The Chicago Blackhawks and Vegas Golden Knights already have a deal in place for the expansion draft involving forward Marcus Kruger and defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk, according to TSN’s Frank Seravalli.
It’s unclear what the exact parameters of the deal are, but it sounds like Kruger and TVR will end up being members of the Golden Knights by the end of the expansion draft on Wednesday. One of them will be Vegas’ expansion pick, the other will be part of a trade.
There’s no word of what else the Blackhawks might be sending to the Golden Knights to complete the deal. They could just send Kruger to the Golden Knights for “future considerations” while letting TVR be the expansion pick, but that begs the question of why Vegas is doing the Kruger part of the deal.
Maybe the Blackhawks did a handshake deal with the Golden Knights not to trade van Riemsdyk before the expansion draft, effectively allowing Vegas to acquire him rather than have him sent elsewhere. In exchange for that favor, the Golden Knights would take on Kruger’s contract in a trade on the side.
Or maybe there’s a pick or prospect tied to Kruger, which would allow the Golden Knights to push forward with their youth movement plan.
But if GM Stan Bowman somehow pulled off a move where the Golden Knights agreed to take Kruger and TVR together on Wednesday without anything else attached, that seems like a win for the Hawks. Yes, they could’ve traded TVR for a pick three days ago, then used a pick to trade Kruger, basically getting back to where we are now. This seems easier, though, so hopefully it goes through in the end.