Think about where the Golden Knights were this time last year.
They were the defending Stanley Cup champions. They returned almost everyone from their title-winning roster, an unprecedented feat in a salary-cap world.
The Knights still added at the trade deadline, bringing in center Tomas Hertl, defenseman Noah Hanifin and right wing Anthony Mantha. Those moves cost them six draft picks and a player off their roster in defenseman Daniil Miromanov.
The deals gave the team a spark, helping them close the regular season on a 12-6-1 run. But things got complicated due to a multitude of injuries.
Captain Mark Stone missed the final two months of the regular season with a lacerated spleen. Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo missed 13 of the team’s final 15 games after getting his appendix removed. Left wing William Carrier missed the last 11 games with a knee injury.
Plus, Hertl was recovering from knee surgery when he was acquired and only got six regular-season games to get up to speed. All the absences, plus all the new additions, meant the Knights had to piece a lot of things together on the fly.
“I think it had a factor last year,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “We didn’t have a lot of time to do it. That matters.”
Those same questions don’t apply to this year’s team.
The Knights, despite several key departures in the summer, have been a consistent, cohesive unit throughout the regular season on their way to their fourth Pacific Division title in eight years.
They hope that’s enough to propel them on another deep run when they open the first round of the Stanley Cup playoffs by facing the Minnesota Wild at T-Mobile Arena on Sunday.
Previous troubles
Cassidy had trouble finding a lineup that worked down the stretch last year with so many pieces moving in and out.
Hertl played both center and wing in the Knights’ first-round series against the Dallas Stars as the team searched for the best spot to put him.
“Last year was definitely tough, not just going to a new team, but you’re coming (back) from injury and you don’t feel great,” Hertl said.
The Knights ultimately lost to the top-seeded Stars in seven games. It was a close series, with the two teams each scoring 16 goals. Dallas won Game 7 at home 2-1. That left the Knights wondering what could have been if they had more time to come together.
“In a tight series, and it was a tight series … it does matter,” Cassidy said. “How much? We still got to get out there and play and players got to play no matter who they’re with.”
Stone tried to take lessons from the defeat. One was the Knights didn’t give themselves an easy opponent to figure things out against.
“We just didn’t take too many line rushes together going into the playoffs,” Stone said. “There was chemistry and familiarity in some (instances), but also we played the No. 1 seed in the conference. We would’ve liked to have put ourselves in a better spot, maybe get home-ice (advantage).”
Nothing to worry about
The Knights, this time around, don’t have to worry about home-ice advantage in the first round. Or the second, if they advance.
Their 50-22-10 record makes them the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, behind only the Presidents’ Trophy-winning Winnipeg Jets (56-22-4). That should give them an easier path through the postseason.
The Knights’ finish in the standings was impressive after they watched six key free agents — Mantha, Carrier, center Chandler Stephenson, defenseman Alec Martinez, right wing Michael Amadio and right wing Jonathan Marchessault, the 2023 Conn Smythe Trophy winner for playoff MVP — leave in free agency this offseason.
The departures raised questions about who would pick up the scoring slack on the team. The answer? The entire group. Eleven Knights scored 10 or more goals, up from nine the season before. Hertl had 32, while 24-year-old right wing Pavel Dorofeyev led the team with 35.
The collective offensive effort showed how connected all the players were. Even two of the veterans the Knights added in the summer — left wings Victor Olofsson and Tanner Pearson — proved to be seamless fits.
Olofsson scored 15 goals in 56 games his first season with the Knights, while Pearson added 12 in 78.
Easy fits
The in-season acquisitions the Knights made this time around slid comfortably into the lineup as well.
The team signed left wing Brandon Saad to a one-year deal Jan. 30 after he and the St. Louis Blues decided to terminate his contract. Saad, a two-time Stanley Cup champion, didn’t take long to get acclimated. He scored 14 points in 29 games down the stretch.
The Knights knew their one major trade-deadline prize would also have no problems fitting in. That’s because it was right wing Reilly Smith, an Original Misfit that played for the organization for six years.
Smith picked up right where he left off with center William Karlsson. The two know how to play off one another and have formed a formidable line with Olofsson as the sniper.
Hertl, compared to a year ago, is much more comfortable with his spot in the lineup as well. He’s solidified at center between Saad and Dorofeyev. The Knights have outscored opponents 10-6 with that trio on the ice.
“We all had a full year together. Plus (Smith), he knows everything about this team,” Hertl said. “Everybody knows what to do and we’re feeling comfortable. Even if the lineups get switched during the playoffs, which is probably going to happen, I know more about every guy. I kind of played with almost everybody during the season.”
Better than 2023?
The Knights may not have even been this settled during their championship run.
They appear to be entering the playoffs at full strength this time around, unlike in 2023, when Carrier missed the first four games with a lower-body injury.
The Knights were also still tinkering during their first-round series against the Winnipeg Jets. Right wing Phil Kessel played the first four games and there was some question as to whether he or Amadio would sit when Carrier returned. Cassidy ultimately stuck with Amadio, who fit best with Karlsson and Smith.
There don’t appear to be many dilemmas this year.
Olofsson’s play with Karlsson and Smith will likely keep him in the lineup at the expense of Pearson, who won the Stanley Cup in 2014 with the Los Angeles Kings.
Center Jack Eichel will lead a high-powered first line with Stone and left wing Ivan Barbashev, while center Nicolas Roy will play between left wing Brett Howden and right wing Keegan Kolesar on the fourth line.
The Knights’ blue line also appears set with five of the six regulars from their championship team still around.
The lone new face is Hanifin, who had 39 points in 80 games his first full season in Las Vegas. Goaltender Adin Hill is also back in net after being the Knights’ primary starter in the 2023 playoffs.
The team is in a far different place than it was one year ago. The Knights hope that leads to results like they had the year before that.
“I think the rest of it is sorting out some of the other lines, who plays with who, when you’re completely healthy,” Cassidy said. “But that’s a good problem to have, who has to sit out. That’s what we went through two years ago.”
Contact Danny Webster at [email protected]. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
