Golden Knights needed a little more time to figure out where Karlsson’s value is at
David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review-Journal: William Karlsson‘s one-year deal gives the team another season to figure out where his value is.
“It was a good compromise, and as the player is now under contract, this gives us another season to see how he performs and then put a value on him,” Knights general manager George McPhee said in a conference call. “Whatever a player’s value is in the market, we’ll pay it. That’s the right thing to do. But there are cases like this one where sometimes both sides need a little more time to evaluate what that value is.”
The Golden Knights are eligible to sign Karlsson to an extension after January 1st. He’s not scheduled to become a UFA until after 2020.
“We wanted to be a little bit careful at this point, and to William’s credit, he believes this is who he is and he can continue to perform this way, and we hope that’s the case. We hope we have a consistent 40-goal scorer on our team,” McPhee said. “Both sides are looking forward to getting going next year and at some point next year getting a longer-term deal done.”
Ed Graney of the Las Vegas Review-Journal: The Vegas Golden Knights have William Karlsson locked up for another year. He’ll be a restricted free agent after next season and is arbitration eligible again. They could also work on a long-term extension during the season.
The Golden Knights have defenseman Shea Theodore still unsigned. The RFA doesn’t have a lot of leverage.
There is some speculation surrounding Ottawa Senators defenseman Erik Karlsson.
Teams in West have improved, and the Golden Knights won’t be surprising teams anymore.
“We are pretty much in the same place,” Knights general manager George McPhee said.