Confirmed Trade: [VGK/SJS] Tomas Hertl (17.05% retained), 2025 and 2027 3rd round picks for David Edstrom, 2025 1st round pick

[Pavelski2112]

Really like this deal for VGK.

Not sure what San Jose was thinking resigning him and then retaining on him 2 years later... It makes 0 sense.

A different GM signed him to that contract - that was Joe Will doing his absolute best to ruin whatever cap flexibility was left at the time

 

[Vegan Knight]

I know it's not Vegas´ fault but man, they need to do something about this shit. I know that NHL has nothing to with reality parity anymore, but still. This is just ridiculous.

And I'm not "salty" because "my team" can't do this, it's just f***ing phony.

Have you seen NFL, MLB, NBA, college sports, European football, not even just the big leagues but small ones also? Nothing is exact parity and the NHL never has been.

Even sports with single competitors are all about who can get seen and get funded well enough to get the best training, and much of that can be living in the right areas.

Or the fact that teams can get double retention from a team that the player never played for, and is only on the roster for ten minutes in a paper transaction. You know, actual cap circumvention that many teams do every year and no one bitches about it.

 

[mundyc3]

Because they host the draft in 2024 and didn’t want to trade it.

Also they traded for an injured player and have a shot they do not to make the playoffs.

 

[Video Nasty]

Insecurity post is obvious.

Is that why you replied?

 

[Man Bear Pig]

At least Vegas is in the West so it won't matter to me because my team isn't making the cup finals anyways, but holy shit are they making a mockery of the cap. The Knights have been playing the system and making everyone look dumb since their inception.

 

[Pestilence]

classic HF talking about retention slots when SJ is going for a full rebuild and only retained 17% , you won't need to worry about SJ needing to retain on any players for a long time

they're getting back 2 1st rounders for a player that has risk/term (injury concerns) and doesn't add anything to their team @ their current stage

retaining 17% for 6+ years is better than paying Hertl 8.1M for 6+ years when you won't be a legit contender during that window

Well those retention slots can be valuable when trading vets with expiring contracts at the deadline, especially for rebuilding teams.

 

[Chips]

You make good points concerning the difficulties of resolving the issue, but why should the playoffs be any different from the regular season? (I know, I know, they are.) If a guy gets hurt during the regular season and goes on LTIR, then the team calls a replacement up from the minors. But when the first guy comes off LTIR the replacement player goes back down. Why? Why not just let him stay and be over the cap, like in the playoffs?

Or, alternatively, a guy gets hurt during the regular and goes on LTIR. So the team makes a trade for his replacement. Then when the guy comes back from LTIR why not just keep both, like in the playoffs? Why have one set of rules for the regular season and another set for for the playoffs?

It was always about player pay. They probably didn’t care about extending it to the playoffs for that reason as well as not wanting to make players miss the playoffs.


NHL contracts are pro rated over 82 games. They don’t get paid over the playoffs. The other solution would be change how contracts are structured which seems like a massive headache


Ultimately I’d bet more teams every year have a star player injured who could get mid season treatment, but the team couldn’t justify it.


Parity within reason imo. There’s not need to artificially tie teams down for the sake of it past a certain point. The parity right now is great even with LTIR. It’s not like teams spend their money equally anyway. Tons have dead cap, overpaid vs underpaid players etc. Two teams at the ceiling have way better or worse teams. It’s all the same game.


Juggernaut teams are super fun to watch and easy to respect, because nowadays you’re a juggernaut exclusively because of being well run, as opposed to pre cap when your city might be able to afford like $200 mil more than anyone else every year and could ignore bad contracts

 

[cheech70]

Aren't his knees shot?

 

[Shark Finn]

Really like this deal for VGK.

Not sure what San Jose was thinking resigning him and then retaining on him 2 years later... It makes 0 sense.

This is Grier clearing Joe Will's moronic mistake. Management change occured in between the two moves.

 

[CanadienShark]

Grier apologists, it's your time to shine. Have at it!

 

[bringbacktheskate604]

I’m coming back to this post into quote it in the future.

