"We're not shopping [Pacioretty]," Foley told KLAS-TV in comments that aired Wednesday. "... We do have [NHL salary] cap issues. And so, some of those things have to be resolved as we go forward and we start getting into the season, but he definitely is not being shopped."
Foley's comments came after TSN reported Tuesday that the Golden Knights were trying to gain cap flexibility by trading the 32-year-old forward, who led Vegas with 32 goals and 66 points in 71 games last season. Pacioretty has three seasons remaining on a four-year, $28 million contract ($7 million average annual value) he signed with the Golden Knights on Sept 10, 2018, the day after he was acquired in a trade with the Montreal Canadiens.
The Golden Knights traded forward Paul Stastny ($6.5 million AAV) to the Winnipeg Jets on Oct. 9, and defenseman Nate Schmidt ($5.95 million AAV) to the Vancouver Canucks on Oct. 12, the same day they signed defenseman Alex Pietrangelo to a seven-year, $61.6 million contract ($8.8 million AAV).
Two days later, general manager Kelly McCrimmon said goalie Marc-Andre Fleury would not be traded despite Vegas signing Robin Lehner to a five-year, $25 million contract ($5 million AAV) on Oct. 3. Fleury has two seasons remaining on a three-year, $21 million contract ($7 million AAV).
The NHL salary cap will remain at $81.5 million for this season. An official start date for the season has not been announced.
Pacioretty, who was selected by Montreal in the first round (No. 22) of the 2007 NHL Draft, has scored 554 points (280 goals, 274 assists) in 763 regular-season games, and 38 points (20 goals, 18 assists) in 61 postseason games. In two seasons with the Golden Knights, he has scored 106 points (54 goals, 52 assists) in 137 regular-season games and 19 points (10 goals, nine assists) in 23 postseason games.
