The Vegas Golden Knights have landed Chicago Blackhawks center Marcus Kruger, after all.

 

Two weeks after not selecting Kruger in the NHL expansion draft, Vegas gave up undisclosed future considerations to acquire the two-time Stanley Cup-winner in a trade with the Blackhawks on Sunday.

 

Used primarily as a checking-line forward, Kruger had five goals and 12 assists for 17 points in 70 games last season. Overall, he has 33 goals and 72 assists for 105 points in 398 games over seven seasons.

 

Kruger's departure frees up much-needed salary cap space for the Blackhawks a season after signing him to a three-year $9.25 million contract.

 

The Golden Knights opened up cap space to add Kruger a day earlier, when they traded defenseman Alexei Emelin to Nashville.

 

>>Former Blues D Shattenkirk Headed To Rangers

 

The biggest name of NHL free agency is headed to the Big Apple.

 

Kevin Shattenkirk has signed with the New York Rangers, according to the team.

The news was first reported earlier by NHL Network's Kevin Weekes, then later confirmed by TSN and NHL.com's Dan Rosen.

 

The Rangers had long been considered a logical landing spot for the former St. Louis Blues D-man, especially after New York bought out Dan Girardi's contract and then cleared the way for a potential big-money addition with the recent trade of Derek Stepan and Antti Raanta to the Arizona Coyotes.

 

Shattenkirk's value as a top-four D-man with scoring prowess stood tall as an impending free agent, and New York nabbing him without breaking the bank is a Grade-A offseason move for a team looking to make another run in 2017-18.