Vegas Golden Knights sign Keegan Kolesar to three-year contract with $1.4 million cap hit

The Vegas Golden Knights have signed winger Keegan Kolesar to a three-year contract with a $1.4 million cap hit.

Kolesar was a restricted free agent after finishing his two-year deal with a $725,000 cap hit. Originally a Columbus Blue Jackets third round pick in 2015, Columbus dealt him to the Golden Knights at the 2017 NHL Draft for a second round pick that became forward Alexandre Texier.

Kolesar had his best season to date in 2021-22, with seven goals, 17 assists, and 24 points in 77 games. He also had a career-high 246 hits, which ranked 10th in the league. It’s just his second full season after breaking into the league in 2020-21, where he played 44 games, and had three goals, 10 assists, and 13 points.

While Kolesar is more of a physical player, that doesn’t mean he can’t drive play like many players of his play style seem to be guilty of. He has a 53.57% shot attempt share and 53.36% expected goal share at even strength in his career so far, and while his regularized-adjusted plus minus indicates he’s not the one driving the bus, he certainly doesn’t slow it down either.

There are few teams in a tough cap situation like the Golden Knights. They’re almost $3 million over the salary cap, and they still have restricted free agents in Nicolas Roy, Nicolas Hague, and Jake Leschyshyn to sign.

Vegas has already tried to offload some of that cap space, sending Max Pacioretty and his $7 million cap hit to the Carolina Hurricanes for nothing, but they still aren’t under the cap. It’s the second year in a row that they’ve had to deal a good player for nothing to make cap space, sending Marc-Andre Fleury to the Chicago Blackhawks after he won the Vezina trophy in 2020-21.