The Shea Theodore Extension Was A Kelly McCrimmon Masterclass

The Shea Theodore Extension Was A Kelly McCrimmon Masterclass

Shea Theodore signed a seven-year extension with the Golden Knights yesterday and Vegas fans should be over the moon after hearing about this news. I’m not 100% sure how Kelly McCrimmon pulled this off but it was a masterclass move in every sense of the word. Do people understand how crucial this piece of business was?

Theodore, 29, is one of the best offensive defensemen in the sport. The VGK D man has notched 90 points in his last 108 games played. Finding D that can post offensive numbers like that just don’t grow on trees. What keeping Theodore does more than anything is keeping the best blue line in the sport intact.

$7.425 million AAV. That’s the real number to pay attention to. Every analytics model you want to point to indicates the Golden Knights got Theo so sign for a discount. Having no state tax in Nevada certainly helps.

Imagine what Theodore could have gotten on the open market. Compare this new deal to the Damon Severson has a $6.25 million AAV and isn’t close to the player Theo is. Darnell Nurse is at $9.25 million AAV. Dmitry Orlov is at $7.75 million. The Rangers are begging to get rid of Jacob Trouba at $8 million AAV. You compare this deal to the other high paid defensemen and it’s a total bargooooooooon!!!

More than anything, this gives the VGK a clear picture of how to structure the next free agency window. It’s never too early to model your team for the days ahead. Ignore the weird line structure on this image but this gives you an idea what Vegas is working with next year.

By the way, the cap could be higher than $92 million. You can really start to piece this thing together for the following season. Brisson, Holtz, and Hague will likely be extended for reasonable numbers while being RFA’s. My guess is Ilya Samsonov stays around for a reasonable number while Akira Schmid is promoted to the backup role. It shouldn’t cost much to extend 4th liner Keegan Kolesar. Ditto for Victor Olofsson who has fit in nicely, has a beautiful connection with Jack Eichel, and likely wants to stick around after nightmare years in Buffalo. Brayden McNabb’s number will be crucial but it’s hard to imagine he gets a substantial raise over the $2.85 million AAV he has right now.

You start to piece all of this together and you realize the VGK will have roughly $10 million to go big game hunting…

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