LAS VEGAS — When the NHL awarded an expansion franchise to Las Vegas in 2016, the team became a member of an exclusive club.

No, not being one of 31 teams then. More like being one of five teams which didn’t have the burden of having its players pay state income taxes to live and work there.

The Vegas Golden Knights would join the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Dallas Stars and Nashville Predators who enjoyed being in states that were income tax-free. That group would grow to six a couple of years later when the Seattle Kraken joined the NHL.

Why bring this up today? because it’s that time of the year where free agency is approaching and come July 1, unrestricted free agents will look to cash in. And one maneuver the tax-free six uses in luring potential free agents is the fact that if you play for us, your salary goes a lot further than say, New York or California or Canada.

From Day One, the Golden Knights have emphasized the fact Nevada doesn’t have a state income tax for its residents. They never hid from the fact. Rather, then general manager and now team president George McPhee used it as a major selling point among others, including the temperate winter climate in Southern Nevada. It’s something Kelly McCrimmon, the current GM, always cites in making a case for prospective UFAs considering the Knights.

And you don’t see too many guys saying they don’t want to play in Vegas. In fact, even players who the Knights traded have kept their homes here, whether it’s as an investment, an address for permanent residency or to return upon retirement. Reilly Smith was smart enough to do that when the team traded him to Pittsburgh two years ago and then re-acquired him from the Rangers right before the trade deadline in March. He didn’t have to go house shopping.

But will Mitch Marner be looking for a home in Summerlin?

The Toronto Maple Leafs star forward reportedly is considering    
the Golden Knights when he becomes a UFA on July 1. He also supposedly would be interested in playing for the Panthers. Both teams reside in states with no income tax.

Coincidence?

When Jack Eichel was traded to Vegas by Buffalo in 2021, he went from a tax bill of 10.9 percent to zero because he now resided in Nevada instead of New York.Since becoming a Golden Knight, Eichel, who makes $10 million and is coming up to the final year oof his eight-year deal, saved over $4 million by working in Nevada compared to New York. And you can bet that when McCrimmon sits down with Pat Brisson, who is Eichel’s agent, to hammer out a new deal, he’ll remind Brisson of that fact.

And he’ll do the same when it comes time to talk to Darren Ferris, who is Marner’s agent. But before that conversation takes place, McCrimmon is going to have to adjust his roster to accommodate Marner, who made $10.9 million with the Leafs this year. Oh, and his tax rate for the province of Ontario was 13.16 percent. And Canada taxes him to the tune of 33 percent. That’s close to half the guy’s salary going to the federal and provincial governments.

Financially, Vegas looks better and better. So does Florida. Yet, also reportedly on Marner’s list of teams he’d consider playing for are the three California teams — the Kings, Ducks and Sharks. That he would consider living in California where the state income tax is 13.3 percent is interesting.

Now just because you don’t have a state income tax doesn’t guarantee success. For years, Nashville and Dallas struggled and it took finding the right ownership and hockey ops people for Tampa and Florida to become good. To me, that’s the bigger factor in the success of the Panthers, Lightning and Stars as well as the Knights. The common thread? Solid ownership combined with really smart hockey people such as Bill Zito in Florida, Julien BriseBois, and before him, Steve Yzerman in Tampa and Jim Nill in Dallas.

But back to McCrimmon and finding the cap space to fit Marner in. A couple of weeks ago, I pointed out that it may not be easy to trade someone like Mark Stone or Alex Pietrangelo because they have no-move clauses in their current contracts. Plus you’d have to find teams willing to trade for two aging and oft-injured veteran players then have them agree to the deal.

The NHL salary cap for the upcoming 2025-26 season is going to be $95.5 million. So McCrimmon will have a little room to work with. But to get someone of Marner’s worth and ask, it’s going to require moving on from some pieces of the current roster.

The names that keep popping up are William Karlsson and Ivan Barbashev. Both are making $5 million (Karlsson’s AAV is actually $5.9 million). Both have modified no-trade clauses, Barbashev’s being eight teams he won’t agree to accept a trade to, Karlsson’s is 10 teams. That still leaves more than two-thirds of the NHL to negotiate a deal with.
 
And remember, this is the Golden Knights we’re talking about. This is the team that traded Marc-Andre Fleury and let Jonathan Marchessault walk in free agency. If they can make a move or moves that will ultimately lead to improving the roster, they’re going to do it.

Think what it might be like for Bruce Cassidy to send a top line of Eichel, Marner and Stone over the boards every night.

And in the wake of coming up short run their quest to play for the Stanley Cup, you can bet changes are coming in the weeks ahead. The Knights have proven time and again they are comfortable going big game hunting. And right now, the biggest prize is No. 16 in Toronto.