Golden Knights screwed the Rangers at the trade deadline.

The Vegas Golden Knights gave the shaft to an Eastern Conference contender on trade deadline day in the National Hockey League, and they may not have even been aware of it.

A new report from San Jose Sharks insider Sheng Peng has revealed that a trade between the aforementioned Rangers and Sharks fell apart on Friday after the Golden Knights made their major move to acquire forward Tomas Hertl from the Sharks. According to Peng, the Sharks had a trade in place with the Rangers that would have sent Sharks forward Alexander Barabanov to New York for an unknown return coming back the other way to San Jose.

The insider reports that, by moving Hertl to the Golden Knights, the Sharks used up their last remaining salary retention slot, one that they had previously planned to use to enable the trade that would have sent Barabanov to New York. From Peng:

The Tomas Hertl trade happened. In a shocker, the Sharks sent their franchise icon to the hated Vegas Golden Knights. As part of the deal, San Jose used their last salary retention slot on Hertl, a salary retention slot that was meant for Barabanov.

It even seems as though much maligned Sharks general manager Mike Grier may have subtly admitted as much when commenting on the Hertl trade on Friday.

"It definitely came into play today," said Grier as per Peng. "Unfortunately, it might have knocked us out of maybe a deal."