The Golden Knights held their final media availability of the season today, a day commonly known as locker room cleanout day. Today’s was a bit different than the norm though due to the ongoing pandemic as all interviews were conducted on Zoom. That left us without many of the incredibly truthful comments we are used to on locker cleanout day, but there was plenty to chew on nonetheless.
Kelly McCrimmon on Goalie deployment in playoffs
Good question and an obvious one I expected would come up today. Marc-Andre Fleury has been the face of the franchise and is a tremendous goalie and an even better person. He’s led our team from its inception. I was very transparent at the Trade Deadline why we added Robin Lehner. I think I was real clear about that without going through it again. Interestingly at that time, it was management and the pro staff that felt the strongest about improving our goaltending. If anything happened with Marc-Andre, we felt we had done a really good of building our team we liked a lot of things about our team but we felt we were at risk. Which we were of course trying to minimize.
The first seven games, the only seven games after the trade deadline, Peter rotated the goalies, and who’s to say if we had finished the regular season and the playoffs began in April like they ordinarily would, I don’t know what would have happened. But as a manager your last chance to improve your team is at the trade deadline. When you look at the 10 days leading up to the Deadline it was a trade for Alec Martinez who was a great contributor to our team. We added Nick Cousins right at the deadline to give us more depth at forward and the morning of the deadline we of course added Robin. From there, you hand the team to the coaches and they coach the team. I don’t think it’s wise or healthy to have management making lineup decisions, I don’t think that’s how it works in the NHL. I don’t think it’s how it should work.
Peter felt really confident after we went through Phase 2 and Phase 3 that Robin was the guy that was going to give us the best chance to win. That’s his job. That’s his job. Was it unfortunate for Marc-Andre Fleury and his situation, it really was. To have empathy for him and how that played out I really do.
But it was not, as some are suggesting, it was not the master plan, in fact Pete was not even that interested in us acquiring a goalie at the deadline. It was more management and our pro scouting staff that felt real strongly about it. That’s how it played out and I support Peter fully. He’s our head coach and he makes those decisions. I know exactly what his reasons are for picking his lineup any night that we play. It’s about winning and icing the lineup that you feel gives you the best chance to win. I respect those decisions and that’s the history of the motivation behind the deal and what happened along the way. -Kelly McCrimmon
McCrimmon says Lehner did deny the contract report and that they have been consistent in that they do not talk contracts until they are done.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
"We don't know what the season is going to look like and we're hopeful it'll be December but I don't think anyone has that question." -McCrimmon
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
McCrimmon says they don't have the answers to the decision as to what they are going to do at the goaltender position in the offseason (well, they aren't sharing them with the media) but that it's definitely the first order of business in this offseason.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
"As you saw and it happens in the playoffs there's going to be disatractions. Within our team, our players and coaches handled this extremely well. My relationship with Marc-Andre is very good. It was a non-issue for our players." -McCrimmon on #Backstabbed
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
McCrimmon went out of his way to praise Deryk Engelland for his professionalism in handling the loss of his starting job. Said he never stopped mentoring guys on the taxi squad.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
McCrimmon went out of his way to praise Deryk Engelland for his professionalism in handling the loss of his starting job. Said he never stopped mentoring guys on the taxi squad.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
Pete DeBoer went pretty in-depth on the goalie decisions… "I'll give you my insight as frank as I can be. When we traded for Robin, when you look at the stats over the previous two years, he has been an elite goalie in the league in two different situations…
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
"I've been handed the keys to a Porsche here and I need to figure out how to get it across the finish line in 1st place." -DeBoer
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
"I don't believe it's a personnel thing." -DeBoer https://t.co/rbGQH6sXnY
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
DeBoer confirms that there will be a captain the next time the Golden Knights hit the ice.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
Shea Theodore says anything short of winning the Cup is a failure for this group. "We just have to regroup and come back next year with a better mentality."
