4 Players The Golden Knights Could Move To Make Room For Maple Leafs' Mitch Marner

4 players the Golden Knights could move out to make room for UFA Mitch Marner

The Mitch Marner Sweepstakes are in full bloom, even though it's still over a month before he officially reaches unrestricted free agent status. The likelihood of Marner leaving the Toronto Maple Leafs has never been higher according to insiders, and reports have surfaced that the Vegas Golden Knights are one of his prefered destinations.

But there's a fly in the ointment for Vegas, and it's that little issue of salary cap space. Marner is expected to command north of $13 million in AAV on a new deal, even up to $14 million. The Golden Knights will have a mere $9.6 million available this summer.

Now, we know, of course, that that has never stopped the Knights before in their pursuit of the shiniest, splashiest new star that's become available. And it's reasonable to suggest it won't stop them now. But that would take some roster shuffling and player purging to free up cap space.

With that, Hannah Kirkell of Vegas Hockey Now has offered up four players the Golden Knights could move out in order to make room to sign Marner.

4 Moves for Golden Knights to clear cap space for Mitch Marner

Ivan Barbashev

The Russian forward still has three years remaining on a $5 million cap hit. In the new rising cap era, that's a reasonable price for a 20-goal, 50-point forward. There should be some takers, though he does have a modified no-move clause with an eight-team no-trade list. His underperformance in the playoffs the past couple of years makes him expendable, suggests Kirkell, as he had just two points in 11 postseason games this year, and no goals in seven games last season.

Nicolas Roy

The forward has two years remaining at a $3 million cap hit. He's a consistent performer, averaging around 14 goals and 35 points for the past four seasons. His contract is affordable, but in this scenario, as Kirkell points out, "if the Golden Knights want Marner, they can’t afford to pay their fourth-line center $3 million."

Brett Howden

After six straight single-digit goal seasons, the 27-year-old broke through with 23 goals this year, but he has a new five-year, $2.5 million extension kicking in next season. Recency bias could have other teams interested in acquiring Howden, a former first-round pick.

Zach Whitecloud

The solid, third-pairing blueliner blocks shots and uses the body, but with three years to run at a $2.75 million cap hit, that money could be put towards clearing the space needed to sign Marner. As a right-shot D, he'll draw some interest on the trade market as well.