Vegas may have to move out $15.5M worth of contracts if the Dadonov trade is voided
As the NHL and NHLPA continue the investigation into the Vegas/Anaheim, Dadonov/Kesler debacle, there is an interesting development to report. As of this moment, the trade has been reverted to show Dadonov on Vegas' roster.
What does this mean? Well, it means that the NHL views Dadonov as still a member of the Vegas Golden Knights. It does not mean that the NHL has reached a decision on what will happen with Dadonov/Kesler, it just means at this point, since the trade has not gone through, Dadonov is still a Golden Knight.
There are some wild salary cap implications here if the trade ends up being voided. As of this point, the Golden Knights have a little over $400K in LTIR relief remaining. They'll need almost $15.5M to activate defenseman Alec Martinez and captain Mark Stone.
Perhaps the most interesting factor here is that once Martinez and Stone are medically cleared to return, the Golden Knights will have to clear that cap space. We all know that the NHL's trade deadline has passed, but that does not mean that teams no longer have the ability to execute trades. It just means that any players traded after the deadline will not be eligible to play any games for their new team during the regular season or the playoffs until next season.
If Martinez and Stone do reach full health and are not activated by the team, the Golden Knights could be found guilty of salary cap circumvention. That's obviously not good for Vegas and may have very serious repercussions.
Having to move out almost $15.5M in cap space to activate their two LTIR players will have massive roster ramifications. The Golden Knights may have some difficult decisions to make coming up here.