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
Stastny says he expects the next season to start a little later than most people are projecting. Says he thinks it's possible they won't even get underway until early 2021.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
"It does feel a little bit like a wasted opportunity." -Reilly Smith
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
"You're going to need a little luck along the road and in those last two series it felt like we just didn't get any of it." -Reilly Smith
He also said you need a little "magic" and they had it the first year but haven't the last two.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
Pacioretty says he battled through a number of injuries during the playoffs. Says he's frustrated he got the first one in training camp and it led to a "contagious string" of injuries the rest of the time.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
Mark Stone shrugged off the injury. He said it "obviously didn't feel good" to take a puck off his foot but that he was close to 100% when he played in Game 5.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
"That was probably the best team I've ever been on. Deep at every position. I wish I could have done more. I think there's a lot of us that wish we could have done more." -Mark Stone
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
"I've been fortunate to play on some very good teams. If (this one) is not the best team I've ever been on it's certainly right up there." -Alec Martinez
*He's played on TWO Stanley Cup winning teams.*
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
"The kid's an incredible talent. He's easily one of the top defensemen in the league." -Alec Martinez on Shea Theodore
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) September 16, 2020
The Golden Knights have concluded post-season player availability without Marc-Andre Fleury or Robin Lehner speaking.
Kelly McCrimmon will speak later in the afternoon. #VegasBorn
— Jesse Granger (@JesseGranger_) September 16, 2020
More will be added to this page as the interviews continue.
Herby Widmer
Turk was right Pete is a clown.
-He did not take advantage of the fact that he had 2 elite goalies in net
– Did not try to change the momentum
– Kept on playing the same unsucessful style of hockey.
We need a new coach last time De Boer reached the WCF his team was dead last in the following season….
Julie
I was just thinking the exact same thing. DeBoer is a clown. “Elite” goalie….so “elite” that Chicago let him go for Subban! Fans all over Twitter want PDB fired. Those that don’t harp on “he got us to the Western Conference”. We’ll, so did Gallant, and he won it and he got them to the Stanley Cup. Then he got them to to the playoffs the next year. I have never seen such an ignorant and blatantly lying coach. He was “given the keys to a Porsche”…. Yeah and you wrecked it, PDB. I hope Fleury gets what he wants as well as the other players. Get out if PDB stays. Vegas just got San Jose’d.
norm sunday
Gee I’m glad you aren’t mad. Sarcasm . I feel the same way. You have to wonder what Gallant would have done. PDB and McCrimmon both need to go. This team should have won it all but I remember an earlier post by someone who stated the PDB is so hard headed he does not have the ability to change or tweek things on the run as was his history with other teams. George admit you made a mistake with McCrimmon and take the reins back. This team needs a coach that wins and not a narrow minded egomaniac.
Julie
I got it out… 🙂
I think my overall issue is the way people got treated since January. I understand logically things happen, but no explanation on why Gallant was fired (he was surprised), then after it was reported how Dave Prior was lied about, it just snowballed then with Fleury, and that’s bad mojo. They have enough practical issues to contend with. I really believed hockey was different. I hope not all teams’ management act this way.
Tim
OK Herby DeBoer is a clown George and Kelly were clowns to hire him and Bill Foley was a clown to sign off on it. So we have that straightened out. We did not win because we do not have a first and second line center.
Hdbiker7851
No sense getting keys to a Porsche when you don’t get the driving lessons to go with it.. l have Iinvestigated numerous crashes because the individual at the wheel had no clue what was under his foot. Kelly’s speech should be short I have been fired would be appropriate. PDB said nothing and Ken indicated something useful would be said. Elite goalie doesn’t equate to why he was available in the first pla e – just more BS when you can’t speak the truth with fact. Some of the quote where right on but a little late to the party with words like mentally etc.. Frankly l don’t know why they even bothered they should be ashamed of themselves – pretty late to recognize they were mentally etc ready. Ken l know you indicated the ghb goalie situation a sensitive subject that perhaps you might get answers to down the road l am still waiting as many are fir you to dig deeper.
Mistake
I am sure anyone reading the above realizes the were was weren’t mentally ready. A few other typos so please excuse I noticed after the fact
Hdbiker7851
Just looked over the unrestricted and restricted list shouldn’t take long g to par that down. Mostly non’keepers. They could easily add a few names to either list and loose little.
Julie
It’s like buying cattle, isn’t, HD? I mean the list of stats, and what you get for X amount of money?
Esteban Tornado
These guys didn’t win because they don’t have to will and determination to do what it takes to win. They need to find a player or players that will instill what it takes to win a Cup, because it is hard to do. Maybe Marty can do it with his Cup winning experience, but I’m not sure that is in his personality or that he hasn’t be here long enough.
D. Hoier
Love all the foolish fans who think Lehner (who averaged less than 2 goals against a game for the playoffs) or DeBoer (whose system allowed his team to create more high danger chances than their opponents) were to blame for being ousted in the WCF. This has to do with finishing plays. Shot placement was ridiculously horrible. The top 6 being the most guilty in this failure.
