Confirmed Signing with Link: [VGK] Zach Whitecloud signs extension with the Golden Knights (6 years, $2.75M AAV)

[majormajor]

If he continues to progress its great for the Knights, if not theres definitely some possible downside, because he has not proven much.

$2.75m is the price for an average #4/5D.

Whitecloud is already at least that. He'd have to regress to a #6 or #7 for there to be any unfortunate outcome for the Knights. They made a good bet here in my opinion.

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Bump this thread in 2 years when he gets rewarded for signing a team-friendly deal by being dealt.

That's Whiteclouds risk by doing this deal. He could very easily be dealt at some point of this contract.

Team friendly deals dont guarantee anything

 

[BertCorbeau]

Love seeing a long term deal for players that I’m not familiar with

 

[izzy]

Islanders setting trends here

 

[Grantham]

I've always been really impressed with Whitecloud, seems like Schmidt in a sense of his two way play and compete level. He has a lot of potential and I could see him becoming a top pairing guy one day. I see this as a brilliant forward thinking signing with zero risk. Congrats Vegas fans!

 

[Shocker]

Lol @ the people calling this a gamble. Whitecloud is a great defensive presence on the VGK blueline and has the potential to be one of the better shutdown defensemen in the league if he keeps progressing right.

As is he's already one of Vegas' most defensively reliable blueliners.

There's no gamble here. If he plateaus at this level across his career, then this is simply solid value. Every bit he gets better, this deal goes up in positive value.

I'm thrilled personally.

I think the only gamble is if he just suddenly totally falls off and odds of that are pretty darn low.

Even in that case, it's only 2.75m a year, easily offloadable amount.

So more like a safe investment instead of a gamble.

 

[Regal]

Whitecloud really impressed me in the bubble, and after last year it seems like he should be at least a good 4/5 going forward and possibly more. Deal eats up all his prime years at a reasonable rate. Hard not to like it.

 

[Seanaconda]

Interesting gamble by Vegas (and Whitecloud). If you want to be competitive in a cap world these are the kind of risks you gotta take though.

Not really by Vegas

 

[KrisLetAngry]

At that price tag he's not someone you want on a bottom pair, you'll need him to be a top 4 quality

Its a gamble. A good one. But you have to be biased if you think there is 0 risk to this deal

Top 4 defensemen and defensemen in general are getting paid a lot more now.

The cap has changed it Is not 2010 anymore.

 

[PAZ]

I hate that this is a steal of a deal for Vegas.

I can understand why he gave Vegas a team-friendly deal though. There is a good chance Whitecloud would've been buried on many other teams and wouldn't have ever gotten a chance, or it would've been a lot later in his career.

 

[KrisLetAngry]

Islanders setting trends here

Should see JR Brandon Tanev and Jack Johnson signings.

I believe Tanev was 100% worth it though.

 

[Petey O]

That's a great deal for a d-man who can actually play defense (unlike some others that people constantly gawk over in this league).

 

[mouser]

These long term deals for low end and mid range guys are interesting….it tells me teams might have the hunch the cap is going to start going back up quickly and want to lock in guys now at “covid pricing”. Just an outsiders speculation

The official party line from the NHLPA is the cap will start going up in 3 seasons. But all the numbers and projections I've been able to get from reliable sources crunch out to being 5-7 years before the cap rises.

 

[FlamesFan18]

Great deal for Vegas

 

[PAZ]

The official party line from the NHLPA is the cap will start going up in 3 seasons. But all the numbers and projections I've been able to get from reliable sources crunch out to being 5-7 years before the cap rises.

Is this report outdated then? Or is there just mixed information out there:

SERAVALLI: NHL salary cap projected to rise to $82.5 million in 2022-23 - Daily Faceoff

It does reference the 5-7 year timeframe to completely payoff the debt, but includes an artificial rise that doesn't correlate with the revenue projections.

 

[57special]

Wow, what a team friendly deal.

 

[Dr Awesome]

Sweet deal for the knights. This is will help them structurally building the team with reliability

 

[I Hate Blake Coleman]

Great contract. Even if he is out of the NHL when his deal expires, the dude is set for life.

 

[Eggtimer]

You guys think this could possibly be a move with more to come to try and get their cap organized and figured out then make a trade for Eichel?

 

[MarkusNaslund19]

I'm having a Mandella effect moment. I could have sworn the Knights signed Whitecloud to this deal in the off season. Was it just a rumor? Am I in a different dimension?

Same thing happened last year for me with Mikael Granlund and Columbus. I was sure he had signed there. Turned out it had just been a strong rumor.

 

[Body Checker]

Wonder if it’s some cost certainty projection for an Eichel deal?

 

[dire wolf]

 

[mouser]

Is this report outdated then? Or is there just mixed information out there:

SERAVALLI: NHL salary cap projected to rise to $82.5 million in 2022-23 - Daily Faceoff

It does reference the 5-7 year timeframe to completely payoff the debt, but includes an artificial rise that doesn't correlate with the revenue projections.

It’s hard to tell because they don’t provide all their numbers and assumptions they’re using to to arrive at those results. I do agree with their projected NHL revenue numbers—those are the NHL’s own internal projections. And the estimate of $1.1B in escrow balance to start this season is also a internal number I’ve seen reliably reported.

After that I don’t know if they’re properly accounting for things like deferred salary and non-salary benefits in their projections.

 

[nbwingsfan]

At that price tag he's not someone you want on a bottom pair, you'll need him to be a top 4 quality

Its a gamble. A good one. But you have to be biased if you think there is 0 risk to this deal

$2.75M is much closer to bottom pairing than top 4 cap numbers. How many teams have $3M top 4D?

 

[JetsFan815]

I would not sign a deal like this with Vegas unless they gave me a full NTC/NMC. That org has no loyalty, the players shouldn't either.