The Golden Knights are a bigger story than anything else in the NHL right now. Nobody expected this team to come out and play well in their first season, but they're doing that, and they're providing a city with the kind of excitement and flair that they had been waiting years for.
With the NHL Trade Deadline coming up, though, many are asking whether or not this team will actually risk going for it this year or will they sit back and watch? If there's one thing that I know about George McPhee, he is by far the smartest person in hockey today. He knows exactly how to build a team for the now and for the future, and he's definitely got a tough test for the trade deadline.
If I understand one thing about McPhee that I did notice in Washington, he's very smart with going out and getting players that he believes will help them both now and in the long run. I can expect the same thing more with the Golden Knights. There's a couple of players on this team that I believe will get traded before the deadline. Couple of those names may include Brad Hunt and Cody Eakins, because I doubt that they're the future of the Golden Knights beyond this season and I don't think McPhee will want to let them go, unless they get either good players with longer contracts or prospects they can build on for the future.
There's also the question of whether or not James Neal will stay beyond this season. I have said earlier this season that teams around this league have not given James Neal their due. I thought he would get a long-term extension with the Predators when they went to the Stanley Cup Final, but instead, GM Ryan Poile decided to let the Knights draft him in the Expansion Draft. It was a really stupid move then, despite the Predators being good now. I hope George McPhee doesn't ship him, because I think he deserves a long-term contract with a good team and that's the Golden Knights. He has earned the right to play there, and honestly, he's going to wear the C next season, because he's earned it. I doubt he'll be on the market and I doubt he'll want to leave after this season, but for him to stay long-term, McPhee has to please him and that means perhaps signing him a long-term deal, and I think it would be best.
There's no risking the future but you also have to go for it while it's still hot. That may mean trading off some pieces, including some prospects. I can see why the Golden Knights are in this position to go for it, and I think they should. The Diamondbacks actually took three years before they won a World Series, but afterwards had a bad slump of a couple of years of not making the playoffs. However, fans there are grateful and appreciative that that team won a World Series in its first few seasons of being in the league. The Golden Knights have to go that same route there. Even if you're bad a few years after that, those fans in Vegas will love you regardless because you won a Stanley Cup in your first year or even a year after that.
You have to go for it, no matter what, even if it means risking the future. I don't think McPhee will do it. Like I said, he's the smartest guy in the league and he knows how to build for the here and now. However, you make those fans happy when they're at their high and if it means trying to get a Stanley Cup now, you have no choice. I think Vegas deserved a team and you have to build on it when they're on a high. It's now or never for this particular team and you have to get to the Final. Even if they don't win it this year, you go for it and see if it can lead to a Stanley Cup. That's the ultimate goal of every team, even if this city and this team.
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