Connect with us

Golden Knights Trade Talk

McCrimmon Talks Roster Turnover, Pacioretty Trade, and More on 32 Thoughts

Published

on

Vegas Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon (Photo- Vegas Golden Knights via Twitter)
Vegas Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon (Photo- Vegas Golden Knights via Twitter)

On the latest edition of the Sportsnet 32 Thoughts Podcast with Elliotte Friedman and Jeff Marek, they interviewed Vegas Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon.

We’ll try not and spoil the show for those who are interested in listening. But here were a few notable comments McCrimmon said in the episode.

Roster Turnover

Fans all across the NHL have called out the Golden Knights for their apparent frequent roster turnover. They have traded fan-favorite players like Marc-Andre Fleury, Max Pacioretty, Alex Tuch, and Nate Schmidt. McCrimmon stated that he thinks this narrative is overblown and not accurate.

He brought up the fact that the Golden Knights still have seven players from their inaugural 2017-18 season on their current roster. They are William Karlsson, Reilly Smith, Jonathan Marchessault, Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb, William Carrier, and Zach Whitecloud.

“I don’t think that the narrative is nessecarily accurate. I think that it is magnified and takes on a life of it’s own. It is what it is. It doesn’t really matter to me, I know how I feel about our own team and how we run our organization,” said McCrimmon.

Max Pacioretty Trade

McCrimmon was asked about his stance on cap space, and answered by brining up some of the criticisms he faced with things such as the Fleury and Max Pacioretty trades for cap space.

“I think fans, in some respect, understand it, but I also don’t know if they do… Cap space is an asset and it is hard for people to understand why. Our most recent example would be Max Pacioretty who we traded to Carolina for $7 million of cap space. That is what we got back,” said McCrimmon.

McCrimmon backed his stance on trading Pacioretty stating that it would have been impossible to sign the team’s restricted free agents as well as Smith with their current cap space.

“Had we not extended Reilly Smith and kept Max Pacioretty, I think people would have understood that. But because we moved Max Pacioretty and kept Reilly Smith, people think we gave Max Pacioretty away- what were we thinking?”

Mark Stone’s Back

Many people were suspicious towards the Golden Knights when they activated trade aquistion Jack Eichel from LTIR and then immediately placed Mark Stone on LTIR that same day. McCrimmon reiterated that Stone’s back was a legit problem, and needed to be attended to.

“We put Mark Stone on LTIR when we took Jack Eichel off, and people made it sound like we were cooking the books on Mark Stone. The guy was obviously, as time went on, badly injured…

“His first shot on goal of the season brought him to his knees. He came to the bus after. Every bus in the NHL is the same; the coaches and manager sit at the front, and the players sit at the back. But when you watched him walk out, you got out of your seat so he could sit in the front. He was in tremendous pain,” added McCrimmon.

Here’s the full episode.