Vegas Golden Knights sign one of their top free agents ahead of deadline

The Vegas Golden Knights are keeping one of the originals. Hockey Insider Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff, reports that the team has reached a verbal agreement with Reilly Smith on a contract extension, though notes it may not be immediately announced due to cap considerations. Smith is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent this summer after completing his 5 year, $25,000,000 contract he signed with the Florida Panthers in 2016.

The Golden Knights opened some cap space by trading winger Evgeny Dadonov to a team he actually wanted to go the Montreal Canadiens.

The 31 year old is a fan favorite and solid contributor for the team. Since arriving in a trade with Florida he has put up 230 points in 321 games. Smith's good buddy Jonathan Marchessault was selected in the expansion draft from Florida. Together Smith, Marchessault, and William Karlsson have formed a solid line that Vegas' coaches have been putting out there steady for the last five seasons.

The 69th pick in 2009 had his name tossed around in trade speculation only because of his expiring deal, and not the impact he made on the ice. With Dadonov out of the picture, letting Smith walk would have left the team without a ton of top-six options on the wing, outside of Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, and Jonathan Marchessault.


Its great to see Smith stay with Vegas. He was part of the huge trade that sent Tyler Seguin to Dallas. He bounced around with Boston and Florida but didn't find a home until the trade to the Golden Knights.

Hopefully Smith can help contribute to another Stanley Cup Finals run like they did in the Golden Knights' debut season.

Firstly the team will need to do some damage control on their reputation within the league. From the bad decisions the management has made the last couple years. Not checking no trade lists, long term injured reserve cap shenanigans, trading away a current Vezina winning goalie and having him find out via Twitter. This isn't even mentioning how they did former Jack Adams winning Head Coach Gerard Gallant dirty by firing him during his third season with the team, after leading them to the Stanley Cup Finals in their expansion season.