Knights defenseman ends holdout, signs seven-year, $36.4 million deal
Restricted free agent Shea Theodore ended his contract stalemate with the Golden Knights late Monday.
The 23-year-old defenseman signed a seven-year, $36.4 million deal and is expected to join the team Tuesday for their two-day retreat to owner Bill Foley’s ranch in Montana.
Theodore is now the highest-paid defenseman on the team with an average annual salary of $5.2 million. He is expected to be ready for the season opener Oct. 4 against Philadelphia.
“We’re happy to have everybody done now,” general manager George Mcphee said following the Knights’ 5-3 preseason loss to Colorado at T-mobile Arena. “Sometimes it takes a little longer than you anticipated. Basically the issues were they wanted to go shorter term and we wanted longer term. You just have to get the numbers right on those deals.
“We got to a place today where we had a couple of options. A six-year deal, a seven-year deal. And we thought we were pretty close. We got it done just after the first period.”
Mcphee said Theodore and his agent, Craig Oster, had been seeking a two-year deal. Should Theodore develop into a toppair defenseman, the Knights will get good value at the back end of the contract.
The contract includes a five-team no-trade clause in the final two years. Oster could not be reached for comment.
“Looking forward to sticking around Vegas for 7 more years!!!,” Theodore posted on his official Twitter account. “Can’t wait to get season 2 started!”
Theodore had six goals and 29
THEODORE
for them and get the puck in their hands, because they’re the playmakers and I’m a guy who goes hard to the net,” Tuch said.
At 6 feet 4 inches and 222 pounds, Tuch provides the line with a different look than the speedy Haula.
Tuch picked up two assists Monday, including a cross-ice feed to Pacioretty for the Knights’ opening goal in the second period.
“We got a couple of kinks out in the first period,” Tuch said. “I thought in the second and third we had more chemistry.”
2. Cody Glass faces an uphill battle to crack the final roster.
It was always a long shot that Glass would play in the NHL this season.
But all signs point to the No. 6 overall pick in the 2017 draft returning to Portland with the Western Hockey League for more seasoning at the major-junior level.
Glass registered two assists against Arizona in the preseason opener but left in the middle of practice Sept. 17 with a lower-body injury. He returned to practice Saturday and centered the third line with Haula and Ryan Carpenter against the Avalanche.
Glass was scoreless in 15:06 of ice time but nearly scored late in the second period — he started to raise his stick in celebration — but Colorado defenseman Samuel Girard cleared the puck off the goal line.
“I feel like I did a good job, obviously being my first game back,” Glass said. “Moving forward it’s going to be a fun time, and I just have to get used to it every day.”
Glass is eligible to play nine games in the NHL before his entry-level contract begins. But to keep the 19-year-old, the Knights likely would have to place a veteran forward on waivers.
General manager George Mcphee almost certainly wouldn’t risk losing someone like Oscar Lindberg or Ryan Carpenter at this stage.
3. Erik Brannstrom looked like a rookie.
The hype surrounding the 19-yearold defenseman from Sweden reached new levels of insanity following Brannstrom’s filthy shootout goal in Saturday’s 5-4 victory at San Jose.
Monday’s performance served as a reminder that Brannstrom remains a work in progress.
Brannstrom had a minus-3 rating in a team-high 20:45 of ice time and allowed multiple odd-man rushes for Colorado.
He was caught up ice, leading to a 2-on-0 in the second period that was wasted by the Avalanche. Brannstrom fell down at center ice trying to track down a puck in the third period, leading to another 2-on-0.
“We made more mistakes tonight than we did in the first four preseason games,” Gallant said.
Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702387-5203. Follow @Davidschoenlvrj on Twitter.