The Vegas Golden Knights have already made one significant trade this NHL season. They traded at least one first-round pick, and potentially two, for Calgary Flames defenseman Rasmus Andersson. But Vegas is known for wheeling and dealing ahead of deadlines, and one is coming up with the Olympic break. The Golden Knights should make a trade for Nashville Predators forward Michael Bunting before Wednesday's trade freeze.
Even with Barry Trotz's pending retirement/resignation, the Predators are going to be sellers before the NHL trade deadline. According to Elliotte Friedman, Nashville was very close to trading Bunting to the New York Islanders in late January. The Sportsnet insider said that the two sides could not agree on the year of the draft pick. Otherwise, that deal would have gone through.
So the Predators are willing to trade Bunting, who is on the last year of his contract. And he has no trade protection to work around, although that is not usually something to worry about for Vegas. The Golden Knights should be chasing down Bunting to improve their depth scoring, which has been rough this year.
Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, and Mitch Marner create one of the best top-three units in the league. The Golden Knights, however, are paying Keegan Kolesar $2.5 million to score 14 points in 55 games this season. Improving the depth should be GM Kelly McCrimmon's goal at the trade deadline, and swapping Kolesar for Bunting, with a draft pick, would be a way to do that.
The Olympic roster freeze goes into effect on Wednesday night at 11:59 Eastern. While the Golden Knights do not have much time to make this trade, it is one that could help them once they get back to the ice in late February. The Preadtors should be sellers, and everyone knows Vegas will be buyers.
The Golden Knights are known for making big swings
Although they were never rumored to have interest, it is slightly surprising that the Golden Knights did not make the Quinn Hughes trade. After all, they have made gigantic trades and signings every year since their inception in 2017. Where would this team be without Stone, Marner, Eichel, Alex Pietrangelo, Tomas Hertl, and Noah Hanafin? Because with them, they have one Stanley Cup, two Final appearances, and seven postseason berths.
Bunting is far from the big swing that the players listed above were. He is an expiring free agent with 30 points in 55 games this season, but could still help the Golden Knights win another Stanley Cup this season. The salary cap is not working in their favor, as they have just over $3 million in space at the deadline. Plus, both Andersson and Pavel Dorofeyev need new contracts in the offseason.
That is what makes Bunting the best fit available for the Golden Knights. They can bring him in for one season, unleash him in their elite system, and watch their depth improve immediately. Then, they can let him walk in free agency to a lucrative contract with a team that watched him perform in June.
It is a win-win for both sides, as Bunting can truly cash in after seven years in the National Hockey League. The Golden Knights need to improve on Kolesar, who has not been the player they need him to be and has two years left after this one on his contract. For the Predators, Trotz can retain half of Bunting's salary to improve the draft return and flip Kolesar for another pick, if he so desires
The other position that the Golden Knights desperately need to improve is goaltending. There are no obvious trade candidates in goal heading into the Olympic break, but one could shake loose before the NHL trade deadline in March.
