Vegas’ Malcolm Subban – image courtesy of NHL.com
The story of the NHL season so far has been the rise of the Vegas Golden Knights. After a whole 27 games of their inaugural season, Vegas sat second in the Pacific Division only four points behind the division leaders, Los Angeles Kings, and with two games in hand. The ragtag ensemble of players taken from around the league has been superb, playing exciting hockey and winning games despite losing arguably their biggest acquisition, Marc-Andre Fleury, after just four games.
Due to the contracts of the players who the Golden Knight selected in the expansion draft, it was assumed that Vegas would be a major seller at this season’s trade deadline, shipping off all of the impending unrestricted and restricted free agents. But, after such a fantastic first third of the season in the books, and the playoffs very much in their crosshairs, will general manager George McPhee change his plans?
Golden Knights Clicking on and off the Ice
Unfortunately for the city and their new NHL franchise, Las Vegas was struck by tragedy on October 1. But the way in which the Vegas Golden Knights reacted to the incident helped them to connect to the Las Vegas community on a real level, with Vegas defenseman and long-time Las Vegas resident Deryk Engelland’s heartfelt speech in their home opener October 13 particularly touching.
This helped the fan base and the players to connect but this was simply another way in which the Golden Knights adhered to the locals. As the random assortment of players that they are, Vegas wasn’t expected to do overly well this season, maybe tickle the playoff spots for a while but ultimately miss out on the postseason. But, their exciting play and the quick cohesion of the players has resulted in must-watch hockey and, most importantly, wins.
With a 17-9-1 record from 27 games, and a standing of second in the Pacific Division, the Vegas Golden Knights look set to make it to the postseason and, furthermore, are even looking like strong candidates to win the division at +400 when you bet online. With free bets available on the NHL, such a wager isn’t as risky as it might appear.
Vegas should stick, not twist
On November 30, the Vegas Golden Knights signed defenseman Brayden McNabb to a four-extension, causing ripples throughout the NHL community – perhaps they wouldn’t be selling their top players at the trade deadline.
Vegas’ James Neal has 13 goals and 21 points this season – image courtesy of NHL.com
As of December 7, the Vegas Golden Knights are set to lose James Neal, Mikhail Grabovski, David Perron, Jonathan Marchessault, Luca Sbisa, Clayton Stoner, and Deryk Engelland to the free agency in the summer. On top of that, Oscar Dansk, Maxime Lagace, Shea Theodore, Collin Miller, Jon Merrill, Tomas Nosek, Stefan Matteau, William Carrier, and William Karlsson are all set to become restricted free agents.
In the expansion draft, the team was built to be sold on but, now that they’re doing so well, perhaps George McPhee needs to rethink things. Some can still be traded away – Carrier, Stoner, Grabovski, Merrill, and Matteau would hold some value and wouldn’t be missed – but others would be worth keeping as the foundations of a decent team that would still have limited expectations due to being so young.
To add to this, the Golden Knights would benefit from continuing to bring their fans great games as well as keeping their star players in town as they’re still cultivating a fan base. As the NHL got in so early, the Golden Knights are the only major league sports franchise in Las Vegas, which has allowed them to draw in all the sports fans in the area. With the NFL’s Oakland Raiders moving over in a couple of years, Vegas could do with utilizing this first-mover advantage with more wins for their fans.
The Vegas Golden Knights look set to make it to the playoffs this season to give their fans the most exciting form of hockey that North America has to offer; that is, if they keep their team intact.
You must be logged in to post a comment.