Vegas Golden Knights might be forced to move a veteran defender due to cap constraints

The organization traded veteran Marc-André Fleury the offseason after winning a Vezina Trophy with the Golden Knights. The team rewarded one of the originals of the franchise Reilly Smith with a one-way ticket out of own after helping the team reach the Stanley Cup.

In a tight cap world it has become common practice in the NHL to move veteran players with high salaries to bring in younger talent or other free agents.

Jesse Granger of The Athletic believes Alec Martinez could be the next Vegas player shipped out of town to create some cap space.

The 36 year old has one year remaining with a cap hit of $5.25M.

Martinez has had a tough time staying in the Golden Knights lineup the last few seasons missing time with various injuries. His 77 games played last season was the most he played in a season since the 2017-2018 season when he was with the Kings.

When healthy Martinez can provide a team with sold top four minutes. He averaged 19:13 in ice time last season while providing 3 goals and 14 points.

Vegas is currently over the cap by ($4,1,48.317) but can become cap complaint depending on the health of enigmatic goalie Robin Lehner who missed all of last season recovering from hip surgery. If it is deemed that Lehner is unfit for the season then his cap hit $5M can be placed on long-term injury reserve and they likely don't need to move on from Martinez