The Ideal Places for Jonathan Marchessault to Land.
On July 1st, right wing Jonathan Marchessault of the Vegas Golden Knights will be free to sign with any team. With 42 goals for the reigning Stanley Cup Champions last season, he recorded the highest goal total of his NHL career. Although negotiations for a contract have not yet started between Vegas General Manager Kelly McCrimmon and Marchessault’s agent Pat Brisson, Vegas has made the 2023 Conn Smythe Trophy Winner a top goal. The following are five possible landing sites for the native of Cap-Rouge, Quebec:
Vegas Golden Knights: Despite Vegas’ complex cap situation, the Golden Knights wish to re-sign Marchessault and he wants to stay. With only slightly more than $6 million at their disposal—including the usage of LTIR—Vegas is unlikely to be able to reach an agreement without the Knights front office pulling some nifty cap tricks. The 33-year-old winger ought to be trying to make the most of his potential final NHL deal. For the seasoned forward, this is the most likely destination, even though Vegas’ cap situation is murky at best.
The Montreal Canadiens are hoping to reclaim their title as the NHL’s most dominant team, and they would love nothing more than for the hometown hero to come home and offer some seasoned leadership and guidance to the youthful core group. Although Montreal’s road to the top of the league is undoubtedly lengthy, the team would make significant progress toward respectability if they added a scoring threat such as Marchessault to some of their young, skilled forwards, such as Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky, and Alex Newhook.
Boston Bruins: The Bruins are in need of offensive support and have a lot of salary space to spend on it. Since Jake DeBrusk might experiment with free agency, Marchessault would be a good fit to go up against Charlie Coyle and Brad Marchand. Marchessault’s Stanley Cup experience and his capacity to perform well under pressure in pivotal moments could be advantageous to a Bruins club that struggles to overcome setbacks when it counts most.
Detroit Red Wings: The team hopes to improve on their 91-point season from the previous year. Detroit just missed the playoffs after losing to the Capitals in a tiebreaker (Washington had 32 regulation wins compared to the Red Wings’ 27). With nearly $29 million to spend, the Wings could easily place Marchessault among Detroit’s top six players. Detroit was 24th in goals against, so the Red Wings’ biggest need is on defense, but GM Steve Yzerman must be drawn to adding a player with Marchessault’s background.
Charlotte Hurricanes: Jake Guentzel’s return is one of the Hurricanes’ top priorities. Guentzel and the Carolina forwards clicked right away, but if the Canes front office is unable to reach an agreement with Guentzel, Marchessault would be a welcome backup. Despite being older, Marchessault has comparable postseason experience. Given the uncertainty surrounding Carolina’s roster, he might be a better fit than Guentzel because he is probably going to be less expensive. In order to assemble a team capable of winning the Stanley Cup, Carolina will be scrimping to retain as many of their free agents and RFAs as possible. Any cap savings they can get would be helpful.
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