Revisiting The Keegan Kolesar Trade

Revisiting The Keegan Kolesar Trade

I’m not sure the Vegas Golden Knights win without the sandpaper of their fourth line. Vegas is the deepest team in the league and they’re not afraid to roll four lines with anyone. Bruce Cassidy showed no hesitation to line up the Keegan Kolesar, Nic Roy and William Carrier line against anyone. Now that Vegas has won the Cup, let’s revisit that Kolesar trade that brought him to Vegas.

Kolesar, 26, was originally drafted by the Columbus Blue Jackets in the third round of the 2015 draft. Columbus essentially moved up in the draft a few years later after they traded Kolesar to Vegas for the 45th pick in the 2017 NHL Draft. That pick was later used to select Alexandre Texier. Who knows who Vegas would have taken with that pick? What’s clear is that there are no regrets in moving a second-rounder — even for a guy that plays on the fourth line.

Kolesar is never going to have sexy offensive metrics but it’s also not the player he is. He’s filled the role of the Ryan Reaves replacement and that’s all Vegas really needs him to do. Every time there is a fight on the ice, it’s probably Kolesar taking the punches. You need a guy on your team willing to throw down and Kolesar is that guy for the Knights.

I’ll be totally honest, I didn’t have high hopes for Kolesar. I just thought he was way too limited offensively. In years prior, Kolesar just made really dumb decisions with the puck that led to turnovers and points for the opposition. Maybe some of that was coaching and not being able to handle the rush game asked of him by head coach Pete DeBoer. Vegas doesn’t make any turnovers in the neutral zone anymore. This fourth line has just been asked to dump pucks in and lean on guys.

Kolesar notched a career-high eight goals this past year not including two important ones during the playoffs. He also registered a plus-six this season, the first time in his career that he posted a positive +/-. You can see Kolesar is no longer a liability with the puck. He will never be a great offensive player but most of the dumb mistakes are gone. He does his job, lays a hit and gets off the ice.

A lot of the numbers tell that story. Kolesar also registered a career-high 279 hits. The giveaway numbers were also down from 36 to 16 this past year. Kolesar has taken major steps forward and really is turning into the Reavo this team always needed.

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As for Texier, he didn’t play a minute of NHL hockey this past year for Columbus. Instead, he posted 35 points in 46 games in the Swiss league. Texier, 24, is still young enough to possibly return to the NHL and make an impact down the road. I just wouldn’t count on that ever happening the way things are looking.

Vegas got the better end of this deal even if it only landed them a fourth liner. Depth is going to be the story of this Cup win for the Knights and Kolesar did his part during the journey. A great trade by this front office.

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