The National Hockey League (NHL) starts the 2021/2022 season on October 12th. If Tampa manages the “three peat”, what can you expect from the new franchise from Seattle? In the annual preview series is advancing Hockey-News.info focus on a different team every day.
The past season marked the fourth season of the Vegas Golden Knights and the team from the desert was able to qualify for the playoffs in all four seasons. The “regular season”, which comprised 56 games, ended the Golden Knights in second place in the “Honda West Division” and faced the Minnesota Wild in the first round. After seven games, Vegas went into the second round, where the top duel with the Colorado Avalanche should follow. Here, too, the Golden Knights retained the upper hand – it was only in the Conference Final that the Montreal Canadiens were surprisingly beaten. With 124 goals conceded, Marc-Andre Fleury and Robin Lehner secured the William M. Jennings Trophy – but Fleury’s time in Las Vegas came to an end in the summer. In addition to the popular Netminder, four other cracks left the club with Ryan Reaves, Nick Holden, Tomas Nosek and youngster Cody Glass – so General Manager Kelly McCrimmon had a lot of work on the program.
| Vegas Golden Knights Infobox | |
|---|---|
| Additions: | Yevgeni Dadonov, Laurent Brossoit, Nolan Patrick, Brett Howden |
| Departures: | Marc-Andre Fleury, Cody Glass, Nick Holden, Tomas Nosek, Ryan Reaves |
| 2021 1st Round Pick: | Zach Dean (30th) |
| Top 3 Prospects: | Peyton Krebs, Jack Dugan, Brendan Brisson |
Much went on in the past season about Captain Mark Stone, who led his team with 21 goals and 61 points. Max Pacioretty also showed with 24 goals. For the American Pacioretty it is his penultimate season in Vegas, in which he hits with seven million dollars. Stone’s working paper is valid until the end of the 2026/27 season. The two strikers combined spend no less than $ 16.5 million in Cap Hit. Jonathan Marchessault and William Karlsson, who both found their way to Vegas via expansion, were among the top performers in the first four seasons. This is exactly what will be required of both of them this year.
The “T-Mobile Arena” in Las Vegas has space for more than 17,500 fans! (c) Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 2.0
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The storm department of the Golden Knights was able to announce a prominent new addition: Evgeni Yevgeni Dadonov moved from Ottawa to the “sin city”. The 32-year-old Russian was able to collect 222 points in 335 NHL games – this definitely improved the quality of the offensive. Despite all the optimism, it should not be forgotten that Vegas not only had the best experiences with Russian strikers. A lot was also expected from Vadim Shipachyov, but in the end the KHL bomber was only found in three games. Nevertheless, Dadonov can look forward to good performances, as the winger is already in his fifth full NHL season.
The management caught the eye with a trade for the former 2nd overall pick Nolan Patrick, who found his way to Las Vegas in a 3-way trade with Nashville and Philadelphia. During his time with the Flyers, Patrick often struggled with the consequences of a concussion and never really found his way – a change of scene might help the 22-year-old center, but the Canadian will probably no longer become a topline center. Cody Glass, the very first draft pick in Knights history, was sacrificed for the services of Patrick. Remarkable: all three 1st round picks are no longer in the squad – Glass will storm in Nashville in the future, Nick Suzuki has developed into an outstanding striker in Montreal and Erik Brannstrom is defending in Ottawa.
Will Nolan find Patrick in Las Vegas? (c): Tim Smith, Brandon Sun
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Nevertheless, the Golden Knights Offense also has a lot of quality in the back lines. First and foremost, Alex Tuch, who will not return until January due to a shoulder operation. He showed in the previous year with 18 goals and 33 points. In the camp there will be a lot of eyes on the two top prospects Peyton Krebs and Jack Dugan. From the 2022/23 season at the latest, the two strikers should be part of the Golden Knights’ fixed line-up.
| Vegas Golden Knights Lineup | ||
|---|---|---|
| striker | ||
| Max Pacioretty | Chandler Stephenson | Mark Stone |
| Jonathan Marchessault | William Karlsson | Reilly Smith |
| Mattias Janmark / Alex Tuch | Nolan Patrick | Yevgeni Dadonov |
| Brett Howden | Nicolas roy | William Carrier |
| defender | goalkeeper | |
| Alec Martinez | Alex Pietrangelo | Robin Lehner |
| Brayden McNabb | Shea Theodore | Laurent Brossoit |
| Nicolas Hague | Zach Whitecloud | |
Much had been hoped for from Top-UFA from the 2020 Free Agency and Alex Pietrangelo was only partially able to meet expectations. The 31-year-old top defender is under contract for another six years. You can expect a little more stability from the backend this year. With Alec Martinez, the second Cup champ in the Vegas Defense could be held – the American signed a contract extension that binds him to the club for three more years. Shea Theodore was the best Knights-Dman with 42 points in 53 games and in recent years has developed into a rock solid top 3 defender who has his merits on the offensive. The very balanced defender squad is rounded off by Brayden McNabb, who distributed no fewer than 1,289 hits in his 507-game NHL career, as well as Zach Whitecloud, Dylan Coghlan and Nic Hague – all three cracks are no older than 24 years.
Alex Pietrangelo has his first Vegas season behind him! (c) Edward Dallas – CC BY 2.0
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Probably the biggest question mark is on the goalie position, because Marc-Andre Fleury was not just a three-time Cup champ transferred to Chicago. Fleury was the crowd’s favorite, and many fans would have liked to see Fleury’s last year of contract in Las Vegas. Thus, the Swede Robin Lehner moves up to the position of # 1. Last year, the 30-year-old from Gothenburg stood between the posts in 19 games and delivered quite impressive stats. A catch quota of 91.3% and an average goal conceded of 2.29 are quite impressive. It remains to be seen how he will cope with the # 1 workload – he has proven that he can do that both in Buffalo and at the New York Islanders when he was on the ice in more than 46 games per season . Laurent Brossoit, who has lived in Winnipeg for the past three years, has been hired for the backup position. Compared to previous years, the goal has definitely lost some of its quality.
Hockey-News Projection: Las Vegas will also feature playoff hockey for the fifth time in a row. The squad is too balanced and too high-quality – even if there is a small question mark behind the goalie position.
www.hockey-news.info , Bild: All-Pro Reels/VegasvsWash (CC BY-SA 2.0)
