The Vegas Golden Knights signed defenceman Zach Whitecloud to a two-year contract worth $1.45 million, or $725,000 per season. This contract carries him through the 2021-22 season.
Today’s forecast: cloudy in a good way ☁️☁️☁️
We’ve signed Zach Whitecloud to a two-year contract extension! ✍️
Details ?https://t.co/zSqYOQ9g4n
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) March 22, 2020
Zach Whitecloud Re-Signs With the Knights
Over his two-year NHL career, Whitecloud has only seen action for the Golden Knights. He has yet to score his first NHL goal, but he’s got one career assist in 17 games over the past two seasons. Whitecloud was originally an undrafted free agent signing out of Bemidji State University.
His lone assist came in one of his 16 games played this season, which is currently on pause. He also added four minutes in penalties. His possession numbers were 60.9 percent Corsi and a relative Corsi of 3.9 percent.
What This Means for the Future
Whitecloud projects to be an important piece for Vegas in the future, as the cap-strapped team looks to retain cheap, solid depth as they enter a phase of contention. While the 23-year-old former Bemidji State blueliner doesn’t project to be anything more than a solid bottom-pairing defenceman, you still need those to win championships, right? Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon knows that, and he’s locked up a player who’s looked impressive defensively in a small sample size. His play is the epitome of today’s dependable workhorse – he doesn’t make over-reactionary plays in his zone, nor does he look to jump into the play too often. This allows him to maintain solid positioning throughout games, leading many viewers to assume he’s older and more experienced than he is.
Getting any NHL-dependable player for under a million bucks a year is a bargain these days. That goes especially for someone with the apparent defensive prowess of Whitecloud. He’ll serve an important depth role on this Vegas team, for sure.
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