Knights watch: Expect another active offseason from Vegas

By Case Keefer (contact)

Thursday, July 1, 2021 | 2 a.m.

A common criticism of the Vegas Golden Knights while they thrived during their inaugural regular season four years ago was that their style would never work in the playoffs. Those predictions proved to be wildly wrong, as the team outpaced external expectations and waltzed to the Stanley Cup Final before losing to an uber-talented, in-their-prime Washington Capitals squad.

No one really accuses the Golden Knights of not being built for the postseason anymore, but ironically, the allegation might have more merit now than ever before, considering how the past two years have played out. For the second straight season, the Golden Knights fell in the semifinals to a more physical, defensive-minded team when the Montreal Canadiens eliminated them in six games.

The past two seasons’ playoff losses to Montreal and Dallas were painful and somewhat shocking, but some perspective is necessary before bashing Vegas too much for falling short. The Golden Knights have put together two great seasons in a row—collectively better than every team in the NHL apart from Tampa Bay—but not great enough for an organization that was openly on a championship-or-bust quest.

“We’ve made progress. I think we were better than we were a year ago,” coach Pete DeBoer said in his season-ending news conference. “We were better equipped to win tough games in the playoffs than we were a year ago, and we’ve got to keep moving that forward. I love this group. I love this city. I love the environment at the rink, I love the fans and their passion, and I love the group of men. Unfortunately, when you don’t win, that never stays the same.”

Vegas needs to make significant changes this offseason to maximize its Stanley Cup chances going forward. Championship windows are notoriously fragile and prone to shatter before their expected expiration date if a team gets too attached to certain players or too complacent about exploring potential options to upgrade.

Luckily for Vegas fans, those haven’t been significant problems for the Golden Knights. The franchise’s brain trust—President of Hockey Operations George McPhee and general manager Kelly McCrimmon—has consistently displayed the level of aggressiveness, and callousness, required to succeed in the modern-day NHL. And no one in the organization seems to believe they will suddenly soften heading into this offseason.

“We can’t take a step back; we can’t take things for granted,” captain Mark Stone said. “There are so many teams out there that would love to be in our situation, and they’re trying to fight and play hard to get into our situation. I’m excited for next year. I know they’re going to do everything they can to make this team better.”

Stone has taken responsibility for the team’s latest premature exit, and it wasn’t some hollow gesture or a way to take the heat off his teammates. He deserves significant blame for failing to register a single point—leading a troubling trend that has seen the Golden Knights fall apart offensively when it matters most for two straight seasons.

Still, the 29-year-old Stone is the closest thing the Golden Knights have to a superstar, and perhaps the only absolute lock to return to the roster next season. Given the way DeBoer likes to structure his teams with offensive defensemen, Shea Theodore and Alex Pietrangelo are also pretty certain to be back.

The Golden Knights have only three unrestricted free agents: defenseman Alec Martinez, forward Tomas Nosek and forward Mattias Janmark. Nearly everyone else on the roster has been the subject of trade rumors at one point or another. The franchise would likely move anyone in the right deal or to create requisite cap space for a splashy signing.

Speaking of the cap, the Golden Knights have only $6 million of open space right now, but Vegas has more flexibility than that figure might indicate, largely because of its goalie situation.

The biggest domino for the Golden Knights will be deciding whether to go forward with Marc-André Fleury, who’ll get paid $7 million next season, or Robin Lehner, who’ll cost $5 million. Choosing the 36-year-old Fleury would have sounded outrageous a year ago, but he’s now coming off a career year and headed into the final season of his contract.

Fleury has also rehabilitated his trade value—which is further increased by his expiring deal—but he has said he doesn’t want to be traded. Lehner, meanwhile, is on a relatively cheap deal that runs four more years and might be attractive to suitors, but he sounds like he’s found a long-sought home in Vegas.

There’s some talk that the Golden Knights could keep both goalies again, but DeBoer alluded to next season being “a different story” without the COVID-forced condensed schedule the team used to justify its uncommon goaltending payout this year. Either Fleury’s or Lehner’s feelings will likely get hurt, but there’s no way around that if Vegas wants to get better.

That’s especially true if the Golden Knights hope to get involved with the biggest-name players who might be available, and history indicates they do. Former No. 1 overall pick Jack Eichel (currently with Buffalo), onetime Hart Trophy winner Taylor Hall (Boston) and power-play specialist Patrik Laine (Columbus) could all be playing for new teams next season.

Any of those three players, and probably several other options, might help solve the offensive problems that have led to the Golden Knights’ untimely demise the past two years. It would require something of a roster makeover, but the Golden Knights haven’t shied away from that in the past and shouldn’t get gun-shy about doing so now. Passivity cost Vegas on the ice, and with a championship in sight, this team can’t afford a similarly languid attack in the offseason.

“You tweak from both a coaching point of view and personnel point of view to make yourself better,” DeBoer said. “You decide the guys you can win with and the guys you can move on from and keep the process moving forward.”

This story appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.