Vegas GM McPhee happy with team’s depth, ‘loves the way Eakin has stepped up’

By Justin Emerson

Monday, Dec. 17, 2018 | 2 a.m.

The Golden Knights got Paul Stastny back into the lineup this weekend. They withstood a 20-game suspension from Nate Schmidt. Erik Haula is out for the foreseeable future and Max Pacioretty and Alex Tuch each missed time this year with injuries.

And yet the Golden Knights are still alive in the hunt for postseason hockey. The team that had no players a year and a half ago has built itself some enviable depth.

“The bottom line is you look for growth from other players,” general manager George McPhee said. “You want to rely on your own guys and fill the holes with your own guys and give them those chances. We like the way things are going.”

McPhee mentioned Cody Eakin, Tomas Nosek and Tuch specifically as players who have stepped up when the team needed them. Nosek has held down the fort at third-line center and has been a key member of Vegas’ lauded penalty kill, and has eight points in 32 games on the way to a career-high in games played.

Tuch turned out 37 points last season in his first full NHL campaign and is poised to blow by that in 2018-19, with 25 in 27 games.

Eakin, meanwhile, has been the gem of the team’s depth.

The 27-year-old was serviceable last year, with 11 goals and 27 points in 80 games, but this year he has been tremendous. He has already matched his goal total from last year (and did it in his 26th game), but his career-high of 19 looks to be in reach too.

“Guys are ready to step up when they need to, and they’ve been doing a good job,” Eakin said. “We found some chemistry with the line and we’ve been skating well and doing the little things. Just maintain that.”

When the Golden Knights needed him most is when he was at his best. Haula left the Nov. 6 game in Toronto, leaving the Golden Knights without a second-line center for a “month-to-month” period of time. Eakin slotted in and recorded assists in the next two games, as well as scoring eight goals since, including the game in Toronto.

“We love the way Eakin has stepped up and played the second-line center role extremely well,” McPhee said. “We always believed he was capable of doing that and he’s done a good job.”

Twelve players last season skated in every game and the Golden Knights rode the stability to the Stanley Cup Final. This year, the Golden Knights weathered the storm of seemingly everyone missing at once, and now as players return from suspension and injury, Vegas looks dangerous once again.

“We’ve got a lot of good players here and I think guys have been doing a good job of stepping up no matter who comes into the lineup,” defenseman Shea Theodore said. “I think that’s just one of our strong suits as a team.”