The deadline is done, and the Vegas Golden Knights have their team. Well, almost.
GM Kelly McCrimmon added two players this week, veteran forwards Cole Smith and Nic Dowd, but had already made two major acquisitions this season signing goaltender Carter Hart to a contract in October and trading for defenseman Rasmus Andersson in January.
Now, McCrimmon must wait to see who gets healthy and what impact returning players have on his roster. With captain Mark Stone, forwards Brett Howden and William Karlsson as well as Hart not available at this time, Vegas could still have a lot of internal additions moving forward.
“The trade deadline is the last opportunity for a manager to have any impact upon the personnel of his team,” said McCrimmon. "We wanted to improve our team going into the deadline. We had a real good handle on the personnel that was going to be available. I think it was a little bit different than some people had anticipated."
If one is into winning the deadline day sweepstakes, McCrimmon isn’t necessarily your man. He doesn’t wait until Christmas Eve to do his shopping. But if upgrading a roster and extending a team’s championship contention window is your bag – Vegas checks those boxes.
The Golden Knights have added Mitch Marner, Colton Sissons, Jeremy Lauzon, Braeden Bowman, Hart, Andersson, Smith, and Dowd since the end of last season. Transformative work by McCrimmon and the Golden Knights hockey operations department.
Head coach Bruce Cassidy now has a fourth line of Cole Smith, Dowd, and Sissons. Pure identity and the ability to drag the team into the fray as well as end lulls by winning shifts. They will get a lot of defensive zone shifts and move their team to the other end of the ice. Energy, experience, smarts, and snarl. Lots to like about this trio.
“We improved the identity of our forward group with the additions that we made of Cole Smith on Tuesday, who played the following night in Detroit. I think you got a little bit of a feel for what he brings. He’s 6-3, 195 pounds. He plays a very direct game. He likes to get in on the forecheck. He likes to play behind defensemen. He likes to play in the front-of-the-net area. And then Nic Dowd, the second trade that we made this week, who pretty much is best in class in terms of what he does. He’s been one of the top defensive forwards in the NHL for the last five seasons. He really understands his role, relishes his role,” said McCrimmon. “You can tell probably from some of the comments made from his teammates and head coach in Washington yesterday, how highly regarded he was. We think he’s really going to help our team.”
"Tonight, you’re going to see Colton Sissons playing on the right side with that line. When you look at Dowd, 87-percent of his starts last year were in the d-zone. Smith, I believe is 76-percent of his starts are in the d-zone. It gives Bruce a lot more flexibility in terms of how he deploys his forward group. These are defensive players, but I think this is really going to improve our forward group overall.”
McCrimmon said Hart remains week to week but would return in the regular season and that the team would “march forward with three goalies.” He added that Brett Howden was trending towards playing on Sunday and that Stone’s injury was upper body and manageable. The team did not place William Karlsson on season ending LTIR and that he would return during the playoffs if Vegas were to qualify and have some degree of success.
Surprises: Vancouver and Toronto didn’t do as much as people might have wanted in those markets. Both will miss the playoffs and still have lots of work to do on their rosters. Did they miss an opportunity to collect assets?
Car Crash: Dallas got bigger and nastier adding Tyler Myers and Michael Bunting. Minnesota now has two Folignos on its roster with Marcus and Nick. The Wild also picked up 6-6 forward Michael McCarron. Bash Brothers in St. Paul. Those two teams could meet in the first round and that would be a violent series between two contenders. Only one can advance.
Conroy Collects: Calgary GM Craig Conroy has amassed 17 draft picks in the first three rounds over the next three seasons. Two firsts in all three of those drafts. Now it’s time to take advantage.
Down the Middle: The Colorado Avalanche acquired two centers over the last two days, Nic Roy and Nazim Kadri. The Avs can now go Nathan McKinnon, Kadri, Nelson, and Roy down the middle. Very solid.
Trying to Take a Step: Young teams on the move did some good work this week. The Islanders picked up a useful center in Brayden Schenn, Utah adds MacKenzie Weegar to bolster its blueline, Buffalo gets way tougher with Logan Stanley and Luke Schenn, Seattle adds depth scoring with Bobby McMann, Detroit gets a useful two-way veteran D in Justin Faulk, and Anaheim adds experience and skill in John Carlson.
