Vegas Golden Knights Face Trade Deadline Questions
David Schoen of the Las Vegas Review Journal: Kelly McCrimmon faces several tough questions about his Vegas Golden Knights as the trade deadline approaches. One is who can he find to assume the starter’s crease in goal. With Robin Lehner hurt (torn labrum), the general manager has to do something, right?
Or does the McCrimmon want to even try and buy at this point? It’s a valid question. Vegas is now arguably missing an entire “starting five” and starting goaltender. It does not matter now how long Lehner has been battling injuries. This boils down to what may be out there.
Several goaltenders are out there but only one might be able to fill the void. The problem is Semyon Varlamov has a 16-team no-trade list. Is Vegas on that list? No one knows. Options like Alexandar Georgiev, Joonas Korpisalo, and others just do not appear good enough.
Add in the Reilly Smith injury and that makes nine regulars out of the lineup. Does McCrimmon still try and trade him? Or does he risk Smith walking for nothing come mid-July? The next five days will be very telling.
Colorado Avalanche Going All In?
Peter Baugh of The Athletic: The opportunity is there in front of Joe Sakic. Josh Manson represented just the beginning of a chance. Manson bounced back for Anaheim from last year’s difficult “bubble season”. Colorado’s next needs involve the bottom-six after filling that defensive need.
The flexibility of putting Gabriel Landeskog on LTIR does help. That decision has not been made yet, however. With now Tyson Jost traded for Nico Sturm, room has been further paved for depth offensive help with defensive holes plugged.
Again, forwards like Claude Giroux and even Tomas Hertl are not out of the realm of possibility. There are several others that Joe Sakic is looking at currently. There are just mere days until the 3pm EDT trade deadline comes and goes. Offensive depth is needed when things tighten come the playoffs. Now, comes the hard part.