There were many opinions on what the VGK front office would do at yesterday’s trade deadline. Would they stand pat and hope all their injured players will be back in action by the end of the season? Or would they start selling off contracts and focus on 2022-23?
Well, in trading Evgenii Dadonov to the Anaheim Ducks, it seems they believe they still have a shot at close to a full healthy roster come April 30 and will make the playoffs. In order to accommodate this plan and mesh players back into the lineup, someone had to go and unfortunately, it was Evgenii Dadonov.
I say unfortunately, because Dadonov has been one of the few bright spots offensively recently, scoring 5 goals in their last 7 games. The team had scored 10 goals in their last 2 games and just 11 in their previous 5 games. Of their 10 goals in the last 2 games there were 2 that were scored into empty nets.
Trading Dadonov, and his $5 million salary that goes into the 2022-23 season, created some cap space. Or did it?
As of late last night, Dadonov is in limbo. He and his agent claim that his contract had a no-trade clause to 10 teams, including Anaheim. His contract was signed while he played for the Ottawa Senators.
Last night in Minnesota, Vegas could have used Dadonov and his recent hot stick as they couldn’t get a puck past Cam Talbot in their 3-0 loss.
Cam Talbot had something to play for and guess what? Lo and behold, Marc-André Fleury was sitting on the Minnesota bench last night; Fleury was traded earlier in the day by Chicago. In a strange way, Fleury helped the Minnesota Wild beat the VGK, as Talbot was playing for the right to hold his net, given that Fleury was brought to Minnesota to shore up the Wild’s goaltending. Fleury came back to haunt the VGK, like he did when he returned to T-Mobile on Jan. 8 and beat them 2-1.
Yesterday, everything came full circle. To create cap space, Fleury was traded to Chicago in the off season for basically nothing. With the space, the VGK acquired Dadonov and shipped Nick Holden, plus a 3rd round pick, to Ottawa. Yesterday, Fleury was sent to Minnesota for a first-round pick, while the VGK sent (or tried to send) Dadonov and a 2nd round pick to Anaheim.
In return, the VGK took on the $6.875 million LTIR contract of Ryan Keslar, along with and John Moore and his $1.625 million. So Vegas doesn’t even get $5 million in cap relief, as it works out to only $3.375 million. This is just another speed bump in the season from hell for the VGK.
Last night, the Edmonton Oilers picked up 1 point in their OT loss to the Colorado Avalanche to increase their lead over Vegas by 3 points with 2 games in hand. The L.A. Kings remain 4 points ahead with 1 game in hand. Granted, the Kings have the tougher schedule in their remaining 18 games and this may be the only bright light for the VGK’s playoff quest.
Comparing their schedules, I believe the VGK will pass the Kings for the last playoff spot in the Pacific Division. This is based on GM Kelly McCrimmon’s suggesting that a number of the team’s injured players are close to returning, which makes sense, considering their attempt to create cap space by moving Dadonov.
The real question becomes, what will happen if the NHL voids this trade. Trades being reversed or ruled illegal by the NHL are very rare, but what has been normal about this season? It started with sending Fleury to Chicago for zilch to create cap space and here we are, still in cap-space hell.
With last night’s disappointing result in Minnesota, Vegas must show up to today’s game against the Winnipeg Jets. The leash is getting shorter and the room for error is dwindling fast.
Other game notes and quotes
The salary cap in the NHL is $81.5 million. As of last night, the VGK have a cap hit of $99,783,334.
“I mean, we’re desperate right now, right?” Vegas defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. “We know where we are in the standings. We know what we have to do to get in, through the playoffs. I thought we did a good job coming out. Obviously, it wasn’t enough. Easy to say, you don’t win, but I think if you look at the effort a lot of guys put in, you can be proud of that. But you know, again, we’ve said that a lot. We’ve got to find a way to win hockey games.”
Logan Thompson made 33 saves for the Knights (34-27-4), who lost their sixth straight on the road. Logan was one of the few bright spots for Vegas last night.
Vegas was without forward Michael Amadio, defenseman Zach Whitecloud, and assistant Ryan McGill after they entered COVID-19 protocol.
Forwards Paul Cotter, Jonas Rondbjerg and defensemen Daniil Miromanov and Zack Hayes were recalled from Henderson of the American Hockey League. The Henderson Silver Knights players arrived 15 minutes before the warmups. Talk about a day of Murphy’s Law.
“Tough day for our group,” Coach DeBoer said. “We had guys arriving literally 15 minutes before warmups that flew from Henderson to help us here tonight, so it wasn’t an easy day. And we could have used some of those excuses and not put in the effort we did, but we did, and we battled hard for 60 minutes. There’s not a lot of moral victories this time of year because you need the points, but I was proud of our effort. Obviously we have to find a way to score some goals, so we’re going to need someone to stick a couple in the net in order to win.”
