No team has been better at taking advantage of the NHL's salary cap loopholes and long-term injured list than the Vegas Golden Knights. It has opened the door for them to add some major players at the trade deadline, and they might have another opportunity to do so this season because of an injury to defenseman Shea Theodore at the 4 Nations Face-off.
The Golden Knights announced on Friday that Theodore, who was injured in Canada's 4-3 overtime win against Sweden on Wednesday night, will be sidelined on a week-to-week basis and may not return until closer to the playoffs.
For most teams, losing a top defenseman for an extended period of time would be a major cause for concern.
But this could be just what the Golden Knights needed to become big-time buyers at the trade deadline and add to an already good roster.
For one, the Golden Knights are a safe bet for the playoffs whether they have Theodore in the lineup for the next couple of months or not. They are a better team with him, but their playoff position is solid and the team itself is good enough to overcome his absence.
Second, if they put him on the long-term injury list it will allow them to exceed the salary cap and bring in a comparable salary to his $5.2 million cap hit.
Vegas is already banking future cap space with forward William Karlsson on the LTIR, and assuming Theodore gets on that list it could give an already good Golden Knights team the ability to add a potential impact player before the March 8 trade deadline.
Vegas has used this approach to its advantage several times in the past, specifically with injuries to forward Mark Stone in recent years.
The advantage comes from the fact that the salary cap goes away in the playoffs, meaning Vegas would not only get to use the players it would acquire at the deadline, but also bring back the injured players. it creates a scenario where a team could put a lineup on the ice come playoff time that significantly exceeds the league's cap.
It is all within the rules, and the NHL has not really done anything to prevent teams from doing it.
Vegas has been one of the most aggressive front offices in the league since it arrived during the 2018-19 season, but general manager Kelly McCrimmon has previously said it might be a quieter deadline for the team, but that was before he gained some potential salary cap flexibility.
The Golden Knights could use more scoring depth, especially on its second and third lines. The problem is going to be that the Golden Knights do not have a first-round pick in the 2025 or 2026 drafts (both have been traded in recent years) and do not have a particularly deep farm system. So piecing together a trade in terms of moveable assets might be difficult. The salary cap space, however, should be there for them to use
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