'Days like this are tough for fans': Kelly McCrimmon discusses free agency news

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The National Hockey League's free agency period began on Monday.

That led to heartbreak for a lot of Vegas Golden Knights fans who saw several original Misfits and fan-favorites sign with new teams, including Jonathan Marchessault, William Carrier, Chandler Stephenson, Alec Martinez, Michael Amadio, Anthony Mantha, and Jiri Patera. This comes just days after the team announced they had traded Logan Thompson and Paul Cotter.

On Monday, General Manager Kelly McCrimmon he understands what fans are going through.

"Days like this are tough for fans and they're not easy. The fans think they know our players. I know our players better than our fans do and I've got relationships with each of these guys. You have to respect their rights as unrestricted free agents. That's the collective bargaining agreement. We didn't trade these players. We tried to retain them. We're not going to go into the weeds of what each contract negotiation was with each player but we were not after huge hometown discounts or anything like that. We made, I thought, real fair, reasonable offers," McCrimmon said. "Part of the reason we won the Stanley Cup is we had so many players out-perform their contract. Well, when their contracts come due, they go and find market value. That's the nature of the business. It hurts. We feel the same way that a lot of you do and a lot of our fans do. But again, it's a part of the business that we have to respect and understand."

WATCH FULL PRESS CONFERENCE: VGK GM Kelly McCrimmon discusses first day of free agency period

Marchessault voiced his disappointment and told TSN that he didn't think VGK "tried their best to keep me". However, McCrimmon said that wasn't the case.

"It couldn't be further from the truth," McCrimmon said. "Marchy's a fiery guy so he would perhaps feel that way. I think anybody that knows me, knows Marchy, knows our time together in this organization, the value we have and the respect we have for him, I would disagree with that."

With the NHL raising the salary cap last month, teams had more money to go after players in free agency. McCrimmon said the front office knew that would impact player negotiations.

"This is a time where teams will look to shore up weaknesses from the previous year. When you look at some of the big spenders, it's teams that are really trying to change course and made those corresponding moves to try and improve their team," McCrimmon said. "We wanted to try to stay out of free agency because of the money that was being spent. Today felt like 2016. There was some money back in the system. There were a lot of contracts given out today that had big term and had big AAV ... Traditionally, there's a lot of mistakes made on July 1. Obviously, there's a lot of situations where teams help their team by adding the right players at the right price but it doesn't always work out with all of the transactions that happen on opening day."

When asked about additional activity in free agency and possible trades, McCrimmon said both are possible.

"When we look at our team next year, we feel really strong in goal, love our defense, love our centers. I think we have some forwards on the wings that are ready to take on more responsibility and bigger roles," McCrimmon said. "You go back to expansion year, that was all about guys coming in and getting more opportunities than the year before, where they played. We'll see where that plays out but we're open-minded to either possibility."

Players leaving the organization also gives others the chance to step up. For example, on Monday, the Vegas Golden Knights agreed to two-year contract extensions Kaedan Korczak and Pavel Dorofeyev

"We expect in the case of Pavel, to really continue to blossom and the opportunity that he's going to now have on our team and Kaedan Korczak will be a full-time NHL player this year," McCrimmon said. "Based on what we saw from his time with our team last year, he's more than ready to step into an NHL lineup."

The team also signed goalie Ilya Samsonov to a one-year contract that is worth $1.8 million.

"We did a lot of work on our goaltending with Sean Burke and Mike Rosati as well, who is in our organization evaluating goaltenders," McCrimmon explained. "Sean feels he's a real good goaltender that had a down year and is a perfect guy to bet on and bring in. [It's a] similar mindset when we acquired Adin Hill."

According to McCrimmon, while it is bittersweet to lose players that were a vital part of the team's success, it's also time to look to the future and building the roster for next season.

"When you win a Stanley Cup, you're going to have a connection to those people the rest of your life. Those are people that you'll walk with forever. I know last year, when we would play teams in the playoffs that had our players on them, so when we played Winnipeg and we had Laurent Brossoit come into our locker room to present him with his Stanley Cup ring, when we gave Riley Smith his Stanley Cup ring at the White House, when we had Jonathan Quick come into our room and get his ring presented to him, those are really tremendous memories that aren't changed by any of these things that happened," McCrimmon said. "At the same time, we're very excited about moving forward. We're very excited to see what people can do that are going to get more opportunities, potentially, if we have more people come into the organization than what we are at presently. Those are all things that will play out. But our nucleus, the core of our dressing room, all of those things is still a very strong unit that's made up of real good talent, real good people."