The Golden Knights will have a full season of forward Mark Stone, who was acquired in a trade from the Ottawa Senators on Feb. 25 and signed to an eight-year contract March 8, giving them an outstanding top six. Which is the first line? Karlsson between Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith? Or Paul Stastny between Max Pacioretty and Stone?
The latter three jelled in the postseason. Stone led the Golden Knights with 12 points (six goals, six assists) in seven games during the playoffs; Pacioretty was second with 11 points (five goals, six assists); and Stastny tied for third with eight points (two goals, six assists).
The bottom six is solid. On the third line, Alex Tuch has room to grow, and several players will compete for the other spot on the wing with center Cody Eakin, including
Cody Glass
, Tomas Nosek, Brandon Pirri and Valentin Zykov.
Nicolas Roy
, acquired in a trade from the Carolina Hurricanes for forward Erik Haula on June 26, has a chance to become the fourth-line center.
Vegas is deep at defenseman. The big question is which of the many highly regarded prospects will seize a spot.
Nicolas Hague
?
Zach Whitecloud
?
Jake Bischoff
?
Dylan Coghlan
? Jimmy Schuldt?
And in goal remains Marc-Andre Fleury.
"We're certainly motivated to have a good season, try to be a playoff team again, which is very challenging in the NHL," said assistant GM Kelly McCrimmon, who will become GM on Sept. 1 while George McPhee will remain president of hockey operations. "We're now at a point organizationally where we can legitimately look at our prospect pool as players who may be ready to make our team.
"So it's our third season on the ice. Our organizational depth is improving. Our organization is continuing to evolve and to grow. That's our mindset heading into the season."