Looking ahead: Prospects paint bright future for Golden Knights

Hours before the NHL’S trade deadline Feb. 26, a proposed deal between the Vegas Golden Knights and Ottawa Senators fell through.

The trade would have brought all-star defenseman Erik Karlsson to the Golden Knights in exchange for a handful of draft picks, prospects and, possibly, a current player. General manager George Mcphee pulled out of the trade talks in the final hours, and there has been much speculation about what prevented it from going through.

Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman wrote Monday, “Word is one of the biggest hangups at the end was Cody Glass, drafted sixth overall last June. Vegas didn’t want to include him.”

If that’s true, it speaks volumes about the player Mcphee believes Glass eventually will become.

In last year’s NHL Draft, the Golden Knights selected three players in the first round (Glass, Nick Suzuki and Erik Brannstrom) and two in the second round (Nic Hague and Jake Leschyshyn), and all five have given reason for extreme optimism for the future.

“We did a real good job of drafting them,” Mcphee said. “That’s the first thing you have to do, and then the second thing you have to do is develop them properly.”