Golden Knights Free Agents: Which Should Stay, Which Should Go?

After their second-round exit at the hands of the Edmonton Oilers, the Vegas Golden Knights are fully in offseason mode. Over the past few days, players conducted exit interviews, and both head coach Bruce Cassidy and general manager Kelly McCrimmon held their year-end media availabilities.

Now, it’s time for the next step: the Golden Knights will have to make some decisions about their upcoming free agents.

The Golden Knights have six players on expiring contracts, and they can’t afford to keep them all. And that’s not bad– losing in the second round means their team wasn’t good enough to win the Stanley Cup. And isn’t returning the Cup to Vegas all that matters?

So, let’s look at the six players set to become Free Agents on July 1st and determine which of them, if any, are worth keeping.

Darling, you’ve got to let me know (dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun) should they stay or should they go?

The ‘Reilly Smith’ category

After flaming out in the second round, you can’t expect the Golden Knights to keep everyone. And yes, they’ve gained a reputation for their aggressive moves, but this isn’t just a Golden Knights thing. It’s universal.

If a team doesn’t win the Stanley Cup, it means they weren’t good enough, so you can expect them to make changes– unless, of course, they’re the Toronto Maple Leafs. When a team isn’t good enough, they simply cannot bring every player back, regardless of how good they are. 

They must, however, bring back the players they can’t afford to lose.

Simply put, the Golden Knights made the mistake of losing Reilly Smith once, and they cannot afford to do so again. When healthy, he’s a 25-goal, 50-point player, and he’s terrific defensively. Wingers of his caliber don’t grow on trees; the last two years have proven that. 

He’s also extremely likely to take a team-friendly discount. Even after being traded in the summer of 2023, Smith never sold his house. During exit interviews, he expressed a desire to stay. He loves the city, loves the team, and loves the fans. Smith may have been born in Ontario, but Vegas is his hometown. 

Reilly Smith is a good player. Most importantly, he’s a clutch player– just look at his Game 3 game-winning goal with 0.4 seconds remaining in regulation. He plays his heart out every time he steps on the ice and wears the Golden Knights crest with pride.

Kelly McCrimmon must re-sign Smith. Find a friendly number and sign him to a deal.

The ‘for the right price’ category

Now, we get into murkier waters with the ‘maybe’ players. These are good players, but they’re role players. That makes them replaceable. Of the six Golden Knights on expiring contracts, three fit the bill. 

This particular group wasn’t good enough to get it done, so the Golden Knights cannot bring all three back. However, re-signing one or two would be fine. 

Victor Olofsson

Kelly McCrimmon hit the target last offseason when he found Victor Olofsson in the bargain bin and signed him to a one-year, $1.075 million contract. Injuries– and being a healthy scratch– caused Olofsson to only draw into 56 games, but he made the most of them. He finished the season with 15 goals and 29 points.

Olofsson is a great depth winger with a scoring touch. Despite getting limited power play reps, he scored six goals and provided two assists on the man advantage. He’s got the clutch gene– four of his 15 goals were game-winners. When Tomáš Hertl missed time due to injury, Olofsson stepped up in a big way. 

Despite being forced into an elevated role due to injuries, Olofsson had his moments in the postseason. He assisted on Shea Theodore’s opening goal in Game 6 against the Minnesota Wild, helping the Golden Knights advance to the second round. In Game 2 against the Edmonton Oilers, he scored two goals on the power play to drag the Golden Knights back into the fight. 

Here’s the issue: the Golden Knights have limited cap space, and Olofsson has probably played himself out of their price range. With just $9.615 million to work with, the Golden Knights must make some difficult decisions in the coming weeks.

Brandon Saad

After the St. Louis Blues terminated his contract, the Golden Knights signed Brandon Saad to a one-year, $1.5 million contract. He signed cheaply, stating that chasing more money ‘wasn’t leading to any happiness.’ 

It took Saad no time to settle, and he quickly found his place on a line with Tomáš Hertl and Pavel Dorofeyev. Even with no power play reps, he finished his shortened season with the Golden Knights with six goals and 14 points in 29 games. An injury cut his postseason short, and he didn’t dress for the final three games.

Here’s the issue: Brandon Saad’s situation is very similar to Victor Olofsson’s. After playing well in Vegas, he could probably get more money from another contender than the Golden Knights could afford. 

But if they can, the Golden Knights should try to keep him; Saad fits their style of play to a tee. Even when he isn’t scoring, he’s great defensively and uses his speed to create chances off the rush. 

Tanner Pearson

After a short, underwhelming tenure with the Montreal Canadiens, Tanner Pearson attended the Golden Knights’ training camp on a PTO. He turned that into a one-year contract at league minimum. 

Pearson finished the season with 12 goals and 27 points in 27 games. He was mostly deployed in a fourth-line role but also spent time on the top line with Jack Eichel. When the postseason rolled around, scoring dried up for Pearson, as it didfor all the other depth players.

Money isn’t the problem– if the Golden Knights wish to keep him, Pearson probably wouldn’t ask for much. 

Here’s the issue: Pearson is a great fourth-liner, but he’s not flashy offensively. The Golden Knights have an excess of talented bottom-six players; what they need are wingers who can score. Pearson can score, but it’s not exactly what he’s known for.

The ‘thanks, but no’ category

Now for the hard part. Let me preface this by saying that the two remaining pending free agents aren’t necessarily bad players. They simply aren’t what the Golden Knights need right now. There are cheaper options available, and because the Golden Knights need to invest their cap space into scoring help, these two just aren’t a top priority. 

Ilya Samsonov

Last offseason, Ilya Samsonov signed a one-year prove-it deal worth $1.8 million. Even behind the Golden Knights’ goaltender-friendly defense, Samsonov struggled. He finished the season with a record of 16-9-4 and an average save percentage of .891 in 29 games.

Samsonov didn’t show enough to warrant a new contract. Towards the end of the season, Akira Schmid proved himself and backed up Adin Hill in the postseason. The Golden Knights have two other goaltenders in Henderson who are solid prospects– Carl Lindbom and Cameron Whitehead– and Samsonov blocks their path.

Nic Hague

I know, I know. This one might be hard. The Golden Knights drafted Nic Hague in 2017, and he became the first home-grown talent to establish himself as an NHL regular. He’s big, strong, and a pain in front of the net; that’s why he’s played 364 regular season games and 44 postseason games.

So, why not keep him? Well, Hague currently makes under $2.3 million, and as a pending RFA, he’s due for a well-deserved raise. AFPAnalytics projects his new deal to be a two-year, $2.6 million contract.

Here’s the issue: between Ben Hutton and Kaedan Korczak, the Golden Knights have cheaper options in the system. Hague doesn’t provide much offense from the blue line, and after struggling to score during the postseason, that money is better spent on a winger who can score.

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