{"id":444883,"date":"2024-07-08T12:30:11","date_gmt":"2024-07-08T16:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=444883"},"modified":"2024-07-08T11:27:08","modified_gmt":"2024-07-08T15:27:08","slug":"a-deep-dive-into-the-vgk-roster-one-week-into-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2024\/07\/08\/a-deep-dive-into-the-vgk-roster-one-week-into-free-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"A Deep Dive into the Golden Knights Roster One Week Into Free Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is an understandable sense of unease among Vegas Golden Knights fans regarding the roster after the first week of free agency. The team lost two of their top six all-time in goals and assists within the span of a few hours. To settle the unease, let’s take a look at the roster as it’s currently constructed. See where things stand before the hockey gods get restless and start shaking things around again.<\/span><\/p>\n

Diving into the Current Vegas Golden Knights Roster<\/h2>\n

Still (Mostly) Solid Like Vibranium Up the Middle<\/h3>\n

C: Jack Eichel<\/a><\/span>
\n<\/span> \u00a0 \u00a0 Tomas Hertl<\/a>
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 William Karlsson<\/a>
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 Nicolas Roy<\/a>
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 Mason Morelli<\/a>
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 Tanner Laczynski<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The centre position has been either solid or elite level three lines deep for the Golden Knights. If healthy, Jack Eichel<\/a> and William Karlsson<\/a> are close to a shoo-in to score 30 goals. With Tomas Hertl<\/a> heading into his first full season as the number two centre, there probably won\u2019t be a big drop on offence. His bad +\/- rating (an average -16 since 2019-20) sticks out like a sore thumb, something Bruce Cassidy<\/a> and his staff are keeping an eye on. That and whether his disappearing act after Game One of the Dallas Stars<\/a> series was a blip or a bad omen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Nicolas Roy<\/a> is an interesting wild card as the number four centre. He’s the least flashy one with only 110 points combined (42 goals, 68 assists) since the 2021-2022 season. But the 245 hits he posted in that same time frame shows his crucial value toward another deep playoff run for the VGK. Especially as more teams go for forwards with more grit.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Wings Remain Wild, Like the Buffalo<\/b><\/h3>\n

RW: Alexander Holtz<\/a>
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Mark Stone<\/a>
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Brendan Brisson<\/a>
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Keegan Kolesar<\/a>
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Grigori Denisenko<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

LW: Ivan Barbashev<\/a>
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Pavel Dorofeyev<\/a>
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Victor Olofsson<\/a>
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Brett Howden<\/a>
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Zach Aston-Reese<\/a>
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Jonas Rondbjerg<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Bad Dad joke aside, where the centres could be defined as solid, there is a fount of potential that permeates the wingers on both sides. Pavel Dorofeyev<\/a> is a prime example of this. He scored 13 goals last season in just as much time on ice (13:15), mostly on the third line. A full season on a line with someone who wasn\u2019t snakebit in net- 20-25 goals seems well in reach for him this season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s also Victor Olofsson<\/a>, who signed a one-year deal<\/a> a few days ago along with Zach Aston-Reese<\/a>. His +\/- is just as not great as Hertl\u2019s (-15 on average career). Also, he fell off the map scoring wise after the Holidays last season (outside of a three goal blip in March). But he nearly scored 30 goals the season beforehand, and is now playing with a former teammate\u2026where does that sound familiar<\/a>?<\/span><\/p>\n

Cracks in the Blueline, but with Glimpses of Sunlight Peering on the Horizon<\/h3>\n

D: Noah Hanifin<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Alex Pietrangelo<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Brayden McNabb<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Shea Theodore<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Nicolas Hague<\/a> \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Zach Whitecloud<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ben Hutton<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Kaedan Korczak<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Christoffer Sedoff \u00a0 \u00a0 Dysin Mayo<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

There was a lot to worry about when it came to the blueline for the VGK this past season. They were 11th in goals against (243), 16th in PK% (79.3%). Individually, there was a dip in on-ice production from far too many players for a team with Stanley Cup dreams. Especially from the number one defenceman Alex Pietrangelo<\/a> who scored under 10 goals for the first time since coming to Vegas in 2020. A return to a top 10 operation defensively is both needed for the ultimate goal, and not out of the question for this team.<\/span><\/p>\n

Brayden McNabb<\/a> is turning into a brilliant defenceman so far. Noah Hanifin<\/a> is coming onto the first full season of his big 8-year deal, with all the skills<\/a> he showed at times with the Calgary Flames<\/a>. And there\u2019s solid youth like Kaeden Korczak who has the chance this season to become a really good bedrock-type D-man. Also, there’s the anecdotal assumption that Theodore and Pietrangelo won\u2019t be as bad as they were\u2026right?<\/span><\/p>\n

A Dependable Goaltending Tandem Changes Into Something\u2026Hopefully About the Same<\/h3>\n

G: Adin Hill<\/a>
\n<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Ilya Samsonov<\/a><\/span>
\nJesper Vikman
\nAkira Schmid<\/span><\/p>\n

There\u2019s not much to worry about Adin Hill<\/a> at this point heading into the new season. Even with the dip in GAA and SV% last season, on average, it wasn\u2019t far from what he\u2019s posted as a goalie. The only worry is how he’ll react to being given the proverbial keys to the net. Given his postseason resume, there\u2019s enough to hang hope it\u2019ll end well for the VGK. As for the number two and newest denizen<\/a> of the Vegas Golden Knights, Ilya Samsonov<\/a>\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

There’s no way to definitely predict what’ll happen because much of this will lie in the Russian netminder\u2019s mental state. He\u2019s in a good place? He\u2019s likely a strong candidate for the Masterton Trophy. Also, the team is going to be much more even defensively with the rest of the Pacific Division and the Western Conference. If he’s not? There’s Jesper Vikman and Akira Schmid. Or Jesper Vikman and Akira Schmid<\/a> become the Jeremy Swayman<\/a> and Linus Ullmark<\/a> of Henderson.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Main Photo Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is an understandable sense of unease among Vegas Golden Knights fans regarding the roster after the first week of free agency. The team lost two of their top six all-time in goals and assists within the span of a few hours. To settle the unease, let’s take a look at the roster as it’s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5197,"featured_media":445010,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[807,2,4547,4548],"tags":[5850],"class_list":["post-444883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vegas-golden-knights","category-featured","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-vegas-golden-knights-analysis"],"modified_by":"Alec Roberson","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5197"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=444883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/444883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/445010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=444883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=444883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=444883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}