Coyotes acquire Shea Weber's contract as never-ending rebuild rolls on

Once again, Shea Weber’s contract is on the move. Using the Arizona Coyotes as the salary cap clearing house they’ve been for years, the Vegas Golden Knights opened up some important cap flexibility (especially for the future) with this trade.

Defenseman Dysin Mayo heads to Vegas as the most noteworthy active player involved in the swap, while the perpetually rebuilding Coyotes land a 2023 fifth-round pick along with Weber's contract.

Weber trade opens up salary cap flexibility for Golden Knights

As the Vegas Golden Knights keep taking wild swings at a Stanley Cup, they need contracts such as Weber’s to launder salary cap space. Ultimately, it’s still better to move those cap hits off your books, at least if you’re trying to make every salary cap dollar count.

While Vegas may be in the mix during the upcoming trade deadline anyway, this move doesn’t free up significant salary cap space right now. Instead, it lightens their LTIR load in the offseason and a bit beyond.

Again, this doesn’t mean you should count out Vegas when it comes to raising the stakes at the deadline. You could say they’re addicted to such gambles.

It’s difficult to say if Mayo brings much to the table. The Coyotes drafted the 26-year-old with a fifth-round pick (133rd overall) back in 2014. While Mayo has 82 games of NHL experience spread over the past two seasons, he hasn’t scored a single point in 15 games in 2022-23. It’s also dangerous to read too much into anyone merely filling space on a team as lowly as the Coyotes.