2021-22 has been anything but smooth sailing for the (still) new kids on the block. Alec Martinez, Brayden McNabb, Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, Reilly Smith, Robin Lehner, William Karlsson, and Zach Whitecloud are just some of the names that have missed significant time due to injury for the Vegas Golden Knights this year.
With all of that, the team that was projected to be Presidents’ Trophy hopefuls at the beginning of the year now sits out of a playoff spot with under a month left to go in the regular season. They now have just 13 games left to make one last push to re-enter the top eight teams in the Western Conference.
Vegas’ best hope is likely to catch the Dallas Stars and take the second Wild Card spot out from under them. Dallas is one point ahead of Vegas, but they have 16 games remaining as compared to Vegas’ 13 left. The Stars are 6-4-0 in their past ten, and if that .600 points percentage keeps up for the rest of the regular season, the Stars would finish with 98 points. In order for Vegas to reach the 98-point plateau, they would need 20 points out of a possible 26, or roughly a 10-3-0 record in their final 13. Something like 8-3-2 would also get the job done, but the bottom line is that the Golden Knights can’t afford to lose more than three games in regulation the rest of the way.
If they were to try and catch the Edmonton Oilers for the third divisional spot in the Pacific Division, they’d likely need to do even better than that. The Oilers have a slightly worse points percentage than the Stars, but they’re much hotter with a 7-2-1 record in their past 10. If that keeps up, there’s no chance Vegas can catch them.
Now, the Knights don’t have the hardest schedule for the rest of the way. Tonight begins a five-game stretch against non-playoff teams in the West (Seattle, Arizona, and three games against Vancouver). After that, three of their remaining eight games are against-non playoff teams, so eight out of 13 games left in total are against non-playoff teams. One date to undoubtedly circle on the calendar is April 26th, where Vegas heads to Dallas to play their 80th game of the season, one that could ultimately decide their playoff fate if they can bank points.
So, we ask you, PHR readers: is this even a reality worth entertaining? Can the Knights overcome unprecedented injury-related adversity to be one of the 16 teams in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs? Make your voice heard below:
Missing out on the playoffs in the West? YIKES.
VGK-
Miss the playoffs.
Get pick #11.
Sabres might send you a big bucket of chicken wings.
Where is the ‘I hope not’ option?
F Vegas
It would be interesting to see the numbers on games-missed-due-to-injury across the league. There seems to have been an epidemic of injuries keeping players out of lineups this year.
Well … pretty literally an epidemic, as to that.
Sabres better team without their former captain – cuz they are a team now.
Baby Jack & ROR (along with Rhino & Risto) only wanted the money from the Sabres & not any responsibility.
It took them awhile to gell plus they did suffer injuries early in the season but as they have gotten more healthy you are seeing good results & play from this group players.
Add in Owen Power, Quinn, Peterka for next season along with some FA signings & some possible resignings and the future upside of this team is apparent.
Need a keeper too. On the right track
Wish we could have kept Rhino though
I think they edge their way in.
moved to Vegas almost 5 years ago from Los Angeles… the denizens here think the Playoffs are a birthright for this team…
it’d actually be better for them to rip this scab off and get it over with because the team they have right now isn’t winning 16 playoff games…
so I say(and am hoping) no…
(sorry, not sorry I’m biased) lol