I get folks are upset by how they perceive their “favorite” player(s) being treated by management. This is a business. Get used to people being moved along when the front office believes they can do better. Championships are won by putting the best guys on the ice each game, not the most popular.
Julie
But, D, those WERE the best players, right? Right. 8 goals in 93 shots over 4 games this series; Vegas had 2 goal lead. Not well-tested even with Vancouver. Can’t move well when his knees hit the ice. Makes great business sense to pay 7 million a year for an unused goalie after that goalie played many many games three years in a row to get his team to the playoffs – even in a not very good year. It’s not about a “favorite” player, it’s about saying the best players were put on the ice to win and they weren’t. I’d have more respect for DeBoer if he had just come out on day 1 and said he was making Lehner the starting goalie. But, instead, he lied. So, nothing worth getting used to here.
Kodiak
While I get that. Why should we expect any less from our goalie than there’s. You say he only gave up 2 goals on average, apparently the other goalie gave up less or we would be in the Stanley cup. So when do you say our goalie wasn’t as good. You can blame the team but bottom line he is responsible for what gets by him. The coach is full of it when he said he plays the best player for ther situation, if that were true why would you put the goalie in that had never lost to Vancouver. That series never should have gone 7 games. We looked tired and after that series which should have been over a lot sooner than it was, so we went to play Dallas fatigued and couldn’t put it into high gear. Plus it doesn’t do you any good that you take 40 shots if you a worn out from all the swinging at ther puck. At some point you just start waking at it and telegraphing your shot. It was bad coaching all the way around
Tyler Durden
D Hoier.
Excellent post. It will fall on deaf ears. Don’t think many knights fans have learned the nuances of hockey yet.
D. Hoier
Thanks, Tyler. Appreciate the support. I think you’re right re: our fans and the nuances of hockey. I’m sure the way the players have interacted with the city and the fans has contributed to some of the cloudy judgement, too.
Julie
Actually, we get that it’s whoever lets in the most goals loses.
Hdbiker7851
What in heaven name is good about high level chances when you don’t capitalize on them. This isn’t rocket science when something isn’t working and you continue doing it that is just plain stupid and the definition of insanity. As julie pointed out that has zero to do with as you referenced “favorites “. It does have to do with fact as stated by a number of quotes from the article- mentally they were not prepared plain and simple. Concerning Lehner he is luck he wasn’t tested with many shots or the stats would be substantial different. I would be interested to read your answer to the following – if he is or was that good why did other teams let this jewel walk????? Until someone can logically answer that very simple question is value is not defendable. That has nothing to do with favorite that just plain fact. I don’t anticipate hearing anything from anyone as there is no answer. Prized jewels itare kept not put out to pasture which in this case is Vegas.
D. Hoier
The replies I’ve received from you, Kodiak and Julie have only solidified the believe that your issue has everything to do with the treatment of “favorites.” You may have valid argument if Lehner had a 3 or 4 GAA. He didn’t. You might have a valid argument if there was a lack of high danger scoring opportunities for the team. There wasn’t. At some point, your top 6 have to put goals into open nets as opposed to missing the net completely, whiffing completely on the shot, blasting it into the center of the goalie’s chest, or – in the cases where the goalie was on his back – shooting the puck into his laid out body. There were, quite literally, 6 – 8 times in each game (starting Game 5, Round 2) where this happened (and this doesn’t include odd-man rushes or breakaways). That’s not on Deboer or Lehner. That’s squarely on the shoulders of the skaters on the ice (and I feel highly confident that they would tell you exactly the same thing). I get it’s easier to attack the former coach of a hated rival than it is to put them blame on beloved “favorites”, where it belongs.
In terms of why Lehner was traded: I imagine it probably had something to do more with concerns about his mental well-being than it was about his physical ability to play the position. I dunno if he ends up signing here or elsewhere, but whoever gets him is getting a heck of a goaltender with a lot of upside. As much as I like Fleury, however, his best days are behind him.
