Despite making many trades in recent years, the Vegas Golden Knights continue drafting well, and it's been a big help in their recent success both on the ice and in trades.
Now however, they've made a surprise move on Monday, as they have waived 22-year old blue liner Daniil Chayka for the purpose of contract termination, who was originally drafted by the team in the second round of the 2021 NHL Draft.
In three years with the Guelph Storm, the Russian born blue liner dominated and improved his draft stock, but since turning professional, he's yet to stand out the way many expected.
In over 120 games with the Henderson Silver Knights of the AHL, Chayka tallied just 3 goals and 16 points, and given his impressive size at 6-foot-3, it's safe to say that much more was expected from him.
This season, the team demoted him to the ECHL and the Tahoe Knight Monsters, but he has struggled there early as well, and now the team have officially moved on from the young talent.
It's unclear at this point if anything has gone on behind the scenes to force Vegas' hand in this situation, but as of right now, it appears as though he has simply failed to live up to expectations, and it's resulted in him being waived.
With good size, speed and skill at such a young age, there's certainly still a very bright future ahead for Chayka, and after such good production at the OHL level, if he's given the time and the development needed to turn things around at the professional level, there's still optimism that he could play a huge role in the NHL for a team one day.
G | A | PTS | ||
Matthew Tkachuk | 2 | 2 | 4 | |
Nathan MacKinnon | 2 | 1 | 3 | |
Jordan Kyrou | 2 | - | 2 | |
Lucas Raymond | 2 | - | 2 | |
Tage Thompson | 2 | - | 2 | |
Yanni Gourde | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Dylan Holloway | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Evgeni Malkin | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Martin Necas | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Logan O'Connor | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Jaden Schwartz | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Nick Suzuki | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Robert Thomas | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
Mikael Backlund | - | 2 | 2 | |
Matthew Beniers | - | 2 | 2 | |
Jesper Boqvist | - | 2 | 2 | |
Calvin de Haan | - | 2 | 2 | |
Simon Edvinsson | - | 2 | 2 | |
Blake Lizotte | - | 2 | 2 | |
Scott Perunovich | - | 2 | 2 | |
Complete stats |
STANDINGS 2024-2025 | ||||||
TOP 10 | GP | W | L | OL | PTS | |
Wild | 24 | 16 | 4 | 4 | 36 | |
Jets | 25 | 18 | 7 | - | 36 | |
Devils | 28 | 17 | 9 | 2 | 36 | |
Capitals | 24 | 17 | 6 | 1 | 35 | |
Hurricanes | 24 | 16 | 7 | 1 | 33 | |
Golden Knights | 25 | 15 | 7 | 3 | 33 | |
Stars | 24 | 16 | 8 | - | 32 | |
Maple Leafs | 24 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 32 | |
Panthers | 25 | 15 | 9 | 1 | 31 | |
Kings | 25 | 14 | 8 | 3 | 31 | |
Conference | Cumulative |