The harsh reality of the NHL’s salary cap took a bite out of the Golden Knights on Wednesday as they decided to ship Reilly Smith to the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Smith is coming off a strong 2022-23 campaign that saw him score 26 goals and put up 56 points — his highest total since 2017-18. He also provided 14 points in 22 games in the postseason during the team’s championship run.
The return for Smith is a third-round pick, making it clear that the Golden Knights’ primary motivation for the move was getting the winger’s $5 million salary off the books. Before the deal, the team projected to have just $3.46 million in cap space — and with Vegas reportedly working on an extension for goaltender Adin Hill in the $4.9 million range, something had to give.
Prior to dealing Smith, the team also had no chance of retaining Ivan Barbashev, who is one of the top free agents on the market after his strong work in the playoffs. This move could make retaining Barbashev more realistic, although keeping the winger would probably take another cost-saving transaction from Vegas.
The financial reality the Golden Knights were facing makes this deal easy to understand, but it is still a tough blow for them to lose a productive player who had been a top-six staple since the club’s first season. Smith ranks second in franchise history in goals (124) and third in points (286).
From the Penguins perspective, landing Smith without giving up significant futures is something of a coup. Even after the deal, Pittsburgh has $15.20 million in cap space, and the veteran projects to be one of the best wingers on a squad that’s always looking for players to thrive on the flanks of its elite centres.
At 32, Smith doesn’t offer much upside, but if his production mirrors his recent work in Vegas the Penguins will be happy to have him at his $5 million AAV through 2024-25.
The deal is the first significant move of the Kyle Dubas era in Pittsburgh. Dubas said last week that he didn’t anticipate being in on splashy free agents, but he didn’t rule out anything in the trade market. Adding a 26-goal scorer who was an alternate captain on the reigning champs is at least splashy-adjacent.
