The Vegas Golden Knights signed free agent forward Jonathan Marchessault to a six-year contract worth $30 million, or $5 million per season. This contract carries him through the 2023-24 season.
Vegas signs Marchessault for 6 more years
Over his 7 year NHL career, Marchessault has played for the Columbus Blue Jackets, Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers. He has put up 53 goals and 54 assists for 107 career points in 159 career games. The undrafted Cap-Rouge native was overlooked in juniors and in the AHL, where even after 64 points in 76 games for the Connecticut Whale, he wasn’t signed to an entry-level deal.
Last season he scored 30 goals and 21 assists for 51 points with the Panthers. He also added 38 minutes in penalties. His possession numbers were 51.7 per cent corsi and a relative corsi of 2.2 per cent.
This year Marchessault has added immense value to his new club. The 27-year-old has boosted his raw corsi for to 54.65 per cent, and his rel.CF% to 5.21. Add to that his team-high 37 points in 35 games, and his career-high 22 assists, and the Golden Knights have locked up an invaluable player.
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Marchessault told the NHL’s Gary Lawless that he’s “Really happy. More happy to be here with my teammates and the organization has done amazing things for us.” He added that “Since we all came here, we just feel like part of a big family and we love this city.”
Panthers of a Feather Flock Together
Marchessault joins team-mate and fellow former-Panther Reilly Smith on a $5 million AAV. The Golden Knights still have a plethora of free-agents, both restricted and non-restricted, to lock up, but Marchessault was among the most valuable.
The next target for the Knights will likely be former-Blue Jacket, William Karlsson. Karlsson centres the second line, saddled between Smith and Marchessault, and the trio have one of the highest goals-for percentages (58.33) in the NHL among regular lines (min. 300 minutes).
Karlsson is a restricted free-agent in 2018-19 and cannot be re-signed until July 1st. Other notable free-agents include James Neal, David Perron, and Shea Theodore.
stats courtesy Corsica.Hockey, contract info via CapFriendly
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