The Vegas Golden Knights started the offseason by acquiring Mitch Marner’s rights from the Toronto Maple Leafs and signing him to an eight-year contract. They brought back Reilly Smith and Brandon Saad and traded Nic Hague’s RFA rights to the Nashville Predators.
The Golden Knights also gambled on Kaedan Korczak, signing the young defenseman to a four-year extension. Heck, they even managed to re-sign most of their other RFAs– Raphaël Lavoie, Jonas Røndbjerg, Cole Schwindt, and Lukas Cormier.
The Golden Knights made all the right moves. They acquired one of the most skilled wingers in the league and got tremendous value for Hague’s RFA rights. Bringing Smith and Saad back on cheap deals allowed the Golden Knights to keep their depth even after losing Nic Roy. And giving Korczak a four-year deal is risky, but it could pay dividends.
Unsurprisingly, it’s hard to take issue with anything the Golden Knights have done. Theirs is a very smart front office, and they prove it time and time again. They identified areas of weakness and improved nearly every one of them in one fell swoop.
This, however, will remove much of the drama from training camp.
Typically, training camp is a competition: young challengers showcase how much they’ve improved in an attempt to crack the NHL lineup, while wily veterans try to stave off the young blood and keep their roster spot. But for the Golden Knights, training camp this year doesn’t look like it’ll be particularly competitive.
This Golden Knights forward group, as currently constructed, leaves almost no room for player competition. Take a look:
Projected Golden Knights Forward Lines
Ivan Barbashev–Jack Eichel–Mitch Marner
Brandon Saad–Tomáš Hertl–Pavel Dorofeyev
Reilly Smith–William Karlsson–Mark Stone
Brett Howden–Colton Sissons–Keegan Kolesar
As far as top-nine forwards go, the Golden Knights sit among the best in the league. They’re a deep team with three legitimate scoring lines. And the fourth line can provide some secondary scoring, at least during the regular season.
There’s an argument to be made that certain young players– namely, the aforementioned Raphaël Lavoie, Jonas Røndbjerg, and Cole Schwindt– could challenge for a fourth-line role. However, it’s hard to imagine anyone beating out Brett Howden or Keegan Kolesar, who both had career years last season.
Howden is coming off a season in which he scored 23 goals, crushing his previous high of nine. He tied his career high in assists of 17, which he set during his rookie season in 2018-19 with the New York Rangers. His 40 points nearly doubled his previous high of 23, also set during his rookie season. There’s no guarantee that Howden will score 20 goals again, but Lavoie, Røndbjerg, and Schwindt are untested in comparison.
Kolesar, too, set career highs in goals, assists, points, and ice time. He also led the team in hits with 237. He’s been a physical presence on this Golden Knights team for the last five seasons. Kolesar has played 357 career NHL games, whereas Lavoie, Røndbjerg, and Schwindt have played 16, 76, and 49 NHL games, respectively.
Unless there’s an injury, I’d be shocked to see one of the previously listed forwards ousted from the NHL lineup. There’s a little more flexibility to the defense… but only a little.
Projected Golden Knights Defensive Pairs
Brayden McNabb–Shea Theodore
Noah Hanifin–Zach Whitecloud
Jeremy Lauzon–Kaedan Korczak
Defensively, the Golden Knights have maybe– maybe– one open roster spot. After losing Alex Pietrangelo to a likely career-ending injury, general manager Kelly McCrimmon named the freshly extended Korczak and Zach Whitecloud as players who would be given more responsibility this upcoming season. But is Jeremy Lauzon’s roster spot safe?
Honestly, probably.
Last season, the Henderson Silver Knights were one of the worst teams in the AHL. They scored just 202 goals, which was tied for 26th in the league. Defensively, they were even worse, allowing 251 goals against, which was tied for 29th. As of July 17th, PuckPedia only lists six signed non-roster defensemen for the Golden Knights, and three of them are still on their Entry Level Contracts.
The Golden Knights signed two depth defensemen this offseason– Jaycob Megna and old friend Dylan Coghlan. At this point in his career, I’m not sure that Megna is an NHL defenseman on a contending team. And, since the Golden Knights traded Coghlan to the Carolina Hurricanes following the 2021-22 season, he’s appeared in just 24 NHL games.
Things can change on a dime, especially when the Golden Knights are concerned. But as of now, Lauzon has no real competition for a third-pairing role.
Now, goaltending is where things could get interesting.
Golden Knights Goaltending Depth Chart
Adin Hill
Akira Schmid
For the second straight year, Adin Hill will enter the season as the clear-cut starting goaltender. He played 50 games last season and finished with a record of 32-13-5, an average save percentage of .906, and four shutouts. Hill also represented Team Canada at the Four Nations Face-Off, though St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington saw every start.
The Golden Knights have their starter, and it’s Hill. What they don’t have, however, is a solidified backup.
Akira Schmid played well last season in a very small sample size. In five games, he had a record of 2-0-1 and a .944 average save percentage. However, even if Hill starts 50 games again next season, Schmid could see 32 starts. Can he maintain that level of play?
Last season, Schmid’s AHL stats with the Henderson Silver Knights weren’t anything to write home about. In 30 games, he had a record of 9-18-4 and a .886 average save percentage. Now, he played for a team that finished 29th in the league with a record of 29-38-5. The Golden Knights would undoubtedly make things easier on him. But it’s very risky.
And then there’s the risk of injury. If Hill goes down for any length of time, Schmid would become very important, very quickly. The 25-year-old showed great promise when playing for the New Jersey Devils, but he’s prone to inconsistency.
The Golden Knights have other promising goaltenders in their system, such as Carl Lindbom, but they’re all young and still very raw. As of now, for better or for worse, Schmid has no real competition for the backup role. It would probably be wise for the Golden Knights to rectify that.
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