The Golden Knights are buying winger Reilly Smith from the Rangers in change for the Sharks’ 2025 third-round choose and ahead prospect Brendan Brisson, Larry Brooks of the New York Post reviews. Vegas doesn’t have the house to accommodate Smith’s already-reduced $3.75M cap hit, so New York is retaining 50% of his wage, based on Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff. The Golden Knights have an open roster spot and received’t must make a corresponding transaction.
It’s a reunion for Smith and Vegas, the place he was a top-six fixture from the Knights’ inception by means of their run to the 2023 Stanley Cup championship. Cap constraints following the championship run influenced Vegas to deal Smith, who turns 34 subsequent month, to the Penguins for a third-round choose. His tenure in Pittsburgh was underwhelming, restricted to 13-27–40 in 76 video games — halving his aim manufacturing from his last season with the Knights regardless of seeing constant second-line deployment with the Pens alongside Evgeni Malkin.
A number of reviews indicated Smith wasn’t happy with the transfer, which he couldn’t block with solely a 12-team no-trade record. Along with coming off a championship and taking part in a formative function in Vegas’ improvement as a franchise, he’d signed a three-year, $15M extension with Vegas the prior offseason. The Penguins, content material to seek out another person to exchange Smith’s minutes, flipped him to the Rangers final summer time for a second- and fifth-round choose whereas retaining 25% of his wage.
Smith’s manufacturing didn’t rebound in any respect within the Large Apple. He’s scoring objectives on the actual fee per recreation, and his point-per-game tempo has dropped from 0.53 with the Pens to 0.50 with the Blueshirts. The veteran has 10-19–29 by means of 58 video games and is on tempo to register his fewest pictures on aim in a season since his rookie yr with the Stars in 2012-13.
Throughout his first six-year tenure in Vegas, Smith averaged 26 objectives and 59 factors per 82 video games. It’s unlikely he captures fairly that a lot manufacturing on a per-game foundation down the stretch given his current decline, however he provides a well-recognized title to a little bit of a hodgepodge group of wingers in Nevada. The group turned to the cut price bin on the free agent market final summer time after shedding Conn Smythe winner Jonathan Marchessault, heart Chandler Stephenson, and serviceable depth scorer Michael Amadio to free company, selecting up names like Victor Olofsson and Tanner Pearson on a budget. Additionally they inked veteran Brandon Saad mid-season after he mutually terminated his contract with the Blues.
They’ve gotten stable showings out of Olofsson and Pearson. They’re having fun with a 24-goal breakout marketing campaign from Pavel Dorofeyev, however depth on the wings remained the Golden Knights’ most monumental gap on paper heading into the commerce deadline. They’ll handle it right here as a substitute of a extra important, complicated acquisition like star Mikko Rantanen, who they have been linked to Thursday morning. That aligns with what basic supervisor Kelly McCrimmon predicted for his membership earlier this week.
Dealing Smith continues the Rangers’ unloading of pending UFAs for futures forward of the deadline, however that may mark the extent of their promoting as they continue to be within the Jap Convention wild-card race. Additionally they shipped out defenseman Ryan Lindgren and winger Jimmy Vesey to the Avalanche over the weekend.
Essentially the most intriguing a part of their return lies in Brisson, whom Vegas chosen twenty ninth general within the 2020 draft. The 23-year-old winger was anticipated to compete for a roster spot out of camp this season amid the Knights’ aforementioned turnover. Whereas he landed the gig, he had no factors in 9 video games earlier than being despatched to AHL Henderson. His minor-league efficiency this season has been nothing wanting disastrous, restricted to 5-14–19 in 45 video games with a team-worst -24 ranking. His commerce worth was slashed consequently.
New York hopes Brisson can rebound to his 2023-24 kind with their affiliate in Hartford. He seemed promising with 38 factors in 52 AHL video games final yr and even tallied a decent 2-6–8 scoring line in 15 video games of NHL motion, the primary of his profession. With the transfer, the Golden Knights have now traded all of their first-round picks in franchise historical past outdoors of final yr’s pickup, Trevor Connelly.
Smith’s absence may also proceed an expanded youth motion in New York, which actually began when the Rangers started scratching Smith for trade protection a couple of days in the past. There’s extra assured ice time for names like Brett Berard and Brennan Othmann, and probably even Brisson relying on his first impression within the AHL, down the stretch.
As for Vegas, they now have simply roughly $500K in cap house, per PuckPedia. Until they decide William Karlsson’s or Shea Theodore’s accidents will maintain them out for the remainder of the common season, there’s no LTIR flexibility for them to dip into.
