Kelly McCrimmon: 5-Year Term Prevented Vegas From Keeping Marchessault

Kelly McCrimmon: 5-Year Term Prevented Vegas From Keeping Marchessault

Jonathan Marchessault just can’t let it go. He decided to leave Vegas and seems to cry about it every 15 minutes. Now it was time for Kelly McCrimmon to set the record straight. What really went down with Marchessault?

McCrimmon, the Golden Knights general manager, already sort of did this after the first wave of free agency. Something we went over extensively.

This time, McCrimmon revealed even more information, which included the fact that Vegas offered Marchessault a four-year deal. That ultimately got turned down for the five-year deal he signed with Nashville.

“That just wasn’t a term we were comfortable in going to,” the executive said during an interview on SiriusXM NHL Network Radio. “We emotionally are attached to the players that have helped us have success, and yet there’s just no supporting data that justify, or in our minds, demonstrate a reason to have wingers that age like that at the end of their career.”

He added: “Jonathan did exactly what he’s entitled to do. … He’s at a point in his career where, yes, he really wanted to stay in Las Vegas, but yes, he really wanted to make as much money as he could on his next contract for his family, which is what he did. We did nothing wrong. We made a decision that we weren’t comfortable going to five years on a contract, and that’s how it ended.”

Looks like we have a tale of two different stories. McCrimmon claims that Vegas offered a four-year deal. Marchessault claims it was only a three-year deal. Regardless of which side is right, Marchessault made the decision he did. It’s his right to choose more long-term security but then don’t cry about when a team who won a Stanley Cup for being ruthless and responsible acts accordingly.

If this is why Marchessault bounced, it’s hard to blame Vegas for acting the way they did. Under no circumstance did it ever make sense to lock Marchy into his age-38 season.

Good luck, buddy. A harsh reality is coming when those bunny goals that Jack Eichel set up for you no longer exist.

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