Next game is today vs. Winnipeg at 5 p.m. Pacific Time
Your comments and opinions are welcome here at Las Vegas Advisor or you may contact me directly at [email protected] or on my Facebook page or the Facebook page of Vegas Hockey Guy or on Twitter @TheRealJoePane
For more VGK content, check out the Hockey Knights in Vegas Podcast that can be found at this link or on my Facebook page.
One other note: If you’re reading this blog from Facebook or Twitter and would like to access it earlier in the morning before I share it on social media, it’s usually published by 8 a.m. the morning after a game on LasVegasAdvisor.com. What better way is there to enjoy your morning coffee than reading my take on last night’s VGK game.
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hi joe. thanks for all the good hockey articles you write. i read them all. it was good to see my minnesota wild beat the vgk last night. the vgk are still a good hockey team and have a good chance to make the playoffs. with the wild having marc-andre fleury and cam talbot we have the best goalie tandem in the nhl. nic deslauriers got off to a good start scoring a goal and having many hits. he leads the nhl in fights with 10. i think the wild are a strong contender to win the stanley cup. what do you think joe.
Dave
The Wild took a big step forward yesterday in acquiring Fleury between him and Talbot they will be a force to be reckoned with come playoff time. Fleury will push Talbot to become better. Plus, the Wild can score goals. Something the VGK are having trouble doing right now. The Avs will be tough to beat in the West, but we all know a hot goaltender or in the Wild’s case a hot tandem could be just what is needed to get to the promised land.
Joe P.
Thanks ,Joe you always explain things in a way a normal none hockey specialist can understand without being negative. 🧡🖤🙏🇨🇦🍁#goKnightsgo #
Judy when I first took on this job, that was exactly what I said to Anthony Curtis that I will write what both new and experienced fans can understand without getting too deep in analytics and other stuff that is somewhat confusing. I will keep it fresh and fun to read, I hope I have accomplished this.
Joe P.
🙏🙏🙏🙏🏒🥅🧡🖤🇨🇦🍁#goKnightsgo #
Kevin Logan wrote this
A world of shit right now for knights, but your enthusiasm gives me hope Joe.
Kevin Logan Always best to look for the sun. It can and will brighten your day.
Joe P.
Scott Amaral sent this in
You said VGK has a tougher schedule where it should say easier
Scott Amaral here is what I said Granted, the Kings have the tougher schedule in their remaining 18 games, and this may be the only bright light for the VGK’s playoff quest.
Joe P.
Scott Amaral responded
Joe Pane, I read it fast missed “kings”
Scott Amaral, no worries you could be the next GM and not read the 10 team NO TRADE Clause 🙂
Joe P.
Joanne Steagall sent this opinion in
Great article Joe…
Nicholas Roop had this to say
The terms of that trade are awful. You don’t even get the full value of the contract off your books. More asset mismanagement by this front office.
Nicholas Roop, it makes no sense to me.
Joe P.
Jacqueline Claire sent this in
Losing my optimism Joe…the jabu continues…
Jacqueline
Who can blame you?
Joe P.
Mary Becker sent these comments and opinions in
I’m trying to stay optimistic. The front office says we have guys coming back but will they get back before the playoffs? And will there be playoffs yes being positive does help but it doesn’t score goals. Our team says every game we think we
played good we have to find a way to win. Stevenson has a good point they need to grab their you know what’s and play but I think it’s going to come from the heart. Karrly seems to have lost his heart, and I don’t mean Smith. Marshy seems to have lost his cool. And yes we have lost so many parts of our team to injury. The ones that are there we can only hope can you bring it all together
Mary Becker, I hear you and yes, it’s not easy to stay optimistic considering all that has gone on this year. Now when you had this SNAFU into the equation how could you not start to worry?
Joe P.
Douglas Carle sent this in
Joe
At some point we simply need to “call a spade a spade “. The incompetency of the VGK Head office has gone beyond ridiculous. How is it conceivable a general manager isn’t aware of every comma of a contract that he is trading for? How is it even possible that McCrimmon didn’t know that Dadonov had a no trade clause in his contract. Didn’t he go over that contract with a fine-tooth comb and magnifying glass before he traded Nick Holden for it? I mean give me a break.
So, we traded the best goalie in the world at the time (Fleury) and got absolutely nothing in return (even though Chicago now trades him simply for the playoffs and will very likely end up with a first-round draft pick for him). We end up trading Holden and even if the trade goes through what do we get? Some AHL player we have never heard of and responsibility for the contract of a player that hasn’t played in the league for three years? What another unbelievably shrewd move by the brain trust we have guiding the ship.
At some point the fingers have to be pointed directly at McCrimmon. He has turned in two short seasons the run and gun high-octane VGK team into an old, injury prone team that literally could not put the puck in the ocean from the dock.
They were so many crappy unbelievable decisions he has made that they are too long to count. But what about the highlights? Fire Gallant (the miracle worker who is laughing at Vegas right now with his success in New York) and hire Deboer who has been a total and complete disaster. Get rid of Reeves? Get rid of Flower? get rid of Tuch, Holden , Smitty etc etc etc. you literally couldn’t destroy your team more if you actually sat down and tried to do it.
