Three key questions facing Golden Knights headed into the offseason

By Justin Emerson

Monday, June 28, 2021 | 2 a.m.

Last offseason, they signed Alex Pietrangelo. The one before that was consumed by clearing cap space in the aftermath of the Mark Stone trade that had just happened a few months earlier. Max Pacioretty came aboard three years ago.

The Vegas Golden Knights have never had a boring offseason, and this summer doesn’t look like it will break the streak. Much of the team is under contract for next season with just three regulars eligible for unrestricted free agency and no restricted free agents.

But that doesn’t mean the same team is coming back.

The Golden Knights were two wins away from the Stanley Cup Final, and if this front office has demonstrated anything in the past, it’s that it will do whatever it thinks is necessary to improve the team’s chances of getting there next year.

So what do they need to do? The Golden Knights will almost surely be competitive next season, but before the puck drops on next season, they’ll need to answer a few key questions.

Will the goalie tandem stay together?

The Golden Knights had one of the best goaltending tandems in the NHL last season and took home the Jennings Trophy for fewest goals scored against during the regular season because of it. Marc-Andre Fleury and Robin Lehner combined to lead the Golden Knights to best goals-against average in the league, and Fleury is a finalist for the Vezina Trophy, which will be announced Tuesday.

That kind of talent comes with a hefty price tag. They combine for a $12 million hit against the cap with Fleury accounting for $7 million next season and Lehner $5 million. That’s the second-highest total in the league.

There’s a strong argument that the salary of either one of them would make more sense elsewhere.

It would require a trade for either not to return. While Fleury turned in perhaps the best season of his career, he is 36 years old, makes more money than Lehner and would be easier to move with an expiring contract.

Lehner has four years remaining on a deal he signed before last season.

“Those are all things that have to be discussed going into the offseason and into next year,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “We’ll get to that in due course.”

Moving one of them is almost a requirement if the Golden Knights were to make a big splash in the trade market or free agency, as they otherwise have only about $6 million in cap space and a few roster spots to fill.

They have their own free agents — Alec Martinez, Tomas Nosek and Mattias Janmark — to worry about, before even getting into the big names that have become a staple of the team’s strategy, players like Buffalo’s Jack Eichel or Columbus’ Patrik Laine.

The two goalies, meanwhile, seem happy with their set-up. Lehner has been part of a tandem nearly his entire career and said playing with Fleury is a “privilege.” The two bonded over the year, Lehner said, to the point that Fleury’s kids sent him a good-luck piece of artwork before his Game 6 start against Montreal.

Maybe $12 million is too much to spend on goalies, but it’s worth noting that the only team that spends more is the team that beat Vegas and is playing in the Stanley Cup Final. Maybe $5 million or $7 million can get Vegas the scoring threat it needs to get over the hump, but the possibility exists the Golden Knights run it back again with two top goalies.

“I can tell you it was obviously an integral part of our success this year in the unique year we were in with the condensed scheduled, the number of games and everything that went on,” coach Pete DeBoer said. “It was obviously a blessing this year, but next year’s a different story. We’re not in those unique circumstances anymore.”

Can the power play improve?

Barring any major changes to the roster, the biggest thing Vegas needs to improve is the power play. The 0-for-15 run in the semifinal series against Montreal was terrible, but it wasn’t good before that either, ranking 22nd in the regular season.

“That’s at the top of the list to fix,” DeBoer said. “We shuffled some things, put a new set of eyes on it this year, and it stumbled again. That’s going to be the priority moving forward.”

There’s no obvious answer for why the power play has struggled, especially considering the firepower it contains. On paper, a unit that runs through players like Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, Alex Pietrangelo and others should be more dangerous.

The Golden Knights tried shifting things around. They bounced Stone, Pacioretty and Alex Tuch to different spots. They attempted to leave out the Misfit Line of William Karlsson, Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith.

But nothing seemed to work.

At times, feeding Alec Martinez for a one-timer was the only effective option and using him as a second defenseman on the first unit in lieu of a fourth forward.

Players like to say how a strong power play can bleed into 5-on-5 play. They mean it in a positive way, but when the power play was as silent as it was, the negativity seeps into other aspects of the game too.

“Especially in the playoffs it’s so hard to create offense you have to rely on your power play to get, if you’re not scoring, to at least get chances, feel the puck,” Pacioretty said. “I feel that it went the opposite way with our group, in fact made guys probably doubt themselves a little bit, lose a little bit of confidence.

“We didn’t make many plays on the power play and I think it had a negative impact on the guys who were out there and the team as a whole with momentum swings. So we have to figure it out.”

Whether it’s acquiring a power-play specialist in the offseason or handing the keys to the system from one coach to another, the Golden Knights’ power play is the biggest reason they’re not prepping for a Stanley Cup Final game. It hasn’t been good two playoffs in a row now, and something Vegas needs to fix this offseason.

How do the younger players fit in?

DeBoer started his first offseason news conference by praising the emergence of the Golden Knights’ younger players like Zach Whitecloud, Nicolas Hague and Nicolas Roy, all of whom established themselves as NHL regulars this season.

He also fired a warning shot to other younger players in the system, saying that high hopes for talented players won’t automatically translate to a roster spot.

“For a young franchise, it’s important to keep infusing that youth. At the same time it can’t be not earned, and it can’t be at the detriment of the group not winning a Stanley Cup,” DeBoer said. “They have to be able to pull their weight. That’s going to be the challenge for those young guys.”

Without mentioning anyone by name, DeBoer’s comment raised speculation about Cody Glass’ future. The Golden Knights’ first-ever draft pick has yet to carve out a regular spot in the lineup with Vegas, playing in just under half the regular season games before a demotion to the AHL in March. He played with the Silver Knights in the postseason and appeared in one NHL playoff game before a relegation to the taxi squad.

His absence in the NHL was highlighted by the player Vegas selected seven picks later in 2017. Nick Suzuki was terrific for the Canadiens in the series against the Golden Knights and fulfilled the promise of an early first-rounder.

Considering Glass wasn’t even skating with the team during the third round, it’s fair to ask if the Golden Knights still see him as a part of their future though McCrimmon said he was.

“I think it’s important we still believe in him and sometimes these things take more time,” McCrimmon said. “There’s a long list of players that have been a little later finding their way and we still expect that Cody is going to do that.”

The Golden Knights have some younger players expected to be part of next year’s lineup, most notably 2019 first-rounder Peyton Krebs, who appeared in four regular season games before a fractured jaw ended his season. It’s possible he would have played in the postseason had he not been injured, but the 20-year-old will get every chance to break camp with the big club next season. With how close Vegas is expected to be against the salary cap next year, having young players on inexpensive entry-level contracts will be a major key.