Vegas insider begs team to hold off on trade!

Ever since Jesse Granger of The Athletic has reported that the Vegas Golden Knights are consider trading forward Nikita Gusev, fans across the league have kept an eye on where the Russian sensation will end up for the start of the 2019-20 season. 

Neither the Knights or Gusev can agree on a deal as both sides remain as far as $2 million apart in average annual value on a potential two-year deal. 

While it seems like GM Kelly McCrimmon is getting close to making a move on the star player, James O’Brien of NBC Sports believes the Golden Knights will be making a huge mistake if they move him. 

Gusev joined the Golden Knights ahead of the playoffs this spring after nine seasons in the KHL but did not appear in a game with the team. He led the KHL in points in 2018-19 with 17 goals and 82 points in 62 games with SKA St. Petersburg before joining Vegas. He has drawn comparisons to Artemi Panarin and could be a deadly weapon in Vegas if they choose to hold on to him. 

Rather than trading out Gusev, O’Brien suggests freeing up cap room to sign him by moving Cody Eakins, Ryan Reaves or Nick Holden. 

“Personally, I’d move all three of Eakin, Reaves, and Holden if it meant keeping Gusev. That flies even if Gusev was a bit pricer than $4M per year.”

Let’s see if Vegas listens to the insider and keep Gusev in the fold…