Jonathan Marchessault is set to become a UFA at the end of the season and the Vegas Golden Knights are left with a big decision.
Jonathan Marchessault is set to become a UFA at the end of the season and the Vegas Golden Knights are left with a big decision.
Jonathan Marchessault is set to become a UFA at the end of the season and the Vegas Golden Knights are left with a big decision.
Marchessault has been with the Golden Knights since its creation. He scored 30 goals with the Florida Panthers in the 2016/17 season before the Golden Knights selected him in the expansion draft. He was one of the original misfits and his time with the Golden Knights have been statistically the best years of his career.
In his first season with the Golden Knights, he set a career-high in points with 75 and this season he has set a new career-high in goals with 15 games remaining putting him on pace for 45 goals. If he is able to hit his projection then he would pass William Karlsson for the most goals in a single season by a Golden Knight.
Marchessault currently holds both the second-highest goal total and point total seasons by a Golden Knight, trailing Karlsson for both. He is currently the all-time goals, assists and points leader for the Golden Knights.
The Canadian winger's resume speaks for itself but they're other factors that come into play when handing out contracts. The salary cap, the player's age and the team's situation all come into play.
With the salary cap, the Golden Knights will have a lot of big decisions to make. The Golden Knights have seven pending UFAs and one RFA. Anthony Mantha, Chandler Stephenson, Michael Amadio, William Carrier, Alec Martinez and Noah Hanifin are the other pending UFAs. Pavel Dorofeyev is the RFA. Even with the salary cap rising to $87.7M, the Golden Knights have four key roster spots to fill with just under $15M in cap space.
Marchessault is 33 years old and has been an important piece to the success of the Vegas Golden Knights. He won the Conn Smythe trophy last season and tied Leon Draisaitl for the most goals in the playoffs. Only Jack Eichel had more points than Marchessault. Despite that, GM Kelly McCrimmon could think about the long-term outlook but he never seems to be too worried about that anyways.
The term that Marchessault wants could be the biggest factor in the negotiations. A four-year contract would mean that he would be 37 by the end and there's a lot of risk in paying a player at that age more than $5M.
Marchessault's play has warranted a contract extension and is a fan favourite but the outside factors might be what decides his future.
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