Knight time: What to watch for as Vegas gets ready for new season

The Realm is up and running once again.

It will be a while before the Vegas Golden Knights swing the gates open to the Fortress — their first regular season game isn’t until Oct. 9 against the Colorado Avalanche at T-Mobile Arena — but they’ve officially begun preparations.

Rookies reported to training camp on Sept. 12 at City National Arena, and veterans followed a week later.

There’s more uncertainty than usual with the franchise considering it’s sporting a new-look roster two years removed from winning the Stanley Cup. Here are five pressing questions to watch during training camp:

How does the offense fill the Jonathan Marchessault-shaped gap?

The headline of the offseason was the Golden Knights choosing not to re-sign its leading scorer and Original Misfit Marchessault.

General manager Kelly McCrimmon said Marchessault’s hard-line stance of landing a five-year extension was “too long” for the Golden Knights. Marchessault ended up getting a five-year, $27.5 million contract with the Nashville Predators.

He earned the contract he wanted with a career year last season where he totaled 69 points in 82 games, leading the Golden Knights on offense.

Wiping a player with those kinds of numbers off the roster is set to leave a substantial impact, not to mention someone who had been with the team since its expansion draft and came to define much of its identity.

The Golden Knights also passed on resigning Chandler Stephenson (51 points) and Michael Amadio (27 points). While Vegas did sign five skaters in free agency, only one, Victor Olofsson, played significant minutes in the NHL last season with 15 points in 51 games for the Buffalo Sabres.

Will Tomáš Hertl mesh with this offense?

The biggest coup of last year’s trade deadline will carry the heaviest burden to keep the offense afloat.

Hertl flashed signs of what made him such a celebrated acquisition when McCrimmon pried him from the divisional rival San Jose Sharks in the regular season, but his performance was choppier in the playoffs.

He had just one goal in the seven-game first-round loss to the Dallas Stars. The Golden Knights are going to need more out of a player whom they are now committed to for the next six years with an $8.1 million annual cap hit.

Hertl suggested he struggled to gel with the team in such a short time frame, but should have more opportunity now at training camp.

He has the ability as he had long been one of the Sharks’ biggest offensive producers with an average of 48 points over the last five seasons. The Golden Knights may need even more out of the 30-year-old if they want him to be the primary player to fill the void left by Marchessault and Stephenson.

Can a Hill/Samsonov goaltending tandem prove as effective as Hill/Thompson did?

Adin Hill and Logan Thompson shared duties in net in each of the last two seasons to great success.

Last year, they had nearly identical save percentages of .909% (Hill) and .908% (Thompson) and goals-against averages of 2.71 (Hill) and 2.70 (Thompson).

Hill emerged as the primary option coach Bruce Cassidy trusted the most, but Thompson played 21 more games over the last two regular seasons in part because of injuries to the former.

Thompson requested a trade this offseason and was dealt to the Washington Capitals in exchange for a third-round draft pick, and the Golden Knights picked up Ilya Samsonov on a one-year contract in free agency.

Can Samsonov prove as reliable as Thompson and fill in for potentially long stretches without a dip Vegas’ goaltending quality? He’s looked capable in the past but is coming off a rough stint with the Toronto Maple Leafs. He had a poor .890 save percentage and a 3.13 goals-against average last season, seeing his numbers dip from .919 and 2.23, respectively, the year before.

There’s a lot of pressure for Samsonov to regain his form with the Golden Knights.

Is Pavel Dorofeyev ready to become a consistent contributor?

The 23-year-old, former third-round pick flashed high-level offensive ability a year ago but needs to round out the rest of his game to match. After putting up 13 goals and 11 assists in 47 games during the regular season, Dorofeyev was only active for one playoff game and got seven minutes of ice time.

Vegas sees Dorofeyev as a substantial part of its plans going forward and signed him to a two-year, $3.67 million extension this offseason. But the team also needs him to get stronger and become a more capable defender.

He should have ample chances this year. There will be no more splitting time between the NHL with Vegas and the AHL in Henderson like at the beginning of last year.

Dorofeyev is a player who can emerge as a solution to fill out the gaps left by the departing free agents and lock himself into a full-time, second-line role if he continues to improve.

How long does the Stanley Cup window remain open?

The Golden Knights have lived a charmed existence in being a contender ever since they became a team, reaching a Stanley Cup Final in their first year and winning it all in 2023.

Even in the lone year they missed the playoffs, 2022, it was more because of injuries. There was a common knowledge that a potential championship core remained in place.

That’s more of question than ever before heading into the 2024-2025 season. What is the shelf life of the Golden Knights’ championship aspirations?

Vegas still has key players like Hill, Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, Alex Pietrangelo and William Karlsson, but how long will that combination work at the top level? Both Pietrangelo and Stone are in their mid-30s — when players typically start to decline.

The Golden Knights’ prospect pipeline isn’t as loaded as most other franchises after near-annual aggression in the trade market to bring in more proven veterans, even if only just as rentals.

The relative lack of talent was visible last year with the Henderson Silver Knights, which went 28-36 and finished in eighth place in the AHL’s Pacific Division to miss the playoffs.

Some younger gems could be unearthed this year, but it’s going to take time before they can be counted on to contribute to a championship run.

The window looks cracked for this team to win another Stanley Cup, and it might not be as wide open as Vegas fans have become accustomed to.

This story appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.