Daily Faceoff Show: Vegas Golden Knights searching for chemistry amid injuries
Jesse Granger of the Athletic joined Frank Seravalli and Mike McKenna on today’s “Daily Faceoff Show” to discuss the chemistry of the Golden Knights and their goaltending predicament.
Frank Seravalli: “Jesse, what are you seeing from the Vegas Golden Knights? They are 2-4-1 in their last seven games and dipped a bit in the Pacific Division standings.”
Jesse Granger: “This is probably their worst stretch of the season, other than that early stretch, where everyone was injured. I think, to me, what I’ve been seeing is a team that is very talented even without Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty in the lineup, they have a ton of talent. Obviously, Jack Eichel is out there, the misfit line with Karlsson, Marchessault, and Smith, but they are just not as cohesive and they are playing against some teams like Calgary or Colorado. Those two teams are just as talented as you, but they’ve been running the same lines all season long. They’ve been building chemistry. The team cohesion is so much better than it is in Vegas. So I think you see a team that is playing catch up and trying to build that chemistry.
They are trying to get to know where each other are on the ice at all times, where they aren’t thinking about the system and they can just with their minds free and you are kind of seeing that. Even LA, maybe not as talented as Vegas, but they are playing really cohesive hockey right now, and the Vegas Knights are behind the 8-ball in that aspect because of injury, because of trades. I think it’s partially their own doing, when you make a bunch of trades like this and you bring in an injured player like Jack Eichel, you are asking for that. But I also think they’ve had some bad luck with injuries that put them in this position. The good news for them is that they have a little under 30 games to get it going but they find themselves in a playoff race that is a lot closer than they expected they’d be in.”
Mike McKenna: “Let’s stick with Jack Eichel, the big acquisition, coming back from injury. You talk about chemistry and trying to find your place within a team, that seems to be the case for him right now. He hasn’t had a consistent line mate so far. He had Pacioretty for awhile, he’s had Dadonov, he’s had Stephenson. Different units on the PowerPlay as well. So, how does he fit in the roster of the Vegas Golden Knights and presuming Pacioretty and Stone are back in the future, how do you see that evolving as the season plays out?
Jesse Granger: “You nailed it in terms of he’s been having to deal with different linemates each time and not only that, he’s got Chandler Stephenson, who hadn’t played wing in Vegas at all in two years here, and he’s on the wing for the first time, so that’s an adjustment and Evgenii Dadonov. I actually asked Pete Deboer how he thought those 3 have been playing yesterday and Pete basically said, ‘they make good plays individually, all 3 are very good at creating space for themselves, buying time, opening up room for the other 2, they just don’t seem to be a cohesive unit. Which is kind of what I was saying with this team in general. We’ve seen a lot out of Eichel, he’s so good at hanging onto the puck, and not just that but his confidence in hanging onto the puck allows him to not make that panic pass, he holds onto it for an extra second, he delays, he finds that guy in the neutral zone. Stephenson has been that guy most of the time. Obviously he’s a really fast skater and Eichel has been able to find him with speed through the neutral zone and he has already created a couple goals.
“If Eichel ends up playing with Stone and Pacioretty, that’s a totally different makeup. Obviously Stone and Pacioretty are much better players than Stephenson and Dadonov, but they are not the skaters that they are. You got two really strong guys in Stone and Pacioretty and you got Jack Eichel who skates like the wind between them so I think that line has the potential to be really good, but the thing is if Pacioretty and Stone are ready, you probably are not going to be able to fit them into this lineup, unless they make a move to clear the salary cap. What worries me is that if Mark Stone and Jack Eichel are wearing a Golden Knights jersey for the first time ever in a playoff game, I just, man, they are so talented, and if there’s anyone that can come up with chemistry instantly and just find it, it’s probably those two, but its asking a lot, especially against a team, like I said, a lot further ahead of you in terms of that.”
Frank Seravalli: “I want you to step into the doctor’s office here, Doctor Frank Seravalli M.D., and I wanted to talk to you about Robin Lehner and his situation. Obviously had some fun at my expense, Tuesday night after the game during his press conference. I stand by my reporting, this is a torn labrum for Robin Lehner and it’s something I reported that he needs surgery, I didn’t say he had surgery, so not sure if he got lost in terms of the reading comprehension there. He is obviously trying to play through it, my question to you is, what is the level of concern on what you’ve heard from the Vegas Golden Knights about their goaltending situation?
Jesse Granger: “I know what it’s like to get dunked on by Lehner in a press conference with the jokes so I’m right there with you, but he was kind of laughing about it. It’s obviously a very serious situation. The Golden Knights, this team and front office has shown they do not sit on their hands. If there is a concern, I mean you saw it two years ago with Marc-Andre Fleury, and he wasn’t even injured, he just had a couple bad months and they went out and acquired Robin Lehner to make sure they were solid at that position and I think the goaltending situation, it hasn’t been bad. I think Lenher has been good enough, he hasn’t had great defence in front of him, he’s putting up the worst save percentage he’s had in 8 years. Last time he had a save percentage this low was on a really bad Ottawa Senators team, so you couple that with the fact that he’s been injured multiple times this year, he’s missed several games, for multiple different injuries. And like you said, that shoulder is clearly bothering him whether Lehner wants to argue the semantics, how injured it is, if he’s gonna have the surgery later.
“There is no question that he is injured. It’s bothering him, it’s kept him out for a while before coming back and I think this next stretch of games for Robin Lehner is very very important. I think George McPhee and Kelly McCrimmon are going to be watching his performance, and how he plays, is going to determine what they do at this deadline. Because he’s playing with that injury, if he has a couple rough weeks and they are wondering, can he be good enough at his current health? Maybe the Golden Knights do go out and trade for a goalie. But like I said I think, clearly he is going to play through this and have the surgery later and try to play through it. It going to be dependent on how well he can play through it and especially these next couple weeks heading up to the deadline because the Golden Knights are going to have to make a decision.”