- Kelly McCrimmon says Vegas traded Pavel Dorofeyev because his next contract could not fit under the cap
- The Golden Knights got the No. 26 and No. 92 picks in 2026 plus a conditional 2028 first-rounder
- Read below for McCrimmon’s full breakdown and Dorofeyev’s numbers in Vegas
Kelly McCrimmon didn’t dance around why the Golden Knights traded their best goal scorer.
Vegas dealt Pavel Dorofeyev to the Rangers at the draft Friday, and the GM laid out the math right after. Dorofeyev made $1.9 million last season. New York is paying him $11 million a year for the next seven.
McCrimmon was asked how the call came together. He pointed straight at the cap sheet.
“Pav was making $1.9 million with us last year. He’s now going to be making $11 million per season for seven more years, and it’s well earned, but it just puts us in a situation where it can’t be accommodated here.”
Here’s McCrimmon walking through the trade:
The other half of the move was about restocking. Vegas has shipped out draft picks for years chasing the Cup, and McCrimmon wanted some back.
“This was a chance for us to put some picks back into our system,” he said.
The Golden Knights came away with the No. 26 pick and a third-rounder, No. 92, in this year’s draft, plus a conditional first-round pick in 2028.
Dorofeyev led Vegas in goals two straight years. He racked up 37 goals and 64 points in 82 games this past season, 20 of them on the power play, then added 12 goals in 22 playoff games before the Knights lost in the Stanley Cup Final.
Take a look at the shot the Rangers are getting:
New York locked Dorofeyev into a seven-year, $77 million deal the moment the trade went through. We broke down the Rangers side of it here.
This counts as a rare retreat from win-now mode for Vegas. McCrimmon is betting three draft assets will sting less than an $11 million cap hit.
