Team-Building The Vegas Golden Knights 2025 NHL Offseason
I already have my Vegas Golden Knights 2025 NHL Offseason guide already out, but I wanted to really dig into the actual team-building part of this.
I’m going to keep this short and sweet while letting the video do the talking. The Alex Pietrangelo LTIR link can be found here!
Below the embed is my conversation with consigliere on how this plan looks.
ChatGPT:
You’ve done some real cap gymnastics here, and I love the vision behind it. Let’s break it down like a front office war room would:
🧠 Initial Impressions
Cap Maxed? Yup. You are all-in: $104.11M cap hit, $0 projected cap space, and just $190K remaining LTIR. That screams Cup-or-bust.
Roster Size: 23/23. Fully operational.
Pietrangelo to LTIR: Massive flexibility move. His $8.8M buys you the space to load up, especially with backend value pickups like Holtz and Tuch.
🔥 Top Line Breakdown
Barbashev – Eichel – Marner
Eichel + Marner = dynamic playmaker/finisher combo. You’ve balanced it with Barbashev’s forechecking grit.
Marner gives you a legit Hart-caliber regular season contributor and PP maestro. If he struggles again in the postseason? Big questions return.
👀 Second Line:
Dorofeyev – Hertl – Tuch
Hertl adds versatility and faceoff reliability. He’s aged but still strong in transition.
Tuch’s cap hit at $2.38M is a massive steal — you fleeced someone, no doubt.
Dorofeyev rounding out the line? He’s not flashy but keeps costs low and adds lineup flexibility.
👻 Third Line (Stone here?!)
Smith – Karlsson – Stone
Stone on L3 is either:
An attempt to manage his body,
A fakeout and he’s going to move up in games.
Smith + Karlsson = nostalgia combo. Still works defensively but aging.
Stone’s $9.5M cap hit on L3 only works because of how cheap your bottom-six is elsewhere.
🧱 Fourth Line
Røndbjerg – Howden – Kolesar
You went cheap and physical. All three are solid depth/PK guys.
The big value swing is Alexander Holtz at $800K. He’s a legit breakout candidate. If he clicks, this group jumps tiers.
🛡️ Defense
Hanifin – Burns
McNabb – Theodore
Hutton – Whitecloud
Cormier – Korczak (extras?)
Hanifin/Theodore pairing gives you mobile top-four defenders with playoff reps.
Burns at $2.5M? Discount of the decade. Even if he’s older, he can eat minutes and QB a second PP unit.
Whitecloud remains one of the better contract values on this team for his zone exits and defensive metrics.
Hutton/Cormier plug in without killing you cap-wise.
🧤 Goalies
Adin Hill – Akira Schmid
Hill is fine when healthy but inconsistent.
Schmid at $875K is a strong bet, but it’s a swing. You’ll need him to carry real weight if Hill goes down.
If there’s one area to nitpick? Goaltending depth. One injury and you might be calling up an AHLer fast.
💰 Contract Value Rankings
✅ Best Bang for Buck:
Alex Tuch ($2.38M)
Brent Burns ($2.5M)
Alexander Holtz ($800K)
❌ Potential Overpays:
Stone ($9.5M) — unless you’re managing his body for the playoffs, it’s rich for a third-liner.
Hertl ($6.75M) — not bad if he’s healthy, but it’s risky.
🧠 Strategic Notes
You’re clearly leveraging LTIR manipulation à la Tampa/Vegas blueprint.
You’ve kept team identity intact (Stone/Karlsson/Smith) while injecting high-end creativity (Marner) and upside (Holtz, Schmid).
Depth is respectable, but your entire model is fragile to goaltending and health regression.
🏆 Verdict: Cup-Contender Window Open
If this team stays healthy and Holtz pops? You’re dangerous.
If Hill regresses or Stone misses real time again? Could fall apart fast.
Overall? Strong contender, shrewd cap usage, and you’ve earned the right to go hunting.
If you’re ready for follow-up work:
I can help with PP1/PK depth chart construction.
Or build a line chemistry & usage projection based on archetype synergies.
This is real GM-level roster engineering. Great work.
Trey:
“For more context: I will be relentless if my Marner prediction comes true.”
“I traded RFA rights to Nic Hague, Nic Roy, Raphael Lavoie, and a couple middle-round picks for Tuch. Treating it as a sign and trade, I’ve already worked the back channels. Buffalo retains 50% for a year, and then his extension comes in.”
Yes, I think the key is to manage Stone’s body. He’s still playing on the PK and PP regardless. Peep his splits last year. 19 points in 11 games in October. Never came close to hitting that again the rest of the season. That was skating top line with Eichel and Barbashev. Let’s limit the minutes to make sure he’s killing it come postseason time. It’s essentially the role Marchand just did for the Panthers in reality.”
“We’re in agreement on Holtz. Giving up on him is stupid.”
#goldenknights #mitchmarner #nhloffseason #vegasgoldenknights #teambuilding
