Las Vegas Knights Getting Lots of Offers

The Las Vegas Knights don’t have much in the way of a roster just yet. But they have something that a number of teams are interested in and that’s cap space. The rumor mill is churning overtime with possible scenarios for Las Vegas to help a team out. But it’s going to come at a cost.

The Los Angeles Kings would like to get Dustin Brown’s contract off the books. But getting $5.875 million removed from your cap hit isn’t going to be easy for a player who tallied just 36 points last season. And that was his best year in the last five. The rumor has Brown and the No. 11 overall draft pick heading to the Las Vegas Knights. The return would be little. But Vegas could then buy out Brown to help them reach the cap floor or see if a change does him good.

Ottawa may be trying to do something similar with Bobby Ryan, who can score goals. But he isn’t worth $7.25 million for five more seasons. He’s also coming off his worst year ever and the additional cost would be steep.

Similar situations could play out with the Tampa Bay Lightning and Ryan Callahan and the New York Rangers and Marc Staal. The Rangers would use the savings to sign Keven Shattenkirk.

The other big non-Stanley Cup topic has to do with who will be picked No. 1 overall in the draft. Nico Hischier and Nolan Patrick are going to go No. 1 and No. 2. It’s a question of which one New Jersey takes. You can be sure the Flyers will take the other. And it’s looking more and more like Cale Makar will be the first defenseman taken. When he’s taken depends on the needs of the team. Centers are expected dominate the top 10, with seven or eight being taken and the others defensemen.