that in mind, what can the Golden Knights do as the NHL Trade Deadline creeps closer and closer?
How can the Golden Knights turn things around at the deadline?
It won’t simply be about adding the best players possible, a strategy that the Golden Knights have seemingly embraced since their inception. Instead, Vegas’ deadline agenda will require a lot of creativity and should feature the departure of some players that the team may not necessarily want to give up.
I also don’t expect any deadline deals in Vegas to revolve around becoming cap-compliant. The way that the Tampa Bay Lightning have worked the system by bringing injured players back for the playoffs, thus technically playing over the cap, has been widely discussed lately, and the Golden Knights are on track to do that this year.
With captain Mark Stone on the long-term injured reserve, the door seems open for Vegas to bring him back at a time that will be convenient for them.
Instead, the following trades enable this team to find only the cap space necessary to fix the roster as it attempts to return to the Stanley Cup Final for the first time since its inaugural season in 2018.
Without further ado, here are three trades to get the Vegas Golden Knights back on track before the 2022 NHL Trade Deadline.