Golden Knights taking cautious approach to Trade Deadline, GM says

NHL.com is sitting down with newsmakers leading up to the 2019 NHL Trade Deadline on Feb. 25 at 3 p.m. ET. Today, Vegas Golden Knights general manager George McPhee discusses his team's struggles on offense, the strength of the defense and another player who might fit the "Golden Misfits."

Will the Vegas Golden Knights be aggressive again before the NHL Trade Deadline?
They acquired forwards Ryan Reaves and Tomas Tatar last season, paying a particularly high price for Tatar -- a first-, a second- and a third-round pick.
But there were special circumstances. They were at or near the top of the NHL standings at the time, blowing away expectations in their inaugural season. Instead of selling pending unrestricted free agents as they had planned, they were buying to make a run in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. They had a surplus of assets from maneuvering in the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft.
Reaves made an impact as Vegas went to the Stanley Cup Final. Tatar didn't fit.
This season, the Golden Knights already have made two major additions, signing center Paul Stastny as an unrestricted free agent on July 1 and acquiring forward Max Pacioretty in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens on Sept. 9. They spent more capital in the Pacioretty trade, sending Tatar, prospect Nick Suzuki and a second-round pick to Montreal. Stastny and Pacioretty have just begun hitting their stride after dealing with injuries during the first half.
While the Golden Knights (31-21-4) are comfortably in playoff position -- third in the Pacific Division with 66 points, 11 ahead of the fourth-place Vancouver Canucks -- they aren't near the top of the NHL standings. They've gone from scoring 3.27 goals per game last season, fifth in the NHL, to 2.95 this season, 15th in the League.
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And while they still have a surplus of assets -- two extra picks in the third and fifth rounds of the 2019 NHL Draft, two extra second-round picks in the 2020 NHL Draft and a number of defense prospects -- it isn't as big. They have to weigh trading assets to win now, especially their first-round pick, against the need to build their prospect base, especially up front.
Asked if he would be more careful about trading assets, general manager George McPhee said: "Depends. It's ammunition, and we'll do what's prudent for the club for the short term and the long term. If there's a way to improve the club, as every manager will say, we'll do it. But the price has to make sense to us."
McPhee took a closer look at the Golden Knights in an interview with NHL.com.
On his history of being aggressive before the trade deadline as GM of the Golden Knights and of the Washington Capitals from 1997-2014:
"It's always unpredictable. We've had deadlines in the past where we didn't do anything, because the right thing wasn't there."
On evaluating the Golden Knights when so many players have been out of the lineup, from a suspension to defenseman Nate Schmidt (20 games) to injuries to Stastny (30), Pacioretty (13), forward Erik Haula (41), defenseman Colin Miller (13), forward William Carrier (12) and more:
"You try not to make excuses, and it's next man up. It has been a more difficult year to evaluate. But we think we know what we are, and when everyone in the lineup is working as hard as they should, we're a pretty solid team. We'd love to see what this team looks like with everybody in. We might get that chance. We might not."
On not scoring as much as last season, starting with the usual No. 1 line of Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson and Reilly Smith:
"We'd like the power play to click a little bit better. The Karlsson-Smith-Marchessault group hasn't done it yet. That doesn't mean that they won't. The Pacioretty-[Alex] Tuch-Stastny line seems to work very well.
"Cody Eakin has played with various wingers. We think once we get settled in on the health front that that line can be more productive. The combinations might be different. And then Reaves, Carrier, [Pierre-Edouard Bellemare], [Oscar] Lindberg, [Ryan] Carpenter, those guys have produced for us this year.
"So what typically happens is, some people aren't scoring as much as they'd like, but other people are. That's where you find the balance."

On why Marchessault, Karlsson and Smith haven't done it yet:
"When they weren't scoring, they were guilty of trying to do too much. Instead of keeping it simple and working harder, they were trying to make plays that weren't there. That's probably what's been most noticeable, and that's human nature. Sometimes they take it upon themselves to want to do more, so they try to do more, and sometimes less is more.
"When those three guys are together, they can be very, very good. They're important to our team. Karlsson is a very, very good 200-foot center and plays the game right and can be a streaky guy."
On 23-year-old forward Valentin Zykov, who led the American Hockey League with 33 goals last season, was waived by the Carolina Hurricanes after he had three assists in 13 games, was waived by the Edmonton Oilers after he had no points in five games and was claimed by Vegas on Dec. 29:
"We saw what he did in the American League last year, obviously, and so we saw the upside and the ability to score. We thought if we could work with him -- and we've worked with him for about a month -- to get him to understand how we play and try to develop his game a little bit more that he could be a good player.
"We know he can score. He has to learn to trust his feet and the rest of his game, so we're working on that. If we can get him to understand how much more he can do overall, he can be a very effective player."
On whether Zykov could be another "Golden Misfit," a player discarded elsewhere who finds a new level and a home in Vegas:
"That's perfect. It fits the mold. It's nice to get them when they're hungry and have something to prove, and he's got something to prove. We're going to do our very best to not allow him to fail."
On allowing 2.71 goals per game, fifth in the NHL, after allowing 2.74 last season, eighth in the League:
"When we're playing the right way, we can be very effective. We've been really banged up. Looks like we're getting a little healthier here. It'd be nice to see what we can do when we're healthy. So we'll see where it goes."
On the depth on defense, including prospects Jake Bischoff, Erik Brannstrom, Dylan Coghlan, Nicolas Hague and Zach Whitecloud:
"They are different flavors. They each bring something different. But they all compete, they all have good sense, and we'll just try to develop them right -- make sure we develop them right. But we like our blue line here, and it allows us to develop them properly."