3 Moves The Vegas Golden Knights Need To Make This Summer

The Vegas Golden Knights had a marvelous regular season, as they finished with a 40-14-2 record. They would then sweep the Blues and beat the favored Avalanche during the postseason. However, all of their success was quickly erased by their collapse against the Canadiens in the third round. The Golden Knights will not be satisfied until they successfully win a Stanley Cup. However, due to their small amount of salary cap, they have a lot working against them this summer.

Here are three moves they should try to make.

Re-Sign Alec Martinez: The Golden Knights do have the ability to re-sign Alec Martinez, but it will be tight. Yet, when looking at how well he played this season, it is worth exploring. He is a legitimate top-four defenseman who is coming off the best offensive season of his career. Also, he played the postseason with a broken foot and still looked like one of their best defenseman.

Trade A Goalie: The Golden Knights are going to have to trade either Marc-Andre Fleury or Robin Lehner to have more cap flexibility. Although they make up one of the best tandems in the league, they take up $12 million of cap space. Fleury is coming off of a Vezina Trophy season, but has only one year left on his deal and is 36-years-old. Lehner, on the other hand, has four years left and a $5 million cap hit.

Add A Center: Trading one of their goalies would allow the team to upgrade at center. This is by far the weakest position that they have, and it needs to be addressed. They can either acquire one through trade or look to sign a free agent. They have been linked to Jack Eichel, but his $10 million cap hit is too much for them unless they trade another big contract in a deal. Reilly Smith comes to mind as an example, but a lot more would need to be included, too. Yet, even then, it still feels like a long-shot. If they go down the free agency route, Phillip Danault, David Krejci and old friend Paul Stastny are available.