May 28, 2024, 06:37 PM ET
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.
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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…
Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/40235960/marchessault-awaits-call-golden-knights-new-deal
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Publish date : 2024-05-29 00:04:29
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