Early Season Look In: A Slow Start Could Have Vegas Looking To Make A Splash
For the first time ever, the Vegas Golden Knights are on a cold streak.
Vegas won its first game of the season, a 4-3 win over the Seattle Kraken, in the Kraken’s first-ever game, and then the Golden Knights proceeded to go on a four-game losing streak before defeating the Avalanche in Colorado on Tuesday. This skid matched Vegas’ longest losing streak in franchise history and, the last time this happened, it cost Gerard Gallant his job.
To be fair to the Golden Knights, they lost both Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone to injury in the same game, and they’ll be without Alex Tuch until well after the New Year. But with no clear timetable for Stone’s return and the Golden Knights operating at far below 100 percent, Vegas might be in the market to make an in-season splash to help turn things around.
What’s happened so far in 2021-22…
The 2020-21 regular season was the best performance in Golden Knights franchise history.
They went 40-14-2 and finished tied for the league lead in points with the Colorado Avalanche, their West Division rival, but missed out on the Presidents’ Trophy because the Avs had more regulation wins.
They put up a .732 points percentage, which put them on pace for 120 points over the course of a normal 82-game calendar. That would have dwarfed the 109 points the team put up in 2017-18, their legendary first season in the league.
But, unfortunately, none of this matters all that much because the Golden Knights didn’t get the job done in the playoffs.
They edged out the pesky Minnesota Wild in seven games in the first round and then they got past the Avalanche in six games in the second round. Next up, the Montreal Canadiens, a team that lost more games than they won while playing in the league’s weakest division.
Carey Price stood on his head, stopping 180 of the 193 shots Vegas threw at him, and the Habs won the series in six games.
Vegas returned to the Pacific Division, likely the weakest in the league, for the 2021-22 season and the expectation is for them to finish at the top of the standings and finally get the job done in the playoffs.
So far, not good!
The Golden Knights are 2-4-0 and the only player who’s producing offensively is *checks notes* Chandler Stephenson? Again, it’s bound to be a struggle with Stone and Pacioretty out, but Vegas needs players like William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith to get going. This is a team that prides itself on great scoring depth, so they should be able to navigate these injuries.
Players to watch…
The most interesting name to pay attention to for Vegas this season is a guy who isn’t even on the team — yet.
As Frank Seravalli reported on Wednesday’s edition of The Daily Faceoff Show, the Golden Knights have resumed talking to the Buffalo Sabres about their disgruntled former captain, Jack Eichel.
Seravalli noted that Eichel’s camp is potentially going to file a grievance against the Sabres in regards to the drama surrounding his surgery and both the player and the team would like to get a trade done before that happens.
Vegas showed interest in Eichel over the summer but the two sides ultimately couldn’t get a deal done. Now that the Sabres are making Eichel’s medical information available, though, that could change.
There’s no doubt that Eichel would be the franchise center the Golden Knights have coveted for their entire history as a team, but they’re pressed right up against the salary cap, so making something happen won’t be simple.
There are a couple of things that could help this work. Stone could wind up on the long-term injured reserve because of his injury, which would give the Golden Knights more cap room to work with. Also, a third party could get in the mix and take some money off of Vegas’ hands to open up more room.
Who knows what’ll happen, but this will be an interesting story to watch over the coming weeks.
What did they do in the offseason?
Notable Additions: Nolan Patrick, Evgenii Dadonov, Daniil Miromanov, Laurent Brossoit.
Notable Subtractions: Marc-Andre Fleury, Cody Glass, Ryan Reaves, Nick Holden.
Who might the Golden Knights move in order to make room for Eichel?
Nothing would be surprising at this point. Nothing.
Over the offseason, they traded away Marc-Andre Fleury, the franchise’s icon who had just been awarded the Vezina Trophy, for literally nothing. The prospect they got back in return from the Chicago Blackhawks played 12 games between the ECHL and AHL last year, had his entry-level contract terminated, and is now playing in Finland.
Vegas’ other moves consisted of flipping one struggling former top pick, Cody Glass, for another struggling former top pick, Nolan Patrick, shipping defenseman Nick Holden off for forward Evgenii Dadonov, and signing Laurent Brossoit to replace Fleury.
Who knows who could be involved in an Eichel deal.
Young guys like Patrick, Peyton Krebs, Nic Hague, and Kaedan Korczak make sense for Buffalo, while the Golden Knights would likely need to send an expensive name like Dadonov back the other way or to a third party for it to work financially.
One bold prediction…
The Golden Knights make an absurd three-team trade to get Eichel, he gets his surgery done, he returns to the team towards the end of the season, and the Golden Knights lose in the first round.
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