Report: Max Pacioretty, Dylan Coghlan Traded to Hurricanes from Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights are trading veteran forward Max Pacioretty and defenseman Dylan Coghlan to the Carolina Hurricanes, The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun reported Wednesday.

Vegas will receive future considerations in exchange for both players.

Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff noted the move was a "pure salary dump" for the Golden Knights, who cleared $7.7 million in cap space.

Before the trade, Vegas was projected to be over the salary cap by more than $2.6 million, according to CapFriendly. Now that the team has cap space, it can look to re-sign restricted free agents Keegan Kolesar and Nicolas Roy and add a backup goaltender.

Pacioretty has a $7 million cap hit for 2022-23 before becoming an unrestricted free agent.

The 33-year-old has spent the last four seasons of his career in Vegas, tallying 97 goals and 97 assists for 194 points in 224 games. He only appeared in 39 games last season, notching 19 goals and 18 assists for 37 points.

Pacioretty began his career with the Montreal Canadiens, which selected him in the first round of the 2007 NHL draft. In 626 games across 10 seasons with the franchise, he tallied 226 goals and 222 assists for 448 points.

Coghlan, meanwhile, has spent the first two seasons of his career in Vegas. The 24-year-old notched six goals and 13 assists for 19 points in 88 games. Before playing for the Golden Knights, he spent two seasons with the AHL's Chicago Wolves.

Adding Pacioretty was a solid move for the Hurricanes. He will likely play on the team's top line alongside Sebastian Aho, or the second line alongside Jesperi Kotkaniemi.

As for Coghlan, it's likely he spends time in the AHL as the Canes already have a solid defensive unit that includes Jaccob Slavin, Brent Burns, Brady Skjei, Brett Pesce and Ethan Bear.

Carolina was searching for upgrades after being eliminated by the New York Rangers in the second round of the playoffs last season. With the additions of Pacioretty and Burns on Wednesday, the undoubtedly got better and should be a team to watch in 2022-23.