Doc (common sense rules)
Thank you so much “D” …. Finally a common sense opinion without emotions evolved. If I say common sense thoughts, they try and bully me off here. (of course that won’t be successful) It’s just nice to see someone write, that clearly sees some things without the cloud of favoritism. Thanks again, Doc 🙂
Kodiak
Why is that not on lehner. He took less shots but got scored on more. You want hold six guys responsible for not scoring but not want to hold the goalie responsible to do his job. What kind of logic is that. Your so hung up on this favoritism thing. There is no favoritism. The facts speak for themselves. Less shots but scored on more What part of that is favoritism. Wait good it be you don’t have a valid rebuttal
Julie
Exactly, Kodiak. I have learned on this site that Lehner has some posters on the payroll. No one here said Fleury was perfect. We just believe he should have been rotated more. This business about favoritism is merely projecting because there is no logical point about Lehner other than he is a great backup. Five teams let Lehner go. But he should be careful if he stays with Vegas because this year they have proven that they can’t manage a team.
D. Hoier
Kodiak, Lehner gave up 7 goals in regulation during the 5 games of the series. That’s a 1.4 GAA. Seems he more than held up his end of the bargain. If the top 6 hits even 1/4 of the open net, high danger chances (not total shots taken, not shots on goal) they created for themselves each game, VGK sweeps the WCF. It’s not a goaltending (ours or theirs), defense or coaching issue. It’s a shot placement issue, a finishing issue – which falls squarely upon the top 6 (who were largely invisible in the series).
D. Hoier
I’ll correct an error I made here. Lehner actually gave up 6 goals in regulation during the 4 games he played in the WCF. That’s a 1.5 GAA. Fleury gave up 1 in the 1 game he played – which was a loss. Are we supposed to blame Fleury for that loss, Kodiak?
Kodiak
Not for nothing but even in his loss fluery was a .960 and that’s after only playing in three games in three series and he lost 1 game in 4 games. Oh and that’s playing about every 10 days on average and the goal you are referring to happened in the first minute of the game here then stopped every shot from there on. But the coach felt they made the right decision. Based on his experience and history and his percentages exceeded lehner. Yes I might have made a change or rotate a little more and take the pressure off lehner. Bad coaching
Kodiak
What part of my post showed any favoritism to fleury. I don’t have a problem with whether he plays gets traded or what. My comment was about coaching. Deboer always said he would play the best player to win the game and he did the exact opposite. Fact, fleury has an incredible record against Vancouver He hasn’t lost to them since the iphone came out so why did he not play Fleury. You are telling that’s good coaching. Facts don’t lie. As far as the shot count your right to a point about the 6 not getting it past the goalie but I’m not as convinced by the high percentage shot total. It appeared to me that a lot of those shots were coming from long range. I agree we needed to step but they got frustrated and it got in there head and just swinging at everything. Those shot counts really don’t tell the whole story of the series. Dallas took fewer shots and won. They played smarter hockey than we did. I still believe our guys just ran out of energy for whatever reason and yes did not close it out. Once again the coach sets the strategy. Bad coaching!!! Maybe next year he will have a better handle on the teams ability and make better decisions.
Hdbiker7851
D – so you are going to plan the team’s future on someone in goal with as you put it his mental well being issues and being in Vegas you are a glutton for punishment. Much of what you posted was dead on until the part of Lehner. Why would any team gamble on a situation like that. Obviously where he has been considered the liability was greater than the reward or risk. No question Fluery’s best years are probably behind him but at least you know what you have or under the current circumstances had. The goalie situation in Vegas is only part of the problem and favoritism has no place in business and make no.mistatke hockey is all about money and business just like all sports. Smart business keep liabilities to a minimum .
D. Hoier
HD, I know what we have in Lehner: a really, really goaltender who was a Veznia candidate in 2019 (and likely would be one this year had he been played more in Chicago). Any issues seem to be well in the rear view mirror and the reward well outweighs the risk.
At the moment, we don’t have an issue at the goaltender position (that could change if we don’t keep one of the two we have now). Our issue is putting pucks into open nets when it matters. If that issue doesn’t get sorted out, it won’t matter who the goalie is. You don’t win any games when you can’t score and only a handful more scoring once or twice.
DOC aPositiveFan
Ok HD, come on … The guy has been honest about his issues with mental health and has gotten help. Lay off that please.
Julie
It’s a viable issue and not about being “honest” with them. If you have ever dealt with someone who has battled addiction and diagnosed with 3 mental health disorders, you know it’s an ongoing struggle no matter what kind of job you have. It’s very relevant. Sounds like you and D overlook that impact.
Vegas has several defense and scoring issues. Last I checked, it was Vegas who let in the most goals.
