LAS VEGAS — Vegas Golden Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault, who scored a career-high 42 goals this season, said Tuesday that he has not spoken with the club about a new contract.
If the sides don’t reach an agreement by July 1, Marchessault will enter the open market as a free agent. An original member of the Golden Knights, the 33-year-old winger won the Conn Smythe Trophy last year as the Stanley Cup playoffs MVP.
Marchessault signed a six-year contract in January 2018 worth $5 million a year.
“We don’t have a call yet or anything,” Marchessault said before participating in the opening day of the World Series of Poker. “They said they were interested to sign me. They have time until June 30 or so.”
The Golden Knights did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but general manager Kelly McCrimmon said after the season that he valued Marchessault for what he has done on and off the ice.
Marchessault, who came within one goal of tying William Karlsson‘s single-season franchise record, is one of the team’s more vocal leaders.
“There’s certainly a real strong willingness from both sides to have real good discussions,” McCrimmon said at the time. “That’s what we’re going to work on.”
It would not be surprising if Vegas let Marchessault walk, however, given its history of quickly moving on, like when it traded goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to the Chicago Blackhawks in July 2021. The Golden Knights signaled that they might be moving on when they acquired Tomas Hertl and Noah Hanifin before this year’s trade deadline and later gave Hanifin an eight-year contract worth $7.35 million annually.
Plus, the Golden Knights had a chance to re-sign Marchessault last summer.
“I asked last summer,” Marchessault said. “I said I would rather do it in the summer before the season. They said they’re not ready to do that, and after there’s not even a single talk that I’ve had during the season. I don’t know. Technically, as an organization, you’ve signed a player for six years, right? So you have the full six years and after you can deal with it, so we’ll see.”
Marchessault led the Golden Knights to their first Stanley Cup title last year, totaling 13 goals and 25 points in the playoffs. Vegas’ hopes of repeating ended when the Dallas Stars eliminated the Knights in seven games in the first round.
The Stars are still playing, leading the Edmonton Oilers 2-1 in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals.
“I still think us and Dallas were the two best teams in the West and the winner of that series was going to make it to the finals,” Marchessault said. “I don’t think the other teams in the conference were near our two teams. I think Dallas is going to make it to the finals, and personally I think they’re going to win.”
Marchessault played for Stars coach Pete DeBoer when he coached the Golden Knights for 2½ seasons ending in 2022. Dallas assistant coaches Steve Spott and Misha Donskov also have been with Vegas.
Marchessault said he would love to see those coaches “get a Cup, and also a guy like Joe Pavelski. Such a great career. He’s done everything but win [the championship]. So I would like to see him win a Cup.”
Source: www.espn.com