Pietrangelo's Uncertain Future Cost Golden Knights $5 Million In Cap Space

The Vegas Golden Knights have regularly been a team that is able to work around the cap by seeing players with a high cap get injured ahead of the trade deadline, add replacements to fill the void, and see that player come back for the playoffs where the cap disappears. That won't be the case for any team anymore as the rules have changed to make things fair.

With Alex Pietrangelo injured and possibly coming back, this creates a problem for the Golden Knights. Greg Wyshynski reported that "Pietrangelo said Monday that he has opted not to have surgery while continuing a rehab program that has given him positive results. When asked if a return this season was off the table, Pietrangelo wouldn't rule it out."

According to PuckPedia, if Pietrangelo is out for the season, Vegas can exceed the cap by his full cap hit of $8.8 million through LTIR. But if there's a possibility that the veteran is back this season, the Golden Knights can only exceed the cap through LTIR by $3.8 million. Pietrangelo's uncertainty and comments seem to have cost the Golden Knights $5 million to spend, or in their current case, they are $7.6 million over the cap, so they would have to make at least one trade to free up space.

There is just one player that makes enough sense to trade and would satisfy the amount of cap needed to move, and that's William Karlsson. The veteran has two years left on his contract at $5.9 million AAV and the team has Jack Eichel and Tomas Hertl at center already. While Karlsson is a great third option down the middle, it has become too expensive as it is him or two of Jeremy Lauzon, Brandon Saad, and Reilly Smith, all having a cap hit of $2 million this season.

With teams looking for centers, it won't be too difficult for the Golden Knights to move Karlsson, but there is a 10-team no-trade clause to deal with too. Vegas better hope Pietrangelo does return this season.