Kodiak
Ok how many goals did the Dallas goalie let by on how many shots. If your going to argue stats then show both sides then let’s talk about who should be held accountable. Never mind I will tell you. Lehner 1-3-0 1.98 .914 kobuton was 4-1-0 1.69 and .950 . Lehner was. 885 in game 5 .900 in game 4 and. 870 in game 3. Not numbers I would hang my hat on. I don’t think it’s wrong to expect our goalie to be as good as the other teams goalie and he wasn’t. We lost and even if our guys didn’t score how can you not hold our goalie responsible for allowing there team to score. Your argument doesn’t hold water.
Speaking of that you don’t want to hold the coach accountable. Who dictates the strategy and creates the line ups. Even the gm said today that management doesn’t create the line up and strategy. So who is responsible. Why is the coach that gets fired when a team under performs or is losing or they just don’t like the way he coaches. They don’t blame the players they say it was bad coaching. Deboer has been fired three times I believe. If he is not responsible why was he fired? Somebody thought differently than you or he would still have those jobs. Maybe it’s the little nuances that got you confused. They thought lehner was better that’s fine but nobody made that choice but the coach. Somebody always is held responsible. In your case you choose to focus on the 6 guys for not scoring. I don’t disagree that they shoulder some responsibility but just shooting low percentage shots just to shoot is not the answer you will wear yourself out. I would imagine if you could get speed levels in those shots you would find that over that many shots it’s going to decline pretty rapidly. That’s a coaches job to see that and address the issue and lead his team. Settle them and focus on taking good shots with better passing. Gallant took a ton of crap about not calling a time out when they got that penalty against San Jose and it was deserved that was bad coaching and he paid for it. Leadership has to be strong and the players have to respect the leader to follow them. It didn’t look like there was much leadership on many levels. There is enough blame to go around but it all starts at the top and that’s coaching. I know this because when it’s going bad they get fired so someone must think the same way I do. By the way I love the passion this group has about our team. Its great for our city. I’ve been here 53 years and it’s cool to see our city get behind this team
Michael
Wait – there are VGK fans who watched that series and think the loss is on the D? This fan base does not deserve a cup till it learns sonw basics. Yes, we could have shut them out every game to make up for our lame forwards. But we really limited Dallas, and they were there for the taking with any kind of clinical finishing on our part.
Mark
We need to be more thankful, we need to let everyone know that it was a good year, something we can build on for the future. We don’t need to make any big changes, we have a terrific core, a core that can win for years. We didn’t get any breaks, none !! What we need is to go back to our arena, we need to open up, T Mobile needs to rock again, that’s the ” magic” that was missing. When I watch games in other cities it’s more like a morgue, not a hockey game. Then, idiots here say, ” don’t bring up politics, shut up”. No, never !!!!!! We need T Mobile open !! If your 85, fighting cancer, don’t go to T Mobile, understand ?? One other thing, this is to Lehner and Reaves, we don’t need lectures from you, you need to apologize to this community, apologize to Mr. Foley. This isn’t women’s soccer or The NFL , like that coach said in Connecticut. You get paid millions upon millions to play a game, then we working schmucks pay alot of money to go to the games and you spoiled assholes spit in our face. WTF !!!!!! What you make in a year takes many of us 20 years to make, you both need to apologize. Maybe you two need to preach about fatherhood, standing up for your children, that’s what is missing in this country. I used to love Reaves, but our Cops and first responders where spit on, kneecapped, that pisses me off more than losing to Dallas. I want Reaves to pay his respects to Shay Mikalonis, a guy forever trapped in a paralyzed body because some fatherless asshole put him their, understand everyone??? Yeah I pissed off, we deserve better than this !!
Mark
By the way, I would of cut their asses, Lehner and Reaves, on the spot, just got rid of the ingrates. I’d rather not win a Cup than two scumbags spitting in our faces, embarrassing our community, maybe that fly’s in LA or New York, this is Nevada, a freedom loving State.
Tim
Any guesses who won’t be on the team next year?
Ken Boehlke
Tim: I think a lot of it is dependent on if they are able to land Pietrangelo. If they do, lots will have to change. If they don’t, it’ll be guys like Fleury, Engelland, Nosek, and Merrill that will be out.
Tim
Ken what scares me about Pietrangelo is he’s 30 wants a long term contract at 8 million or more I don’t see how that’s worth it. I understand he’s good now but what about 2 years from now. I agree with your list but I would keep Nosek over Cousins. I also think Stansty will be traded and maybe McNabb and Marshy.
Ken Boehlke
Tim: I understand that concern and I’m with you and Jason on it. But I just want one Cup and I think he can help deliver it.