Golden Knights embrace hefty all-around cost to sign William Karlsson

The Vegas Golden Knights are bringing back William Karlsson on a lengthy contract, but the residual cost will be notable.

William Karlsson had a breakout season for the expansion Vegas Golden Knights in 2017-18, with 43 goals and 35 assists along with a league-best +49 plus/minus rating as he also won the Lady Byng Trophy. His numbers fell this past season, to 24 goals and 32 assists, but Karlsson was still set to come out nicely as a restricted free agent this offseason.

According to Jesse Granger of The Athletic, Karlsson is expected to sign an eight-year contract extension with Vegas in the coming days. The deal will have an average annual value of $5.9 million.

Prior to the NHL’s official announcement of the team-by-team cap ceiling for next season, the Golden Knights had no salary cap space. It has now come in at a lower than expected $81.5 million, and no team is hurt worse. As Pro Hockey Rumors notes, Vegas could exceed the cap by 10 percent ($89.65 million) if need be and they aren’t there yet.

Once Karlsson’s deal becomes official, the Golden Knights will have six players under contract through the 2023-24 season (the next five seasons). That doesn’t account for deals signed by Paul Stastny (through 2020-21), Max Pacioretty (through 2022-23) and Marc-Andre Fleury (through 2021-22), with cap hits of $6.5, $7 and $7 million respectively.

Something literally has to give for Vegas.

Defenseman Cody Miller ($3.875 million cap hit) has been mentioned in trade speculation. Cody Eakin ($3.85 million), injured forward David Clarkson ($5.25 million), Erik Haula ($2.75 million) and Ryan Reaves ($2.775 million) are also on the list of candidates to be dealt. Restricted free agent (and 2018 KHL MVP) Nikita Gusev seems to be as good as gone, with teams already expressing interest according to Darren Dreger of TSN.

At 26 years old, Karlsson has plenty of good years left, and Vegas has assured they will get the extent of his prime. His 40-goal breakout year was a bout of good fortune, driven by a league-best shooting percentage (23.4 percent), but if he settles in at 55-60 points per season while continuing to be a solid driver of puck possession the Golden Knights will happily get plenty of value for their commitment.

But when a franchise shells out a big contract, that decision come with residual consequences. Signing Karlsson long-term was a big offseason domino, and it had to be done, but new Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon has some very tough decisions to make in the coming weeks.