LAS VEGAS (AP) — Family. Winning. Culture. All three have become synonymous with the Vegas Golden Knights through their first eight years in the NHL.
They matched the attributes on Mitch Marner’s list and why he agreed to a sign-and-trade from Toronto to Vegas, ultimately leaving the organization that drafted him fourth overall in 2015, two years before the Knights entered the league.
“Obviously, the winning regimen they’ve put up through the last five years, really since they’ve been in the league,” Marner said during his introductory news conference Tuesday. “The living arrangements from talking to (Max) Pacioretty and Reavo (Ryan Reaves) just through the last couple weeks, it seemed like everything was a pretty good fit for my wife and I and our new son.
“And you know, the great players they have here. It’s where we wanted to be.”
Of course, a $96 million contract for a maximum of eight years didn’t hurt, either.
Both Marner and Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon said it was important to get the deal done before July 1, when Marner would have been eligible to go anywhere else and would have been the most sought-after player beginning at noon EDT.
“This was a spot that was very high on my list,” said Marner, with his wife Stephanie and 3-month-old son Miles in the front row, along with his parents, Paul and Bonnie. "We wanted to come here and went back to my agent and said I’m open to doing this if we can find a way to do it. A couple hours later Kelly called me and said we got a deal going on.
“We thought about going to free agency, but this is the place we want to be. We didn’t want to lose that opportunity. And we want to join this hockey team.”
Marner joins Vegas’ talented and successful core of Mark Stone, Jack Eichel, William Karlsson, Shea Theodore and Adin Hill, which has made the playoffs three years in a row under coach Bruce Cassidy, including winning the Stanley Cup in 2023.
“You want to be in a place where you want to win,” Marner said. “That’s the whole goal of why we do this, you want to hoist that Stanley Cup. This team has shown that they can do it. I’m lucky enough now to hopefully bring another piece in to help bring it back here.”
The deal for Marner opened up after Vegas announced veteran defenseman Alex Pietrangelo was stepping away from hockey because his hip injury would require bilateral femur reconstruction that McCrimmon said had “no guarantee of success.” Pietrangelo going on long-term injured reserve in part paves the way for the Golden Knights to fit Marner in under the salary cap.
McCrimmon said Tuesday he doesn’t believe Pietrangelo will ever play hockey again.
Marner, however, has plenty to offer the Knights, as the two-time All-Star winger leaves the Maple Leafs as their fifth-highest scorer in franchise history at 741 points in the regular season on 221 goals (14th) and 520 assists (fourth).
The 28-year-old’s 521 assists since his rookie season (2016-17) ranks fifth in the NHL, while he ranks eighth with 741 points.
“We’re getting one of the best forwards in the National Hockey League,” said McCrimmon, who also said that conversations about acquiring Marner went back to the trade deadline. “Elite playmaker, tremendous passer. ... Our fans will love this player. He really adds to our team. He adds to our offense. It gives us another F1 star at the forward position, which we really feel is important. I think that it improves our team tremendously.
“When it appeared that Mitch would be going to free agency, he was our target. He was the player that we wanted.”
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AP Hockey Writers Stephen Whyno and John Wawrow contributed to this report.
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