For the Vegas Golden Knights, last spring’s second round exit from the Stanley Cup playoffs was a dirt sandwich. Tasted awful, tough to digest and hard to forget.
No one was happy. Fans, ownership, management, coaches, and players all had a beef with the way the season ended.
It’s lip service to say anything but a Stanley Cup is a failure but in Vegas and a handful of cities with contending teams, there is truth in the turn of phrase.
Some teams are building, some teams are tearing down, and some are in the winning business. Golden Knights fans have been lucky to watch a team in the latter category for eight seasons.
GM Kelly McCrimmon’s offseason has set the club up to embark on another campaign in which winning the Stanley Cup is an attainable goal.
McCrimmon went to work. A blockbuster summer landed Mitch Marner, a glue-guy in Colton Sissons, and bruising defenseman Jeremy Lauzon. At the same time, Nic Hague moved on and Alex Pietrangelo’s injury looms large. The result is a roster that looks loaded again, but also different.
No question, the Golden Knights have one of the best rosters in the NHL. Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, Marner, Tomas Hertl, William Karlsson and Pavel Dorofeyev give Vegas all kinds of horsepower up front.
A Stanley Cup champion goalie in Adin Hill and a defense corps that still boasts Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb, and Zach Whitecloud from the 2023 roster plus two-way stud Noah Hanifin. Vegas is deep, talented, and experienced.
Head coach Bruce Cassidy said last season’s ending caused some pause for thought but guarded against being too reactionary.
“I thought we had the team to make a good run and win the whole thing. So, you're disappointed on the surface. Why didn't we score enough? You go through all that stuff after and look for the reasons why,” said Cassidy. “At the same time, you can’t over-analyze it. That's where you've got to be careful. I think there's probably opinions all over the place on it. But at the end of the day, we didn't finish well enough in either series.”
Cassidy spent his summer moving magnets around a whiteboard in his head. Marner with Eichel? Marner with Hertl? Karlsson with Stone is a pairing the coach has long wondered about but never fully unleashed.
“Marner can change any line he touches,” Cassidy said. “He’s that kind of player. The trick is to find the pairs that make us the best team — not just one loaded line.”
The coach’s mind is alive with combinations, but his tone is pragmatic. Training camp and early season reps will sort it out.
“It might take until Christmas, or March. You don’t know. But you trust the talent and let it breathe.”
Cassidy also plans to implement a few changes both schematically and how he does things with the players.
“Well, there's always tweaks to your game, so we'll start with that. Watching Florida, Carolina, and even Edmonton against us, the forecheck game is coming back into hockey,” said Cassidy. “There's no doubt about it. We’re great in terms of puck possession and making plays. But when our offense dried up, we couldn't find another way to score 5-on-5. It’s making the decision to get pucks behind them.”
Replacing Pietrangelo is impossible, but Cassidy points to Hanifin, Kaedan Korczak, Whitecloud, and Theodore as defensemen ready for more responsibility. Lauzon, with his Boston roots, brings size and an edge that fits Cassidy’s blueprint.
“That’s the circle of life in this league,” Cassidy said. “You miss guys like Hague and Petro, but it opens doors. Now it’s on Theo, Hanny and Whitey to say, ‘I’ll take those minutes. I’ll be the alpha back there.’ They can further grow their games.”
Hill has established himself as a 50-game guy and he’s won a Stanley Cup.
“We kind of put the cart before the horse in that regard. He won in the playoffs before he had been an everyday No. 1. Now he’s done both in different seasons. Doing it all in one season is the next step,” said Cassidy.
Many Golden Knights could wear national sweaters at the Olympics in February. That’s a scheduling headache and a risk, but Cassidy refuses to overthink it.
“I watched Florida last year, their guys played the 4 Nations, went deep, and still had juice for the playoffs. It can be done. The key is talking to players, knowing where they’re at mentally, and trusting their competitiveness.”
And the mandate? Same as it ever was in Vegas.
Winning isn’t a hope. It’s the business model.