Douglas
The front office of the VGK is claiming that Ottawa never informed them of the 10 team no trade clause. It’s yet to be proven one way or another. I think we will eventually find out who dropped the ball here when the NHL rules on the validity of this trade and either fines the VGK money and draft picks or the Ottawa Senators. This will be the factor that decides who screwed up.
Joe P.
Great comments as usual. Any thoughts on what will happen if the trade is voided?
Nick
If the trade is voided Dadonov and his salary will be returned to the VGK. At this point VGK could try to move him again but any trade made after the deadline will make the player unable to play for the remainder of the season. This will tie the hands of the VGK as Dadonov will have no value to his new team this year if Vegas can even find someone to take him at this point.
Joe P.
Thanks for the information. Boy, what a mess. The VGK has been snakebit this season. I don’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Hey Joe.
Great recap!
By the way you write you give the fans a ray of hope, myself included.
But by looking at the way today starting players who`s supposed to be in the line-up even if the injured players are back in the saddle again I´m not that entusiastic. (Sorry, my broken english makes me explain things in a backwards way)
These players can`t pass the puck between each other. It`s dump and chase hockey except for the Eichel line.
Karlsson and Marchessault has tought Eichel to play like the Misfit-Line did. A cycle-motion in the O-zone with no-look-passing.
That gives me some home but the other lines aren`t as talented them (EMK).
The defense wasn`t good and was pushed around by the Wild (just the right name for that team).
It took less than a minute when the first giveaway was a fact.
When Deslauriers didn`t have Reavo to fight he haunted Vegas D-men all the way to the boards. It took him a period to scare them enough to get their pants wet.
Minnesota is an enigma, in the first period they played like the top they are, in the rest of the game they played good in short streaks. They could pass the puck more times than two in a row and always to a player in motion. But suddenly they weren`t better than the VGK.
That means that they aren`t going to reach longer than the second round in the play-offs.
Sorry Fleury, you should have gotten a contract with Colorado or Toronto instead. They are contenders without a top goalie.
Just look back at the champions of the last decade. They had Thomas, Quick, Fleury, Holtby and Vasilevskiy in goal.
I told myself to not get angry, doesn`t matter how bad Vegas played. They tested my reptile brain instincts within the first minute of the game but I calmly made an quiet remark of the mistake that the coach staff probably missed. As usual I must say.
Eva said I was behaving well this game.
I spared our beloved 17 yo dog, who`s almost deaf and blind, my heart-attack build-up screaming that`s easy triggered almost every game, but not at this game. (Help me with the grammatics if I`m “out and biking” as we say in Sweden😅)
Keep up the good work, Joe.
I`ll say it again, you´re a lighthouse in a dark Knight world.
Kenneth Karlsson sent this into Vegas Hockey Guy
Hey Joe. Thompson is, as I can only guess, a bit like Fleury with his aggressive play and spinning around after he has made a save. The commentators at the Minnesota game had scouted him and came to the same conclusion. They thought the Minnesota video coaches had scouted him as well. Winnipeg couldn`t start their Jets in the first period so the Knights could outskate them. But there`s a big but, the “Hole-In-The-Stick-Blade” disease Theodore seems to have spread throughout the team making them unable to shoot accurate hard shots at goal. Maybe it`s a kind of wood worm crawling around in the Vegas Lockeroom. Watching the game on my PC make me see more details, and as you know I`m a stickler for small details. I could see how the shots Vegas took weren`t in the same speed as Hedman shoots. I was surprised how easy it was for Halibut to save them.
Kenneth Karlsson sent this in
Hey Joe. We had a similar affair in Sweden a few years ago. It was a trotting horse, “Propulsion”, who was sold from an US trotting breeder to one of the best trainers in Sweden. After a few years in Sweden the horse had won one of the biggest races in the world and had earned around 4 M$. The American seller didn`t send the document to the buyer were it was stated that the horse nerves in the legs was cut. That means that the horse wont feel any pain and could be forced to go over his limits. That is forbidden in Sweden but not in the USA. The Swedish trotting organization received the lost document but they didn`t send it to the Swedish owner. After the horse had won the biggest race, “Elitloppet”, with the price amount of 500,000$, an Norwegian horse owner which horse took the second place in the race, gave a copy of the document to an journalist who in his turn gave it to the race (Elitloppet) organization. When it became official the Swedish owner had to pay the amount of all earned prize money back to the Swedish trotting organization. As the icing on the cake the horse was banned for life to race in Europe. All this caused by an un-serious seller who tried to fool an serious buyer. I`ve owned a few trotting horses in my life and I followed this story because it was bad PR for the trotting as a sport. Nowadays I wouldn’t recommend anyone to own a horse. Ottawa, Dadonov and his agent must each have a copy of The M-NTC document. When Vegas traded for Dadonov he had 2 years left of the contract and either did Ottawa and/or Dadonov lie for Vegas. If not the Vegas Golden Knights is the foul part lying for Anaheim.