Elliotte Friedman on the Jeff Marek Show Talks Potential Golden Knights Cap Trade

Sportsnet Insider Elliotte Friedman joined the Jeff Marek Show Tuesday to discuss the Vegas Golden Knights and their potential cap issues regarding activating Jack Eichel. The two discuss whether or not Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon will be forced to make a cap-clearing trade around the 10-minute mark.

Friedman stated that he talked with McCrimmon briefly Tuesday morning, and like the opposite of a James Bond villain, McCrimmon did not reveal his evil plan. McCrimmon also did not provide an update on the status of Alec Martinez, whose $5.25 million salary cap is currently on LTIR.

Patience is a theme that Friedman mentioned as one of the biggest factors in the Golden Knights plan. He suggested that the team may not have to do anything if someone gets hurt.

“One of the things that Vegas had made clear is that they don’t rush into anything because people get hurt. They have had Pacioretty get hurt, they have other guys get hurt, and they’re not going to do anything until they know that Eichel is 100% ready,” said Friedman.

If the Golden Knights are forced to make a trade Friedman sees a contending team paying slightly under market value for a player from the Golden Knights roster as the Golden Knights need to free up cap.

“Someone is going to go to Vegas and they are going to say ‘okay, you need to do something here, this is the player we want and if this is what the market is, we will offer you less’ and Vegas might get to the point where they okay we have got to do it,” said Friedman.

Among the names mentioned as potential trade chips for the Golden Knights Freidman speculates Mattias Janmark and Reilly Smith whereas Marek suggests William Karlsson.

Jack Eichel started skating with the Golden Knights Monday in full-contact for the first time since being traded to the team in early November. Eichel had successful artificial disk replacement surgery in his neck in mid-November.

The Golden Knights have to clear roughly $5 million in cap space to become cap compliant for Eichel’s Golden Knights debut.