Halloween costumes and team dinners: How Golden Knights foster chemistry

By Case Keefer (contact)

Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2018 | 2 a.m.

Nick Holden knew the showgirl costume he sported to the Vegas Golden Knights’ Halloween party over the weekend would shock his teammates.

What the defenseman didn’t expect, however, was that he would be equally surprised by the outfits of everyone on the roster.

“This is the first team I’ve been on that everybody put in an effort,” Holden said.

A new addition to the Golden Knights this season, Holden has concluded that everything he heard about the team when signing as a free agent was true — they’re an incredibly tight-knit bunch.

Golden Knights’ players often referenced camaraderie as an underrated aspect of their record-breaking expansion season last year. Despite some roster reshaping in the offseason, it appears Vegas has maintained the same atmosphere.

The Golden Knights have won three straight going into their second Pacific Division contest of the season at 7 p.m. tonight against the Vancouver Canucks at T-Mobile Arena. They say the way the way they continue to mesh is no small factor in the success.

“The guys like each other,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “Our team has no issues with anything. There are no big egos. They just come to have fun and enjoy each other.”

The attitude is apparent every day in practice, where the closest thing to altercation is good-natured trash talk from leading scorer Jonathan Marchessault on the ice or the infamous hijinks of goalie Marc-Andre Fleury in the locker room. Fans filling City National Arena know to look toward Marchessault if they hear a voice tormenting the goalies; players seek out Fleury if anything with their gear is awry.

It’s made for a culture that both Shea Theodore and Alex Tuch have cited as a driving force for recently signing long-term contracts.

“You get chirped here and there but I love it,” Theodore said. “It really makes me feel at home … I don’t think anyone takes any sort of words the wrong way and that’s a big importance of our team.”

Theodore can rest easy knowing he’s no longer the top target. Even Gallant marveled at the relentless needling Theodore received after he missed most of training camp and signed a 7-year, $36.4 million contract, but the barbs have now shifted to Tuch and his new 8-year, $38 million extension.

The roasting of Tuch, who hasn’t played yet this season with an apparent ankle injury but may return to the lineup tonight, may have begun even before the ink dried.

“I’ve been getting razzed, and I expect nothing less,” he said. “That’s nothing new. First time anyone signs a deal like that, first thing anyone texts in the group message is, ‘Alright, team dinner.’”

Tuch is holding out on staging his official contract dinner until after Marchessault and Theodore supply their own, but he’s confident that will come soon. In the meantime, he did pick up the tab for a celebratory dinner with Theodore, Cody Eakin and their significant others last Friday.

He called the Golden Knights as a whole “the best group” he’s been around. Most teams will rave about their chemistry, but Gallant agreed with Tuch and said there was something special with the Golden Knights.

And there was always a concerted effort to make it that way, according to Gallant.

“We talked about it from the day of the expansion draft: We want good people on our team, and that’s what we got,” Gallant said.

And, based on reports out of this weekend, good dressers. The Halloween get-together — the team had to celebrate early since they’ll be on a road trip to Nashville and St. Louis during the actual holiday — was still the hot topic in the locker room on Tuesday.

All the costumes drew rave reviews, but the consensus was that the best-dressed awards went to Fleury and his wife, Veronique, for their backwoods look, and defenseman Deryk Engelland and his wife, Melissa, for their KISS get-up.

Oh, and of course, Holden.

“He hit a home run,” Tuch said. “It was unbelievable. I walked in, and first thing I saw was his behind in those tight shorts and I was like, ‘Oh my God, what did I just see?’”

“He’s been here for a little over a month, two months and moves right into our locker room and fits right in.”

Holden has played for six franchises over his eight-year NHL career, so he has a lot of comparison points when it comes to teams’ closeness. He said the party was another example of why the Golden Knights are ahead of the pack.

“Guys here like to have fun with each other,” Holden said. “It’s just nice when everyone enjoys themselves and aren’t like, ‘Oh God, I’ve got to go to the party.’”

Case Keefer can be reached at 702-948-2790 or [email protected]. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.