What a Mitch Marner deal would mean for the Golden Knights and their cap situation

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LAS VEGAS – The Vegas Golden Knights’ front office spent the second day of the decentralized NHL Draft on the second floor of their practice facility. The team made four picks on Saturday, but spent part of the day discussing a trade to acquire the rights of pending unrestricted free agent Mitch Marner from the Toronto Maple Leafs, league sources told Chris Johnston of The Athletic.

Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon and Toronto GM Brad Treliving declined to discuss the potential deal on Saturday afternoon.

“I’m not going to comment,” Treliving told reporters in Toronto. “I think you’d always like to get something (back in a trade), right? That’s not always the case, but that’s as far as I want to get into it. We’ll see how things go.”

McCrimmon began his post-draft news conference by saying, “I know you’ll have questions we’ll get to in time … with respect to free agency and our roster speculation that’s out there at different times surrounding our team.”

TSN’s Darren Dreger reported Saturday evening that there was more work to be done for the trade to happen, but there are still two days before Marner becomes a free agent on July 1.

If the trade did get completed, it would allow Vegas to sign Marner before he hit the open market. Marner is the top player available in this free agent class, and signing him would add to Vegas’ already impressive list of blockbuster acquisitions over the last several years.

In terms of the match, it makes sense for both sides. Vegas’ most obvious need, after bowing out of the playoffs in the second round to Edmonton, is offensive firepower on the wing, and Marner fits that perfectly.

He was fifth in the NHL in scoring this year with 102 points, and his 741 points are the fourth-most by a winger since he entered the league in 2016-17. His 520 assists during that span are third among wingers behind only Tampa Bay’s Nikita Kucherov and the New York Rangers’ Artemi Panarin.

Marner is an elite playmaker on the wing, which is what the Golden Knights need most.

On top of that, he would be a good fit for Vegas’ defensively-minded forward group, which already features strong two-way players such as Jack Eichel, Mark Stone and William Karlsson. Marner has received votes for the Selke Trophy for seven straight seasons and was a finalist for the award – given to the league’s best defensive forward – in 2023. He led all Maple Leafs forwards in penalty-killing minutes this season, and has been one of Toronto’s most relied-upon killers over the last several years.

Marner has also been excellent on the power play for the Maple Leafs, having topped 20 power-play points in every season of his career (excluding the shortened 2020-21). He put up six goals and 27 assists with a man advantage in 2024-25, and would add to Vegas’ second-ranked power play unit.

There’s no question that adding a play-driver such as Marner would make Vegas more dangerous. The biggest questions are, why give up trade assets when he is set to hit the open market in less than three days, and how does this all work under the salary cap?

Vegas fourth-line center Nicolas Roy is part of the package that Vegas is considering sending to Toronto, Johnston reported on Saturday. He has two years left on his contract with a cap hit of $3 million, and while the Golden Knights would need to shed cap space to sign Marner, it does feel like a steep price to pay for a player who soon will be available as a free agent.

Perhaps Vegas is seeking an eighth year on Marner’s upcoming extension, which can only be accomplished by having him sign the deal with the Maple Leafs before a trade. Perhaps other teams are trying to trade for Marner’s rights before Vegas would have the chance to sign him on the open market.

Losing Roy would hurt Vegas’ depth, but if Marner continues putting up over 100 points per season, it would be a small price to pay to secure his rights. Which brings us to the next point: How would the Golden Knights fit what expects to be a massive contract extension for Marner into their already tight salary cap situation?

The cap-ceiling bump to $95.5 million certainly helps, but assuming Marner gets between $12 million and $14 million per year (his current projected market value), that would give Vegas close to $50 million (more than half of the total cap) committed to only five players (Marner, Eichel, Stone, Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore). Beyond that, Vegas would have more than $80 million (upward of 80 percent of the cap) committed to its top 10 players, leaving little cap space to fill the rest of the roster out.

Putting aside any potential Marner extension for a minute, here’s how Vegas’ cap situation looks:

The Golden Knights currently have approximately $5.6 million in cap space, with 11 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies on the roster for 2025-26. That doesn’t include deals for pending restricted free agents Nicolas Hague, Jonas Rondbjerg, Cole Schwindt and Alexander Holtz. Subtract Roy’s $3 million salary for the sake of this discussion, and it leaves them with $8.6 million in cap space.

Then there are the questions surrounding Pietrangelo’s health, after he dealt with injuries throughout the 2024-25 season.

“We’re going to know more on that in the coming days,” McCrimmon said when asked about Pietrangelo’s status. “Alex and I have had a number of discussions. There are some decisions that need to be made.”

If Pietrangelo were to land on long-term injured reserve, that would open up $8.8 million in cap space, leaving Vegas with $17.4 million prior to a possible deal with Marner. That wouldn’t be much space to sign Marner, another defenseman (whether that be Hague or a free agent), and another forward, but it would be doable.

After all, these are the Vegas Golden Knights, who long have been known to get creative when it comes to making the numbers all work. Either way, there’s no question this roster has become more top-heavy over the last several years and, as a result, the depth has suffered.

Can the group of elite high-end players – which would only get stronger by adding Marner – outweigh those deficiencies? The answer to that question would not only define the Golden Knights’ 2025-26 season, but the remainder of their championship window.

(Photo: Maddie Meyer / Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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