Golden Knights Rumors: Timo Meier, Patrick Kane and Noel Acciari among potential trade targets

The NHL trade deadline is approaching and the Vegas Golden Knights will be shopping for players. Vegas took a blow to their offense after Mark Stone had season-ending back surgery and now needs reinforcement before the deadline on March 3.

Stone was injured in the game against the Florida Panthers on January 12. He seems to have reaggraved the injury that kept him out for 26 games in the 2021-22 NHL season. He has 17 goals and 38 points in 43 contests this season. With Stone unavailable, Phil Kessel might get a chance to play in a top-six role.

The Golden Knights will be looking to pair another center and winger to play alongside Jack Eichel.

There are many options in the market, but the Knights can only afford some of them. Let's take a look at the players being linked with a move to Vegas.

Timo Meier, San Jose Sharks

Timo Meier #28 of the San Jose Sharks (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)

Timo Meier has been in lightning form for the San Jose Sharks, having scored 28 goals and 20 assists. Meier is owed a $10 million qualifying offer at the end of the 2022-23 NHL season, or he will become an unrestricted free agent.

The Knights do not currently have a salary cap for that, but if they assign Stone to LTIR, it may help them.

Patrick Kane, Chicago Blackhawks

Patrick Kane #88 of the Chicago Blackhawks. (Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

Patrick Kane is an incredible veteran and has played in the NHL for 15 years. He will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the current season and the Chicago Blackhawks won't want to let him walk for free.

Anthony Trudeau of Daily Faceoff points out that Kane has an expensive salary of $10.5 million which the Golden Knights and Blackhawks share among themselves.

"Here’s where it gets really interesting for Vegas, you take Kane’s $10.5 million salary and chop it in half with Chicago retaining salary, and you’d still have some change to go out and add a defenseman. We’d talked about that as their top deadline objective before this Stone injury."

Kane might be the perfect fit for the Golden Knights with Jack Eichel and Phil Kessel.

Pius Suter, Noel Acciari & Andreas Athanasiou's contracts make them potential Golden Knights targets

Toronto Maple Leafs v Detroit Red Wings

The contract situations of Pius Suter, Noel Acciari and Andreas Athanasiou make them potential targets for teams across the NHL.

Suter of the Detroit Red Wings has a $3.25 million salary cap for the 2022-23 NHL season. He will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.

Noel Acciari's contract with the St. Louis Blues has a salary cap of $1.25 million. This set to expire at the end of the season, making him an unrestricted free agent.

Andreas Athanasiou of the Chicago Blackhawks has a salary cap of $3 million for the 2022-23 season, after which he will become an unrestricted free agent

Noel Accrian of the St. Louis Blues

The Golden Knights have prospects Brendan Brisson, Zach Dean, and Lukas Cormier, whom they can use to land nearly any player they want. They have all their draft picks except their 2023 second and fourth, and their 2024 fourth.