Shea Theodore expands fund fighting breast cancer in Nevada

Golden Knights defenseman Shea Theodore was back at City National Arena on Monday after an offseason vacation to Hawaii, but he didn’t bring his stick, skates or helmet.

Instead, Theodore announced he was stepping up his charitable efforts to combat breast cancer in Nevada. The 25-year-old unveiled new contributions to his Kay’s Power Play fund for Susan G. Komen Nevada, named after his late grandmother and aimed at providing mammograms to those in need.

Theodore and Comprehensive Cancer Centers combined to donate $50,000, and the Vegas Golden Knights Foundation matched it. Some of the money came from the Knights’ jersey auction during their annual “Hockey Fights Cancer” game.

Theodore, who overcame a testicular cancer diagnosis in 2019, also launched a new initiative in which those who get a mammogram through Comprehensive Cancer Centers will receive a limited edition “Mammo Cup” patch.

“With some of the new funding here, it’s going to help a lot more people,” Theodore said. “Hopefully that forces people to go and get those patches.”

Theodore launched Kay’s Power Play in November for his grandmother Kay Darlington, who died in June 2020 and was a breast cancer patient at Comprehensive Cancer Centers. It had an initial donation of $50,000, and Susan G. Komen Nevada development manager Sherry Alexis said more than $30,000 has been spent. That has resulted in approximately 150 mammograms, Alexis said.

One of the recipients was Las Vegan Lauren Kennedy, who lost her job and health insurance but received a mammogram through the fund.

“I put off having a mammogram because it was just something I needed to do later, and without insurance, it was something that just seemed intimidating and very expensive,” Kennedy said. “Booking it through Susan G. Komen was excellently easy. I’m super excited to have one more thing off my plate.”

Theodore hopes the fund also can help others as a way to honor his grandmother.

“It’s definitely a special moment,” Theodore said. “I know she’d be very proud.”

Cap moves coming

The Knights’ reported three-year contract extension with defenseman Alec Martinez probably will force the team to make at least one salary cap clearing move in the offseason.

Martinez’s deal will have an average annual value of about $5 million, according to Daily Faceoff. On Monday, the Knights had approximately $4.09 million in cap space. Teams are allowed to exceed the cap by 10 percent in the offseason.

The Knights will need to find a way to fit Martinez and restricted free agent Nolan Patrick on the books. Patrick, acquired in a trade July 17, received a qualifying offer before Monday’s deadline to avoid becoming an unrestricted free agent. Patrick’s minimum qualifying offer was $917,831.

Restricted free agent defenseman Dylan Coghlan also received a qualifying offer. His minimum was $735,000.

The Knights had to make multiple salary cap clearing moves last offseason to sign defenseman Alex Pietrangelo. Defenseman Nate Schmidt was traded to Vancouver for a third-round pick, and center Paul Stastny was sent to Winnipeg for a fourth-round pick and defenseman Carl Dahlstrom.

“We’ll be a cap team again, that I can tell you,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said before the NHL draft. “Exactly what that looks like as it plays out remains to be seen and still depends on some of the decisions we make between now and opening day.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.