We knew the Vegas Golden Knights weren’t going to keep every player on their roster from last night.
The first dominoes have dropped, as TSN’s Pierre LeBrun reports the Golden Knights will ship defenseman Trevor van Riemsdyk to the Carolina Hurricanes for a second-round pick.
In addition, the Montreal Canadiens have acquired defenseman David Schlemko from Vegas in exchange for a 2019 fifth-round pick.
Vegas will send a seventh-round selection to Carolina.
General manager George McPhee elaborated Tuesday that there would be moves made to trim the roster down to its minimum 23 players. Some of those players, McPhee said, would be seen as “throw away players.” Schlemko and van Riemsdyk were selected less than 24 hours ago, and are the first batch of names to be on the move.
Vegas’ selection of van Riemsdyk was reportedly set to include Blackhawks center Marcus Kruger in a trade, but the latter did not happen. There has been no indication if Kruger will be involved in a future trade. Schlemko, drafted from the San Jose Sharks, was selected rather than someone like Brenden Dillon. The 30-year-old Edmonton native will play for his sixth different team since 2014.
Don’t expect this to be the only trades seen today. Now that the roster moratorium has passed, Vegas will be in hefty business with other clubs to acquire more draft picks. We’re not sure if this is part of a grand trade for Friday, but stay tuned.