From puck luck to points: What the Golden Knights want for Christmas

By Justin Emerson

Friday, Nov. 23, 2018 | 2 a.m.

Black Friday shopping is underway. And if you drew the Golden Knights as your Secret Santa, here’s a handy guide for what they might need most this holiday season.

William Karlsson: A long-term contract

Just about every core Golden Knight is signed beyond this season, with one notable exception. Karlsson was third in the NHL in goals last season but is currently playing under a one-year contract before becoming a restricted free agent this summer. The question is, what would a long-term deal look like?

No player has ever scored single-digit goals in two full seasons before scoring more than 40, so the situation in unprecedented. Was Karlsson’s season a one-off or what he is capable of every year?

He is making $5.25 million this season, coming off a year in which he blew by his career-highs with 43 goals and 35 assists for 78 points. The scoring has dipped this year to just five goals, but his 12 assists put him on pace for 63 points this year.

The Golden Knights are projected to have $7.3 million in cap space next season, but that could fluctuate depending on next year’s cap. Vegas also has Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, Ryan Carpenter, Deryk Engelland, Brad Hunt, Tomas Hyka, Oscar Lindberg, Tomas Nosek and Malcolm Subban in need of new deals.

Vegas was in the same situation last year and worked out his one-year deal. The two sides could also do the same again this year, but with unrestricted free agency looming in the summer of 2020, time could be running out.

Gerard Gallant: Puck luck

The coach loves talking about getting puck luck, and the Golden Knights have had very little of it. Vegas has averaged 33.0 shots on goal a game, sixth in the league, and has allowed 26.8 shots on goal per game, second-best in the league. That difference is third-best in the league, and both teams ahead of the Golden Knights have more points in the standings.

Digging a little deeper, the Golden Knights average 50.3 five-on-five shot attempts per game, which includes shots that are blocked or miss the net, third-best in the league. They’re allowing 40.0 shot attempts per game, which is tied for best in the league. The 55.7 shot-attempt percentage is third-best in the league, and no team had that possession number all of last season.

In layman’s terms, the Golden Knights are shooting way more than they are being shot on at even strength. With a penalty-kill number (81.4) above average, you can point to Vegas' below-average power play (17.3) as a reason for the lack of scoring. But you can you also look at simple dumb luck as a factor in the Golden Knights’ slow start.

George McPhee: A healthy center

Karlsson and Cody Eakin have been fabulous this year. Perhaps you’ll cut Bellemare a break with six points as the fourth-line center. But that third-line center spot is certainly concerning: Carpenter has no goals and three assists in 21 games.

But Carpenter was not supposed to take important center shifts.

Prized free agent acquisition Paul Stastny played only three games before suffering a lower-body injury, and Erik Haula skated in 15 before his knee injury put him out on month-to-month status. Haula had 55 points for the Golden Knights last year, and Stastny had 53 points for St. Louis and Winnipeg last year.

Even the return of one of them could allow Carpenter to line up with Karlsson, Eakin and Bellemare up the middle and provide a more balanced and deeper team.

Vegas defensmen: A few more points

It’s hard to believe, but Engelland has yet to record a goal or assist this season. And before he recorded an assist in Wednesday's 3-2 overtime win in Arizona, no player in the NHL had gone as many games as Brayden McNabb's 22 without a point.

There are four players on the Vegas roster who have a goose egg in the point column: Engelland (17 games), Lindberg (8), Stastny (3) and Nate Schmidt (3).

Engelland is tied for the fifth-most games in the league played without a point.

Shea Theodore leads all Vegas blueliners with 11 points (two goals, nine assists)

Colin Miller has nine assists, Nick Holden has three goals and five assists, Brad Hunt has two goals and three assists, and Jon Merrill has two assists.