The Vegas Golden Knights’ 2017-18 season was one of the best stories in the history of the NHL. An expansion team, made up almost exclusively of overlooked and underutilized talent, would immediately take the hockey world by surprise and ride a hot goaltender and better-than-expected forward corps all the way to the Stanley Cup Finals. Though they would eventually fall to the Washington Capitals, the team still outperformed every single offseason prediction and surprised fans at every stage of the year.
Despite all that success, and the fact that people have underestimated them for more than a year, the Golden Knights still led when we recently asked which playoff team would miss the postseason entirely in 2019. With nearly 300 votes, it seems that people still believe the Golden Knights success is a mirage. But that first poll only asked you to pick one of the playoff teams, something that left no team with more than 16% of the vote. Now we’re asking you to decide on the Golden Knights specifically.
Vegas lost two key forwards in the offseason, seeing David Perron and James Neal both depart for other teams through free agency. The team brought in Paul Stastny to help replace some of their leadership and offense, while Tomas Tatar will be asked to do more than he did down the stretch last season. Marc-Andre Fleury is back with a new contract extension, while Shea Theodore should be with the team right out of camp. Has the clock struck midnight on the Golden Knights, or will they continue their winning ways in 2018-19?
Cast your vote below, and make sure to leave your thoughts in the comment section below. How much faith do you have in Gerard Gallant’s squad this season? Will you underestimate them again?
[Mobile users click here to vote]
Will Vegas regress? Yes. Will they miss the playoffs? No.
I was thinking the same thing. They won’t be catching anyone by surprise anymore, but there’s just too much talent there.
They would probably feel better if everyone doubted them. look what happened last time
I think they get 4-6th seed. Start off slow and find themselves late.