Vegas look to dump salary, ask veteran player to submit no-trade list

David Clarkson has done nothing good for the Vegas Golden Knights ever since he was traded there by the Columbus Blue Jackets along with a first- and second-round pick, along with expansion draft considerations in 2017. 

However, he could finally do something to help them now. 

According to Jesse Granger of The Athletic, Clarkson was asked to submit his 16-team no-trade list to the Golden Knights, who will now look into trading his $5.25 million cap hit this week.

Granger adds the move is simply a clerical one to allow Vegas to look into moving the final season of the seven-year deal Clarkson signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2013. 

Clarkson last played during the 2015-16 season with the Jackets, whose trade allowed Vegas to later selected William Karlsson from Columbus in the expansion draft.

The 35-year-old has spent the past three seasons on long-term injured reserve due to a back injury and isn’t expected to get interest from many teams, despite clubs needing to add on salary to their cap. 

The Golden Knights have no other choice than to find a way to shed some salary this summer, seeing that they currently have the highest projected cap hit next season with $83.1 million in salary on their roster, according to the information provided by Cap Friendly.