Once a Kings Fan Too
Joined: Jun. 2018
Posts: 41,646
Likes: 26,365
Las Vegas will be looking to shed about $5 million in cap this off-season to be able to afford to replace Alec Martinez and/or upgrade at second-line center. This deal as structured "saves" them only $250,000 in cap but opens up another roster slot to be filled; even a minimum-level contract would be cap-detrimental for the Golden Knights.
They traded Nate Schmidt for a reason -- they saw this crunch coming. There's actually no trade you can construct for Nate Schmidt (no matter what the retention is) that benefits Las Vegas unless you retain at least 25% on him and take Reilly Smith back -- in which case, you'll owe them your 2021 first-round draft pick. And then you'd have 19 players instead of 20 and only $2 million (roughly) in cap space.