Vegas Golden Knights center William Karlsson (71) skates during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the San Jose Sharks at T-Mobile Arena Tuesday, March 1, 2022.
Sunday, May 29, 2022 | 2 a.m.
Related Content
Center William Karlsson might stand to gain the most from whomever the new Golden Knights coach is.
The player who scored 43 goals in 2017-18 was a distant memory in the two and a half years under Pete DeBoer, who was fired earlier in the month after Vegas missed the playoffs for the first time in the franchise’s five -year history.
Karlsson is not oblivious to the realization that he missed the net more than he should have this year, as his 12 goals and 35 points were the fewest in his five years with the Golden Knights.
“Not great. I didn’t produce like I wanted to,” Karlsson said at the end of the season. “I think that’s the biggest knock on my game.”
The Golden Knights don’t have to worry about Karlsson defensively. The work in his zone is still among the best in the Vegas organization. His 44 takeaways were second most among forwards (trailing Mark Stone, who had 56 in 37 games) in only 67 games played.
Karlsson has also improved in the faceoff circle, winning more than 51% of his draws after finishing below 50% his first two seasons with Vegas.
It’s the offense that — deserving or not — has drawn criticism. The scoring has gone down, as expected, but it took a sharp decline under DeBoer with 86 points in 137 games, compared to the 168 points in 213 games under Gerard Gallant.
It’s evident there’s still value to Karlsson’s game. He started to turn a corner in the final 10 games, scoring nine points in those contests.
But for an 82-game season, Karlsson needs to be better, especially when comparing his output to other similarly paid forwards.
Karlsson’s 35 points were the seventh fewest among forwards in that average annual value range of $5.9 million and $6.5 million.
Other players in that range include Nathan MacKinnon, Sasha Barkov, Jonathan Huberdeau and Brad Marchand. Karlsson doesn’t necessarily need to be playing at their level. Getting back to that 50- to 60-point level occupied by Brayden Schenn, Brock Nelson and Taylor Hall, however, is a reasonable expectation.
“I think the execution, mostly,” said Karlsson on why he thinks his game took a dip this season. “I had some chances … but the execution wasn’t there.”
The Golden Knights have a myriad of decisions to make this summer, starting with finding their third coach in six seasons, and then figuring out who stays and who goes on this salary cap-strapped roster.
Karlsson, by unpopular directive, is one of those candidates the Golden Knights might move on from this offseason. He has five years remaining at a cap hit of $5.9 million on his eight-year deal signed in 2019.
Given that Karlsson has a modified no-trade clause, the options for moving him are likely not limited by salary cap constraints. But the chances of Karlsson being moved are slim compared to the other possibilities for the Golden Knights (Evgenii Dadonov, Laurent Brossoit).
The center position remains the Golden Knights’ strongest after the acquisition of Jack Eichel and the emergence of Chandler Stephenson and Nicolas Roy. Karlsson isn’t a weak link in that chain, but the dynamic of that forward group changes when all four centers have that scoring potential.
Whomever is next to lead the Golden Knights will have the talent at their disposal. Getting Karlsson back to his old self would be a bonus.
“We have everything to prove,” Karlsson said. “I think everyone feels that we are a good enough team to first make the playoffs, and then compete for the Cup. I feel very hungry, and I think a lot of the guys feel the same, and we want to go out and prove next year that this was just a lesson learned.”
Danny Webster can be reached at 702-259-8814 or [email protected]. Follow Danny on Twitter at twitter.com/DannyWebster21.
