Back in August, Golden Knights winger Jonathan Marchessault noted that there had yet to be any discussions about a possible contract extension. However, his agent Pat Brisson told Mark Anderson of the Associated Press that there have been several discussions throughout the year. However, a decision on re-signing or testing the open market is unlikely to come before the end of the season.
The 33-year-old is in the middle of one of his best seasons, setting a career high in goals with 38 along with 22 assists; his 60 points are the third most of his career. This continues what has been a recent trend for Marchessault after putting up 66 and 57 points in his previous two campaigns, two of the highest point totals of his career. At an age where a lot of players start to see their production slow down, his has gone up which bodes well for his next deal.
Brisson declined to get into specifics about what type of money or term he’d be seeking for Marchessault’s next deal while GM Kelly McCrimmon declined to comment. That said, it stands to reason that the veteran will be seeking a fair-sized raise on his current $5MM AAV along with a multi-year agreement.
As things stand, Marchessault is tied for third in scoring among pending unrestricted free agents heading into Friday’s action. He’s behind Florida’s Sam Reinhart and Tampa Bay’s Steven Stamkos while being tied with Carolina’s Jake Guentzel. All in all, pretty good company to be in.
An original Golden Knight, Vegas would certainly love to keep Marchessault around. However, that’s a task that will be easier said than done. After adding Tomas Hertl at the trade deadline, they have nearly $78MM in commitments to 16 players for next season, per CapFriendly. Even if we suppose that they can fully utilize Robin Lehner’s $5MM on LTIR which isn’t a given with the technicalities involved with LTIR, that only gives them around $14.7MM to work with in the summer and several players to sign to fill out their roster.
Marchessault isn’t their only pending UFA of note either. Chandler Stephenson, one of the better bargains in recent seasons, is also on an expiring deal and is primed to potentially double (if not more than double) his current $2.75MM price tag. They’ll likely want to take a run at extending Noah Hanifin as well which would be expensive with a price point likely to push past the $7MM mark on a long-term agreement. Anthony Mantha, William Carrier, and Alec Martinez need to be re-signed or replaced as well.
It’s safe to say there isn’t enough money to go around to keep their current team intact; some veterans will be departing in July. We’ll find out by then if Marchessault will be one of them.