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The first thing that comes to mind about Alec Martinez has to do with his history.
He scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal in double overtime in 2014 and was part of two championships with the Los Angeles Kings. The 32-year-old spent parts of 11 seasons with the Kings and is three games shy from 600 career regular season contests.
Vegas acquired him for two second-round picks on Wednesday, and he’s expected to be in the lineup tonight when the Tampa Bay Lightning come to town.
“He’s a seasoned guy that has the ability to raise his level at the important times of the year, and we’re excited to have him,” Vegas coach Peter DeBoer said. “I’m a big believer in that; I think experience is real important.”
The sticker shock on Martinez is understandable. He is four years removed from his career-best season in points, and of the four NHL defensemen traded this week, he was the only one who went for two second-round picks or more. The other three — Brenden Dillon, Dylan Demelo and Marco Scandella — are all having arguably better seasons and have a lower cap hit, but are unrestricted free agents at the end of the year.
It’s not like there were many other defensemen available at that presumptive price point. Minnesota’s Jonas Brodin or Matt Dumba, for example, would most likely dip into first-round territory if traded. Ditto for Philadelphia’s Shayne Gostisbehere. New Jersey’s Sami Vatanaen and Chicago’s Erik Gustafsson are on expiring contracts.
The Golden Knights wanted a defenseman who they could lock up beyond this year and felt that getting Martinez for 2020-21 as well was worth it. They paid a premium for that instead of taking the chance of losing a rental this summer.
“We got the player we want, and we have a second year,” Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “This was the player we identified and the skillset we feel could complement our team the best. We’re comfortable with the price.”
Vegas had five second-round picks over the next two years and was never going to make that many selections. Offseason trades for Colin Miller and Nikita Gusev were made with the strategy to accumulate picks, which in turn would be flipped for players to help the current roster. A contending team never wants to subtract players, and there’s something to be said about getting a player without giving one up in return.
DeBoer said he was happy with how the current defensive pairs have played, hinting that the top four of Brayden McNabb-Nate Schmidt and Shea Theodore-Nick Holden will remain the same, at least to start. It sounds like Martinez will begin on the third pair with either Jon Merrill, Deryk Engelland or one of the rookies, of whom Zach Whitecloud is getting the most time.
It’s also possible Martinez’s possession numbers improve playing a different role. In Los Angeles he played 21:31 per night, often against opponents’ best lines. He turned in a minus-3.3 relative Corsi in that role with the Kings, meaning Los Angeles controlled 3.3% more of the 5-on-5 shot attempts with Martinez off the ice. If Schmidt and McNabb continue lining up against the other team’s best forwards, Martinez may draw favorable matchups against opposing third and fourth lines.
Martinez isn’t going to come in and be the savior on the blue line, and in a vacuum his arrival makes the Vegas blue line better than it was, even if that improvement is incremental.
It’s the two second-round picks and the lack of salary retention that give pause. The Golden Knights used their bounty of draft-pick capital and it will be impossible to ever know if they could have reached a better deal. It’s opportunity cost, but it got someone now and he was the player that Vegas wanted.
That Martinez scored an important goal six years ago doesn’t mean much to the Golden Knights in 2020. But if he plays up the level now, no one is going to worry about second-round draft picks.
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