TORONTO — Kelly McCrimmon, who’s helped architect some of the biggest NHL trades in recent memory, doubts his Vegas Golden Knights will make a big splash in the next week.
Nor does the general manager believe they, or any other contending team, has to in order to win the Stanley Cup.
For McCrimmon, the key to the Trade Deadline, set for Friday at 3 p.m. ET, is more about how a player fits as opposed to star power.
“We’ll do the work, we’ll be engaged and see what possibilities are there for us, but I don’t anticipate us making any big trades,” McCrimmon told NHL.com. “You never say never. You do your due diligence. And with so many teams still in the wild card hunt, some might not decide if they are buyers or sellers until right before the Deadline. So, there may be players who become available at that point who are not being discussed right now.
“It’s going to change here in the next few days. I think it’s going to be pretty fluid between now and the deadline of March 7. But for us, we didn’t intend to be big buyers. I like the makeup of our team.”
If the Golden Knights (35-18-6) or any other top teams do end up staying relatively inactive, will that significantly dampen their odds of going on to win the Stanley Cup, especially when the defending champion Florida Panthers pulled off a major move by acquiring defenseman Seth Jones this weekend?
Not necessarily.
As McCrimmon points out, history shows that major Trade Deadline deals do not guarantee titles. Sometimes it’s the small tweaking, if any at all, that can lead to success.
McCrimmon uses Vegas’ previous two seasons as examples.
In 2023, the most notable Trade Deadline deal made by the Golden Knights was acquiring forward Ivan Barbashev from the St. Louis Blues. At first blush it wasn’t considered an impactful transaction, given that Barbashev had just 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists) and was minus-10 in 59 games when the trade was made.
But the narrative changed quickly in the playoffs. Barbashev found himself playing on the top line alongside Jack Eichel and Jonathan Marchessault for Vegas’ last 18 postseason games and had 18 points (seven goals, 11 assists) in its run to the Stanley Cup.
One year later, the Golden Knights made two of the bigger deals leading into the Deadline, acquiring defenseman Noah Hanifin from the Calgary Flames and forward Tomas Hertl from the San Jose Sharks.
Did those additions make an immediate impact? No. Vegas was eliminated in the Western Conference First Round by the Dallas Stars, coming up one goal short in a 2-1 loss in Game 7.
At the same time, the Golden Knights were looking at the bigger picture when those moves were made.
At the time of the trade, Hertl had six years left on an eight-year contract he signed with San Jose on March 16, 2022. Hanifin then signed an eight-year, $58.8 million contract ($7.35 million average annual value) on April 12, just five weeks after being acquired.
They were unable to nudge Vegas past Dallas last season, but each is a key piece in the Golden Knights’ bid for the Stanley Cup this spring and for years to come.
“You look at those Tampa (Bay) teams that won Cups (2020, 2021), their acquisitions were never the high-profile players,” McCrimmon said. “They brought in Blake Coleman, Barclay Goodrow, guys they identified as fitting specific needs. We did it the year we won with Barbashev; he was the right player for us. It was something that we didn’t have after a lot of the work that we had done previously. That was the guy that we needed to be able to win.
“Obviously, with Noah and Tomas, they in large part dictate our approach this year, because we added those players who were here last year, Tomas with term; Noah, who we extended after he got here. Those players have been part of the solution for our team all year, so that’s why we were aggressive last year. We paid a big price, but the rationale was that we were going to have players become really important players in our organization for years to come.”
McCrimmon sees the Panthers taking a similar path.
Last season, Florida’s most notable Deadline move was acquiring Vladimir Tarasenko as a rental with an expiring contract from the Ottawa Senators. The veteran forward chipped in with nine points (five goals, four assists) in 24 playoff games in the Panthers’ run to their first championship.
On Saturday, Jones was traded to the Panthers by the Chicago Blackhawks for goalie Spencer Knight and a conditional first-round pick in the 2026 NHL Draft. Florida also received a fourth-round selection next year.
Jones is in the third season of an eight-year, $76 million contract ($9.5 million average annual value) he signed with the Blackhawks on July 28, 2021. Chicago will retain 26 percent of Jones’ salary.
Having lost puck-moving defensemen Brandon Montour (Seattle Kraken) and Oliver Ekman-Larsson (Toronto Maple Leafs) in free agency last summer, the 30-year-old Jones slots in perfectly, not only for the Panthers’ attempt to repeat but postseasons to come.
“Last year, the Panthers won the Stanley Cup,” McCrimmon said. “They added Tarasenko, so it was not a big Deadline splash for them. But again, based on the growth of their team the previous year when they went to the Final and played us, it was a good fit, based on the people that they had in place. He came in and was a winger in their top six, and that was what they were missing.
“Again, I think championships are won on how those teams are built. Sometimes you need the big splash, sometimes you just need that one piece. I’m sure lots of examples where teams made a big acquisition and made the difference, so we’ve been active at most Trade Deadlines. The year we won was perhaps one of our more modest when you look at some of the other Trade Deadlines.
“There’s no real formula. It’s what works for that specific team.”
Does that mean Hertl and Hanifin will be the keys during their second playoff season with the Golden Knights? Will Jones be the elixir to help the Panthers become the first back-to-back champion since the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017? Or will another team’s trade philosophy, whether it be aggressive or passive, be the recipe for the title?
Stay tuned.