Golden Knights forwards appear deeper than ever, building preseason buzz

By Justin Emerson

Sunday, Oct. 3, 2021 | 2 a.m.

A shoulder injury keeping Alex Tuch out of the Golden Knights lineup until the second half of the season was an unexpected blow to the rotation.

But it could turn out to be for the best.

It allowed Vegas to strengthen its forward group with offseason acquisitions, meaning they will be that much more stronger when Tuch rejoins the team in the second half of the season.

“I think our depth scoring is what’s going to help us hopefully get over that last step,” captain Mark Stone said. “We don’t even have Tuchy out there yet and we still feel deep. Once he comes back it’s going to be the best forward group I’ve ever played on.”

If this does play out the way Stone and others think, it would be an impressive feat. The Golden Knights ranked third in the NHL last season with 3.39 goals per game, the best mark in team history.

The Golden Knights have always been able to score. Their 3.19 goals per game all-time ranks seventh in the NHL since 2017, and they are bringing back all their big guns for another season.

Stone, Max Pacioretty and Chandler Stephenson are all back as the top line, and Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson and Reilly Smith will reunite for a fifth season together. Collectively, they form one of the league’s better top-six forward groups, but it’s the third and fourth lines that have piqued interest.

Last year’s third line on opening night was Alex Tuch, Cody Glass and Nicolas Roy, and the fourth line was William Carrier, Tomas Nosek and Ryan Reaves. 

Factoring in for Tuch’s injury, this year’s third and fourth lines essentially traded Glass, Nosek and Reaves for Evgenii Dadonov, Nolan Patrick and a full season of Mattias Janmark after his midseason trade last season. 

That doesn’t include Brett Howden, who appears ticketed for the extra forward role held last year by Keegan Kolesar, who looks to have a spot on the fourth line locked in.

It’s hard not to see that as an upgrade. There will be adjustments as the new players adjust to their roles, and think how much more dangerous it will get once Tuch returns.

“You do need to have that depth to go far, and you need everyone to contribute,” Pacioretty said. “If we go through our pre-scout and you go against a team that you want to shut down a couple of guys, it’s much easier to do if you don’t have someone like Tuch or Dadonov or Patrick on the third line. It just makes it that much harder for teams to match up against us.”

Vegas forwards combined for 154 goals last season, and are returning all but 15 of those. The top seven scorers are all back, and Tomas Nosek is the only forward who scored more than five goals who will not be on this year’s team. Vegas’ new additions more than make up for that — Dadonov, Patrick and Janmark (counting only his pre-Vegas goals) are adding 27 goals to that group.

The advanced stats agree it’s not just goals. 

Vegas’ departing regular forwards of Nosek, Glass and Reaves combined to be worth minus-2.9 Goals Above Replacement (GAR), according to Evolving Hockey’s model. Dadonov, Patrick and pre-Vegas Janmark were worth minus-0.7 GAR, which doesn’t sound great, but is a net improvement of 2.2 GAR or about the value Roy or Zach Whitecloud provided.

“As advertised,” coach Pete DeBoer said of his early impressions of the forwards. “When everyone’s healthy we’re going to have some really tough decisions to make on who’s dressing that night. I think guys at this level can count and they know that. We’re hoping to see everybody’s best here over the next two weeks before we get going.”

And all this is about the forwards. Vegas’ 36 goals by defensemen led the NHL, so if the forward group improves it’s possible the Golden Knights have the best offense in the league. It’s partly why the players are so excited to get going, and how excited they are to fill opposing nets all season long.