Who will be back with the Golden Knights to who may be on the move
Jesse Granger of The Athletic: The Vegas Golden Knights already have just over $83 million committed to 20 players for next season.
They have four restricted free agents and two unrestricted. If they let all those players go, they’d still need to move out salary.
A look at who will be back and who could be on their way out.
The Locks – Mark Stone, Alex Pietrangelo, and Jack Eichel.
Very likely sticking around – Shea Theodore, Chandler Stephenson, Jonathan Marchessault, Brayden McNabb, Zach Whitecloud, William Carrier, and Logan Thompson.
Depth pieces who should be back – Ben Hutton, Michael Amadio, and Dylan Coghlan.
Most likely returning, but potential cap casualties – Robin Lehner, Max Pacioretty, William Karlsson, Alec Martinez, and Nolan Patrick.
The big decision – Reilly Smith (UFA).
RFAs Vegas hopes to keep – Nicolas Roy, Nicolas Hague, Keegan Kolesar and Brett Howden.
Most likely gone – Evgenii Dadonov, Mattias Janmark and Laurent Broissoit.
The Senators are willing to move their No. 7 pick
Bruce Garrioch of the Ottawa Sun: Ottawa Senators GM Pierre Dorion has already said they could be open to trading their first-round pick, No. 7 overall, for immediate help.
No deal is imminent and if they were to trade the pick, it would likely be the day before the draft or on draft day.
The Senators would like to add a top-six forward to play with Tim Stuetzle and possibly a top-four defenseman.
It’s believed the Senators will try to trade defenseman Nikita Zaitsev.
They’ve been linked to Minnesota Wild pending RFA forward Kevin Fiala.
The New Jersey Devils are another team that could be dangling their first-round pick, and they are picking at No. 2.
“Picks are worth less just before the trade deadline and they’re worth more just before the draft,” said the executive. “There’s been situations where teams have gotten a player for a top 10 pick, so it’s not out of the question.
“It’s been done, especially if there’s a team that needs to move some money and they’ve got a need to make something happen.”