Here's what I don't get, people act like a doctor is going to risk losing his medical license or that Vegas would not only coherse Stone into cheating or risk their season by having their best player sit

 

[vipera1960]

Would be cool if Vegas starts a trend and we start to see more aggressive teams around the league

I don’t know. There’s a good chance Vegas goes in loaded. There’s also a good chance they miss the playoffs with a $100M roster. If they win you might see more GMs try for these big swings, but if they totally whiff you might see a much more conservative approach.

 

[The don godfather]

Rule number 1 in playoffs the hottest goaltender wins no matter what's the lineup . Seen it a thousand times.

 

[goldnblack]

Every Oilers fan I know is furious about this deal. That's why it's such a good deal.

 

[Iwishihadaspacebar]

Just a reminder, Toronto and Tampa Bay are spending more money than Vegas. Other teams could be doing what Vegas have done, but they clearly aren't clever / creative enough to do so.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

It's good, but I don't think it's better than Pettersson, Miller, Lindholm, Blueger or McDavid, Draisaitl and whoever.

Vancouvers top 2 are better but no team will be able to match Vegas bottom 2 centers (Stephenson and Karlsson) on the bottom two lines. This is if Karlsson plays on the 4th line.

Vegas has two checking lines and 2 scoring lines to throw at you. Will be tough to match up with them line for line.

 

[crackdown44]

Just like the Hanifin deal I’m quite surprised there weren’t 10 teams that lined up to beat this offer. Can’t complain about Vegas making good deals when all you had to do was offer more

 

[ijuka]

Just like the Hanifin deal I’m quite surprised there weren’t 10 teams that lined up to beat this offer. Can’t complain about Vegas making good deals when all you had to do was offer more

They probably wanted 50% retention rather than 17.05%

 

[Voight]

Retaining on a 6 year deal is asinine. The Sharks are a horrible franchise.

Yup and now they have no more mention slots until 2025 when Burns' contract ends. Even after that, they'll have 2/3 tied up until 2027. IMOP as a rebuilding team that isn't good, gives you less options to act as "broker" and gain free picks.

 

[coooldude]

Yup and now they have no more mention slots until 2025 when Burns' contract ends. Even after that, they'll have 2/3 tied up until 2027. IMOP as a rebuilding team that isn't good, gives you less options to act as "broker" and gain free picks.

Free what, 3, 4, 5 round picks? Rather than the essentially two firsts from the trade?

Retention slots are there to be used. Grier used all three on three of the four hardest contracts to move - the three that were movable at all (vlasic being the worst and completely unmovable, honorable mention Labanc who is finally, mercifully UFA this off-season).

 

[Voight]

Mike Grier won't be getting another GM job after this, yikes.

Honestly, I don't know why they hired him or how he got the job in the first place. He didn't have much experience and if your plan is to rebuild, you should hire someone with a lot of experience.

 

[coooldude]

Honestly, I don't know why they hired him or how he got the job in the first place. He didn't have much experience and if your plan is to rebuild, you should hire someone with a lot of experience.

2021: empty prospect pool, long term aging contracts with NMCs, underperforming team, no hope, no playoffs.

2024: Cap situation almost completely cleared, "unmovable" contracts moved for 3 1sts, best asset (Timo) traded for a haul that looks very very good now, and seven picks in the top 50 in the next two years. Already a top 5 prospect pool before that.

He's doing the tear down by the book, now we need to see if he can build it back up.

 

[Voight]

Wow. You gotta give it to Vegas. The know how to play the game. I don’t like that this loophole is available, but I can’t blame them for taking advantage of it. I’d want my team to do the same.

It's not even a loophole. They have players with serious injuries. Lehner hasn't played in years and may not ever, Stone recently suffered a major injury (2021 was the last time he played a full season or close to it) and when that happens, you put the player on LTIR.

 

[Voight]

They've been doing it by getting their players on and off LTIR at conspicuous times of the season.
Other teams have done it, such as Tampa.

I get why people are fishy about the timing, but the league typically investigates all LTIR claims. Maybe Stone will be healthy in time for games 79-82, maybe hell need the extra week off. Who knows, regardless people can't just come to their own conspiracy theory conclusions.

 

[Super Cake]

Man some of you really had high expectations for a return. A unprotected 1st round picxk and a 1st round prospect is actually a decent haul for a guy who had complete control of his destination since he had a nmc.