Breaking: Vegas Golden Knights trade Max Pacioretty to Carolina
This one is MASSIVE. The Vegas Golden Knights have cleared a significant amount of salary on UFA day by trading Max Pacioretty along with undrafted defenseman Dylan Coghlan to the Carolina Hurricanes.
Pacioretty, 33, dealt with multiple injuries in 2021-22 that limited him to just 39 games for the Golden Knights. Still, despite playing less than half the season, Pacioretty still managed to produce nearly a point per game, notching 37 points. The most crazy part of this deal? Vegas gets nothing in return but "future considerations".
The Golden Knights were over the salary cap coming into UFA day, so dealing Pacioretty ($7M x1) and Coghlan (just above league minimum) puts them in a position where they'll at least be cap compliant. This deal also allows the Golden Knights to re-sign winger Reilly Smith.
Vegas can still be active in free agency as they do have Shea Weber's contract on the books, which will be going straight to LTIR. Weber is still on the books for ~$7.8M per season, which will provide the Golden Knights with a lot of LTIR relief, which I'm sure they'll try to exploit by getting as close to the cap as possible before shifting Weber over to LTIR.
