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VGK Acquires Tatar; Neal, Tuch, Marchessault on Trading Leipsic

February 26, 2018, 9:29 PM ET [10 Comments]
Sheng Peng
Vegas Golden Knights Blogger •Vegas Golden Knights Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
Wow! What a day. There's so much to unpack. But first, a rundown of George McPhee's transactions today:

• Tomas Tatar from Detroit for Vegas's 2018 1st-Round Pick, 2019 2nd-Round Pick, and 2021 3rd-Round Pick
• Philip Holm from Vancouver for Brendan Leipsic
• Maxime Lagace assigned to Chicago (AHL)

More coming later -- including musings on the expansion team's pursuit of Erik Karlsson. Right now, here are some quick thoughts and tweets and quotes from players/Gerard Gallant/George McPhee:

Tomas Tatar








Philip Holm for Brendan Leipsic

Patrick Williams, NHL.com's AHL lead writer, is a big fan of the 26-year-old defender Philip Holm, especially touting his skating.

He doesn't think the fact that Holm couldn't crack a thin Canucks defense is any reflection on the Swede.

We'll see, he at least adds a real weapon to the Wolves' Calder Cup hunt.

As for Leipsic, here are a selection of quotes from James Neal, Alex Tuch, Jonathan Marchessault, and Gallant. I talked to everybody before the Tatar trade hit and while the Deadline was still active.

If you don't score, it's going to be tough on you. But you have to find other ways to try to get back to that goal-scoring mentality. Whether it's physical or going to the net. You have to do things to get back to that confident mind-set.

He's a great kid. I liked him a lot. We hung out a lot. Sat next to him in the room. Got a lot of skill. He works hard. I wish him nothing but the best.

He's definitely a guy I'll keep in touch with for a long time. (James Neal)

It's definitely a sad day, for sure.

When you're a smaller guy like [Brendan], you need to produce offensively. I think he had a good start of the year. But it just gets harder and harder.

Sure, I think they'll give him a fair shot. That's what he needs. There's more ice time.

We have a good team here. Definitely hard to get into the line-up. Everybody feels that it's a privilege to play for the Golden Knights. (Jonathan Marchessault)

He had his struggles, his highs and lows.

You get down on yourself. But then, you have to think another team wanted you.

I think it'll be a good opportunity for him to go to Vancouver.

Off the ice, he was a lot of fun to be around. He was a good friend of mine. Soon as I leave the rink, I'm going to shoot him a quick text. (Alex Tuch)

I [was getting up] and Theodore was looking up Bob McKenzie's tweets. Theo told me.

I was looking at Bob's tweets like 10 minutes before too. It was in a small window that I just missed it.

It's a stressful time for everybody. Unless you have a No-Trade Clause like Crosby.

Most TSN guys talk more to the GMs than the players. (laughs) (Alex Tuch, on how he found out Leipsic was dealt)

You never know anything.

Teams have been shopping around for [Erik] Karlsson. So you never know who's going to be involved in a trade if he's out there. Everybody's [tradeable].

I'm hoping that I make it through the rest of the day, be able to play tonight, that means I'll be with the team for the rest of the year.

I'm the farthest thing from looking to get traded! (Alex Tuch, on how safe he feels)

Brendan was a good soldier for us. He worked hard.

He's a good kid. We wish him nothing but the best. (Gerard Gallant)


Maxime Lagace

Maxime Lagace was assigned to the AHL this morning, but it was just a paper transaction to ensure that he's eligible for the AHL playoffs.

However, McPhee did reveal:



Lagace looks in line to start tomorrow night against the Kings. We'll see.

Assuming Malcolm Subban needs about 2-3 weeks, including a few days of practice...the Golden Knights' next back-to-back isn't until the end of March. They host St. Louis on March 30th, followed by San Jose the next night.
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