The Vegas Golden Knights like excellent hockey players and excellent players like playing for the franchise. Include William Karlsson in that equation.
The Original Golden Misfit and member of the 2023 Stanley Cup champion team agreed to a two-year extension on Wednesday at an average annual value of $6.75 million.
Karlsson is in the last season of his current pact and the new deal will kick in next year. So that’s at least three more seasons of Wild Bill in Vegas.
The 33-year-old Karlsson burst onto the scene in Vegas with a remarkable campaign in the team’s inaugural season. Mostly a bottom-six forward during his time with the Anaheim Ducks and Columbus Blue Jackets, Karlsson formed a dynamic trio with Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault which became known affectionately as the Misfit Line.
Karlsson led Vegas with 43 goals that season and was a +49 which was tops in the NHL. Vegas would make it all the way to the Stanley Cup Final, and after the season, Karlsson was rewarded with the Lady Byng Trophy.
While this deal hits all the right notes on the nostalgia front, it does the same from a hockey perspective. Vegas is at its best with Karlsson in the lineup and the smoothly powerful skater still has lots of tread left on his tires.
During last spring’s Stanley Cup Playoffs, Karlsson joined a line with wingers Brett Howden and Mitch Marner, and the Golden Knights took off. The trio was often the club’s most effective unit in the postseason, and when Karlsson suffered an upper-body injury during the Final, Vegas never looked the same.
With Jack Eichel filling the franchise center role, Karlsson is an elite second-line center with abilities at both ends of the ice.
GM Kelly McCrimmon has taken care of some key business in recent weeks, extending captain Mark Stone for two years and now Karlsson for a similar term.
