they'd have to trade some guys im assuming? smith or dadonov would probably be at the top of that list

I think there's going to be casualties.

According to my calculations, the Knights can fit in 21 man roster just under the cap if they trade Smith and McNabb. Both are impending UFA's with no trade restrictions. Stephenson can move to the wing to replace Smith, and they can mix and match a new look D maybe spreading out the top 3 guys on separate pairs.

Smith and McNabb are guys that teams with playoff aspirations would take with open arms, so they're not hard to trade. Obviously Vegas would be looking at the Eastern Conference to not give their biggest rivals help, so perhaps Smith re-uniting with Gallant in NY and McNabb to Florida to bolster their depth on D as examples of what could happen. If they want to hold on to McNabb, then multiple depth forwards like Janmark and Patrick have to go. I guess best case scenario is to dump Dadonov, but he has a 10-team no trade list so it's not entirely up to Vegas.

But yeah, the current injury situation is not something they can take advantage of. Even if Eichel pulled a Kucherov and returns for game 1 of the playoffs, that's not smart considering the man hasn't played a hockey game for over a year at that point, let alone on a completely new team.

However, you never know what happens between now and the TDL. Maybe someone else gets injured who they can put on the LTIR and then that player can come back for the playoffs, so they don't have to make multiple trades. But I'd imagine that the management is prepared for that 'healthy scenario' and have identified players to move.

Casualties that make sense to me:

Reilly Smith
Evgeni Dadonov
Brayden McNabb

Nobody else makes much sense to me

Would they try trading Reilly Smith for Vitali Kravtsov?

This would save 4 million overall

Really thought they'd send some cap to Buffalo in the deal even if it was just a smaller contract like Carrier, that Martinez contract is awful and really is in the way, don't know wtf they were thinking with that one.

I was surprised they didn’t move out more money too. I suppose they need to rely on their depth to stay afloat while their top three forwards are out.