The Vegas Golden Knights already acquired Anthony Mantha and Noah Hanifin ahead of Friday's NHL trade deadline. Now they get a "new-age power forward" in Tomas Hertl, says Jacob Stoller.
If you thought the Vegas Golden Knights fleeced the Calgary Flames in the Noah Hanifin deal, then their latest deal is an outright highway robbery.
Vegas acquired Tomas Hertl (17 percent retained), a 2025 third-round pick and a 2027 third-round pick from the San Jose Sharks in exchange for a 2025 first-round pick and prospect David Edstrom.
Hertl has seven years remaining on his eight-year, $65.1-million contract. With retention, Hertl will carry a $6.75-million cap hit until the deal expires at the end of the 2029-30 season.
The Czech winger has been out ‘week to week’ since undergoing minor knee surgery during the NHL all-star break, but Sharks coach David Quinn said on Tuesday that he was “ahead of schedule.”
The move is an undeniable home run for a Vegas Golden Knights team that tries to contend every year.
Hertl, 30, is a versatile ‘new-age power forward’ — capable of playing wing or center — who has a unique blend of skill and an ability to play a heavy, playoff-style game. Coming off back-to-back 60-plus point seasons, Hertl has recorded 15 goals and 34 points in 48 games with San Jose this season (a 58-point pace across an 82-game season, which is quite impressive given how tough the Sharks' season has been). Hertl has scored 42 points in 62 career playoff games.
While Hertl will be 36 years old when his contract expires, the salary cap is expected to rise healthily, and his inevitable regression down the road won’t sting them as much as you’d think. It’s not like the Golden Knights are concerned about matters that far in advance, anyway.
San Jose, on the other hand, is focused on its future outlook, which is why this deal is puzzling from its perspective. The most alarming element of the deal is rooted in the lengthy contract retention.
The move means the Sharks have now used up all three of their retention spots — with Brent Burns and Erik Karlsson taking up the other two — until the end of the 2025-26 season. Afterward, they’ll only have one retention spot until the 2027-28 season. Having retention spots available has proven to be a valuable commodity in today’s NHL — especially for rebuilding teams trying to leverage their cap space to acquire better assets.
Allocating a retention spot for the next half-decade plus is no small ask, and a 2025 first-round pick and Edstrom — who was ranked 69th in The Hockey News’ 2024 Future Watch Issue — is not nearly enough. Trading away two third-round picks as well is mind-boggling. Given how much of a favor they were doing for Vegas — and how many assets they’ll miss out on by now having no retention spot — San Jose should’ve received, at the very least, another valued asset.
Putting all the gripes about the value aside, Edstrom is certainly an intriguing prospect.
Drafted 32nd overall in 2023, the 6-foot-3 Swedish center has recorded six goals and 17 points in 42 SHL games this season with Frolunda in the Swedish League. The 19-year-old recorded just three points in seven world junior games this season.
For more reaction, visit The Hockey News' Vegas Golden Knights and San Jose Sharks sites. Here's what Ryan Kennedy and Michael Traikos have to say: