With the NHL season now just a month away, it’s time to look at what each team has done this summer and what to watch for in the year to come. Today, we focus on the Vegas Golden Knights.
Last Season: 51-24-7 record (109 points), first in the Pacific Division (lost to Washington in the Stanley Cup Final, beat Winnipeg in the third round, beat San Jose in the second round, beat Los Angeles in the first round)
Remaining Cap Space: $8.69MM per CapFriendly (still need to sign D Shea Theodore)
Key Arrivals: F Daniel Carr (free agent, Montreal), D Nick Holden (free agent, Boston), F Paul Stastny (free agent, Winnipeg)
Key Departures: D Jason Garrison (free agent, Edmonton – PTO), F David Perron (free agent, St. Louis), F James Neal (free agent, Calgary), D Luca Sbisa (free agent, unsigned)
[Related: Golden Knights Depth Chart From Roster Resource]
Player To Watch: F William Karlsson – Could it really be anyone else? Karlsson was the biggest surprise in the NHL last year, going from a role player in Columbus to a top line center that was among the league leaders in goals. That made for a fascinating restricted free agency case this summer.
Ultimately, while a long-term deal was discussed, the two sides weren’t able to come with something that worked for everyone and instead settled on a one-year, $5.25MM pact. That outcome wasn’t entirely surprising as given his massive jump in production (and a very high shooting percentage), it’s understandable that Vegas would like to see how he follows that up before they lock him up.
What will Karlsson do for an encore? He won’t necessarily be counted on to produce quite as much with Stastny giving them another legitimate top-six center but he’ll still be a focal point of their attack. While some regression is expected, if he can get back around the 30-goal mark even, he will really bolster his case for a long-term deal next summer when he will hit restricted free agency with arbitration eligibility for the final time.
Key Storyline: Like Karlsson, what do the Golden Knights have in store for their encore? This is a team that wasn’t built to win right away but turned around and won the division while making it to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season. Was last season a sign of things to come or merely a case of a whole lot going right all at the same time?
While adding Stastny down the middle certainly helps, they will feel the losses of Neal and Perron on the wings. Tomas Tatar has the track record to be someone that could help fill that void but he was also a frequent scratch in the postseason; he’s their big wild card up front. Despite that, expectations will still be higher than they typically would be for a team in their second season and they won’t be catching teams by surprise anymore.
Overall Outlook: The Pacific Division doesn’t appear to have a true frontrunner. Instead, there are several teams that can legitimately believe that they’ll have a chance to contend for the division title. Even if they take a step back, Vegas could still be one of those clubs which means they won’t be acting like a typical expansion squad in their second season either.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
Everyone was saying how amazing an expansion team got deep into the playoffs in their inaugural season.
What almost never mentioned is the ability to cherrypick excellent athletes from all the teams.
They didn’t magically select all of these guys in a draft, they didn’t cultivate a farm team, they bought a good team that’s all.
That is true its a lot different to get a team to build from scratch with unlimited cap room than to just rebuild. Its still impressive, but if a team like the Sabers/Canucks made the final this year that would be more impressive.
also keep in mind a lot of there roster was either players there org. teams didnt want or made deals with lv to take on there unwanted players for picks. So yes they kinda had an advantage but really there were a group of misfits that rallied around each other and played outstanding there whole season could of easily went the other way