Since the Vegas Golden Knights charged into the National Hockey League in 2017 as an expansion franchise, they have not been shy in disrupting the game's status quo. A team from Sin City, who once self-proclaimed themselves "Misfits," have made the postseason in all but one of their seasons as a franchise, reaching the Stanley Cup Final twice in 2018 and 2023 and hoisting the trophy in the latter.
However, it wasn't until Vegas traded for former number two overall pick Jack Eichel in November of 2021 that they landed a true bonafide superstar. Coming off an injury sustained while playing with the Buffalo Sabres, and playing a full healthy season in 2022-23, Eichel and new head coach Bruce Cassidy led Vegas to the aforementioned Cup victory over the Florida Panthers. Eichel, along with Mark Stone, Alex Pietrangelo, and Shea Theodore, established a winning culture in Vegas and again look poised to make another run this spring.
But win or lose this postseason, the Golden Knights will have to make tough decisions about their future in the summer
Most notably, they will need to decide if they want to extend Eichel going into the final year of an eight-year, $80M contract he originally signed in 2017, well before he was traded to Vegas.
Given the scheduled salary cap increases, and his age of 28, it's not unfair to assume that Eichel could land another eight-year deal with double-figure average annual value - whether with the Golden Knights or someone else in the future. In fact, it probably wouldn't surprise most followers of the game if Eichel got 14M+ on the open market in 2026. Vegas would be wise to play their cards right, pun intended, and get ahead of such a frenzy.
Unfortunately for Vegas, they still have a lot of big contracts still on their books for the season after next, including just over $26M tied up in Pietrangelo, Theodore, and Stone as well as another $34 million tied up in William Karlsson, Tomas Hertl, Adin Hill, Noah Hanafin, Brayden McNabb, and Ivan Barbashev.
Now, of course the Golden Knights could add another $14M or more to that combined total and still be under the cap, but it would begin to hurt their chances of filling out a balanced roster. And yes, let's try to spare the usual eye-roll about Vegas circumventing salary cap constraints.
Ultimately, it would be safe to assume that the Golden Knights will try their best to keep their top center and franchise cornerstone on the Strip for the next decade or so, but if they fail to ink a deal to extend him this summer, Knights fans should begin to worry. There will be plenty of trade suitors calling general manager Kelly McCrimmon.