The Vegas Golden Knights have signed forward Ivan Barbashev to a five-year, $25M contract. The deal carries an AAV of $5M.
The signing comes just hours after the Golden Knights traded Reilly Smith to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a third-round pick. They ran the numbers and found that they would only be able to keep one of Smith/Barbashev for the future and decided on the younger Barbashev. Smith’s $5M AAV makes it an even money in/money out situation for Vegas’ cap structure.
Barbashev was brought over to the Golden Knights from the St. Louis Blues at this past season’s trade deadline. He was acquired for Zachary Dean, a former first-round pick and highly touted prospect.
He had scored 10 goals and 29 points in 59 games with the Blues but after joining the playoff-bound Golden Knights he elevated his game. In 23 regular season games, he scored six goals and 16 points, giving him 45 on the year.
That marked a total decrease over the previous season but his points per game since joining Vegas would have gotten him 57 points over 82 games, a sign that a change of scenery was all he needed.
Barbashev was instrumental in the Golden Knights Stanley Cup championship run, scoring seven goals and 18 points in 22 playoff games. He ranked fifth on the team in playoff points.
The 27-year-old winger was coming off of a two-year, $4.5M contract he signed with the Blues. He earned this sizeable raise in term and money because he proved that he could be a reliable second-line winger for years to come. This was the second Stanley Cup he won in his career so far, the first being with the Blues in 2019.
Barbashev has scored 84 goals and 194 points in 433 NHL games.
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