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Cap shedding begins as Golden Knights send Haula to Hurricanes

Buffalo Sabres v Vegas Golden Knights

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - OCTOBER 16: Erik Haula #56 of the Vegas Golden Knights skates during warmups before a game against the Buffalo Sabres at T-Mobile Arena on October 16, 2018 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Golden Knights defeated the Sabres 4-1. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

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Looking at the Vegas Golden Knights’ salary cap situation after William Karlsson’s $47.2M extension, it was clear current general manager George McPhee and soon-to-be general manager Kelly McCrimmon (Sept. 1) were going to have to make some cuts to the roster.

Late Wednesday night the Golden Knights began trimming down by sending Erik Haula and his $2.75M cap hit to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for 22-year-old prospect Nicolas Roy and a conditional 2021 fifth-round pick.

The 28-year-old Haula has not played since Nov. 6 after he suffered a knee injury and missed the final 67 games of the 2018-19 NHL season and required surgery. It was a disappointing end after coming off a 29-goal, 55-point campaign during Vegas’ inaugural season.

“Erik is a skilled, experienced player who has been productive at even strength and on special teams,” said Hurricanes general manager Don Waddell. “We expect him to be healthy and ready to go for training camp.”

Given the Golden Knights’ cap picture at the moment and the fact that Haula’s contract expires after the 2019-20 season, he became an option to move.

“We are going to have to make a few moves,” said McPhee after the Karlsson extension. “We’ve planned for that; we are going through that exercise right now.”

The NHL and NHLPA agreed to a salary cap ceiling last week of $81.5M for this coming season. The Golden Knights were close to $90M before the trade, so the work isn’t done yet. Extensions still need to be hammered out for Tomas Nosek and Nikita Gusev, so there is still a move or two left to make in order to get under the cap ceiling. It could include moving David Clarkson if a taker can be found for his $5.25M cap hit, otherwise it’ll likely be long-term injury reserve once again.

Waddell knew the Golden Knights were desperate to shed and pounced. The only question now is what level Haula will be at when he returns to the ice and how long will it take for him to get back to 100%, if at all? With one year left on his deal, it’s a good gamble.

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Sean Leahy is a writer for Pro Hockey Talk on NBC Sports. Drop him a line at phtblog@nbcsports.com or follow him on Twitter @Sean_Leahy.