The Vegas Golden Knights are going to look a whole lot different without one of the original ‘Golden Misfits' next season. Jonathan Marchessault left the strip to sign a five-year deal with the Nashville Predators on July 1, and Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon revealed why late last week.
“That just wasn't a term we were comfortable in going to,” McCrimmon said in an interview with SiriusXM NHL Network Radio regarding a potential half-decade pact. “We emotionally are attached to the players that have helped us have success, and yet there's just no supporting data that justify, or in our minds, demonstrate a reason to have wingers that age like that at the end of their career.”
The longtime executive added: “Jonathan did exactly what he's entitled to do. … He's at a point in his career where, yes, he really wanted to stay in Las Vegas, but yes, he really wanted to make as much money as he could on his next contract for his family, which is what he did. We did nothing wrong. We made a decision that we weren't comfortable going to five years on a contract, and that's how it ended.”
Marchessault did everything right during his time with Vegas, and continued to get better and better every year. He was exceptional in the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs, leading the postseason with 13 goals and adding 12 assists for 25 points.
He was a huge reason why both he and the Knights won their inaugural championship, defeating the Florida Panthers in five games in the Stanley Cup Final. And the 33-year-old picked up right where he left off in the 2023-24 regular-season, amassing a career-high 42 goals and 69 points over a full 82-game slate.
But McCrimmon and Marchessault shared two very different sides to how the partnership ended.
Golden Knights, Jonathan Marchessault weren't on same page
The GM said that the team offered Marchessault a four-year contract ahead of the 2024 NHL Draft in late June. But the French sniper said on an appearance on the “Cam and Strick Podcast” that Vegas only offered him a three-year deal.
“They didn't want to go anything long term,” Marchessault said earlier in September. “That's the first thing that we were so far [apart on].”
And he understandably wasn't too happy about that.
“There's only a few guys in the organization that you gotta treat well. You've gotta know which one you want to treat really well. I think that's something that is lacking in Vegas,” Marchessault continued.
“Like, have a little bit of loyalty. …I thought I had done good enough in the past seven years for them that I could get what I deserved. I was not asking something outrageous, I was not trying to steal the bank or anything like that. But it's life and you move on … and only the future is going to tell us if they were right or no.”
The Quebec native will always be a Golden Knights legend; he's the franchise's all-time leader in games played (514), goals (192), assists (225), and points (417). But it's clear that his ending with the organization wasn't ideal for either side.
Marchessault will return to Las Vegas as a member of the Predators on April 13.
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