The Vegas Golden Knights have signed forward Mattias Janmark to a one-year, $2 million contract.
The trade-deadline acquisition hit free agency but will remain with the Golden Knights.
The move puts Vegas roughly $1.8 million over the salary cap, according to Cap Friendly, though additional moves are expected.
Janmark scored one goal and five points in 15 games with Vegas at the end of the 2020-21 regular season but recorded four goals and eight points in 20 postseason games, including a hat trick in Game 7 of the first-round series against Minnesota. It was the first hat trick of the Swede’s career.
He put up six points in the first round and one in each of the second and third rounds.
Janmark filled multiple roles for the Golden Knights but could slot in as the left winger on the third line, though that will depend on what else general manager Kelly McCrimmon has in store.
Janmark was drafted by Detroit in the third round (No. 79 overall) of the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. He spent four seasons with Dallas, scoring 46 goals and 109 points in 297 games before signing with Chicago last offseason. Janmark scored nine goals and 19 points in 41 games with the Blackhawks in 2020-21 before being dealt to Vegas.
The 28-year-old took a slight pay cut from his $2.25 million AAV last year. The move comes as a bit of a surprise, as even Janmark admitted at the end of the season that he wasn’t confident he’d be able to stay.
Aside from Alec Martinez, whose three-year deal was made official earlier today, Janmark was one of two “regulars” in Vegas’ lineup to hit free agency this morning. The other, Tomas Nosek, signed a two-year, $3.5 million deal with the Bruins. Ironically, he will join former Golden Knights center Erik Haula in Boston.
Vegas also reached a two-year agreement with forward Patrick Brown.
Brown has one goal in five games with the Golden Knights over the last two seasons.
He has been an effective bottom-six fill-in, and he has come through with some big plays in the postseason. In fact, he has three goals in 14 postseason games over the last two years.
Prior to joining the Knights, Brown notched 10 points in 11 games in the Charlotte Checkers’ Calder Cup run, so he’s no stranger to producing in the second season.
He recorded three goals and eight points in nine games with the Henderson Silver Knights last season, splitting his time between the AHL and the Golden Knights’ taxi squad.