Social media was set ablaze on Saturday night following the pay-per-view boxing event featuring Mike Tyson, Roy Jones Jr., and Jake Paul.
After Paul knocked out former NBA star Nate Robinson, many other athletes stepped up asking for their shot at the YouTuber. Robin Lehner held little back with his initial tweet.
Kane took a shot back at Reaves, but later apologized and deleted this tweet.
Reaves responded.
I ain’t never run from anyone’s sister in my life. Let alone for 9 years. That shark logo on your jersey is the toughest thing about you. I expect a billboard apology for running your mouth. I’m sure u still got the number. 🐸☕️
The addition of Alex Pietrangelo will change everything in how the Golden Knights look on the back end. As opposed to having a more balanced group as they’ve had in the previous three seasons, they’ll come into this one with a much more clear hierarchy, Pietrangelo being at the top.
The most ice time any Vegas defenseman has averaged in a given season was 22:14 which was achieved by both Shea Theodore in 19-20 and Nate Schmidt in 17-18. Pietrangelo hasn’t averaged less than 24:00 in any season since his first full NHL year back in 2010-11 and has crossed 25:00 per game in six seasons.
Pietrangelo’s impact will be most felt on Theodore, who had risen to become the Golden Knights’ best offensive defenseman and TOI leader last year.
In a Q&A on the Golden Knights website, head coach Pete DeBoer was asked about Pietrangelo’s effect on Theodore.
I think Theodore is obviously on everyone’s radar now with how he’s played. He’s one of those guys now that every time you’re playing Vegas you’re going to circle his number on the board and he’s going to get a lot of extra attention. His benefit to Theodore, but also to a lot of other guys, is be able to free them up. –DeBoer to VegasGoldenKnights.com
The first thing I think of when I hear the word insulates from an NHL coach is in relation to competition. As the top offensive defenseman on the roster, Theodore was always going to draw the toughest defensive opponent, but with Pietrangelo here now, that may change.
It’s no secret Alex Pietrangelo is an elite defenseman in the NHL. If he wasn’t, he wouldn’t have been the captain of a Stanley Cup champion, he wouldn’t have received Norris Trophy votes in seven different seasons, and he definitely wouldn’t have signed a $62 million contract with the Vegas Golden Knights.
But what is it that makes him special and worthy of garnering the title of highest-paid player in Golden Knights history? Well, I dug into the film to figure it out.
It starts with what he does in the defensive zone. He’s about as sound of a blueliner as you will find in the entire NHL. I’d make a highlight tape, but it would be about as exhilarating as watching paint dry, so I’ll spare you.
But that’s not what really sets him apart. There are plenty of lockdown d-men in the league and none get paid the way Pietrangelo now does.
Where he really separates himself from most is the way he reads the game offensively. He’s absolutely elite at becoming a part of the offense as a defenseman. Whether that means activating off the blue line, replacing the forward on a cycle play, or joining the rush, Pietrangelo does it all at an incredibly high level.
This makes him unbelievably challenging to defend against and should have VGK fans drooling about what they are going to see when the games finally get back underway.
Let me illustrate.
This is likely a set play off the faceoff, but it’s a play that very few players in the NHL can make. Pietrangelo sees the draw is won and the puck heading to the half wall. So, he activates off the blue line towards the goal. Watch the path he takes though. He wants to head directly to the back post and catch the feed across, but there’s a bit of traffic in front, so when he hits the faceoff dot, he alters his route slightly towards the slot, with his stick on the ice the entire time presenting himself for the pass. Then, he gets it, receives it perfectly, and pulls off a dazzling inside-out move that embarrasses both a defenseman and the goalie. Mesmerizing.
Next, here he is replacing a forward who is heading towards the blue line.
Over the course of the last month, the NHL has been releasing lists of the top players in the game. They broke it down into four position groups and ranked the best players in each; 20 at center, wing, and defense and 10 goalies. (See each list below)
The Golden Knights were represented in three lists by five players including Robin Lehner (G8), Mark Stone (W10), Max Pacioretty (W15), Shea Theodore (D14), and newcomer Alex Pietrangelo (D4).
Vegas was also the only team in the NHL to have multiple players listed at more than one position with a pair of wings and defensemen.
To take a look at exactly how the Golden Knights stacked up against the rest of the league, I created the “Star-Power Rankings” using the NHL’s lists. The best player in each position group earned 20 points, 2nd place got 19, and so on. Goalies only had 10 players listed so they were scored 20, 18, 16, etc.
As the Golden Knights roster continues to churn, the balance of importance on that roster changes with it. Many guys who were once the most vital on the team are no longer here and other stars have stepped into their places.
So, when discussing which players are the most indispensable for the Golden Knights this season, the exercise is not as simple as it would seem. The great Kevin Iole, Jason, and I had a discussion about this very topic and realized the options are so plentiful that we had to bring it to the site. We each picked three and between us we came up with six different players.
3rd Most Indispensable Kevin – Cody Glass Jason – Robin Lehner Ken – Mark Stone
Kevin – The 2017 NHL Entry Draft was loaded at the top. Nico Hischier, Miro Heiskanen, Cale Makar and Elias Pettersson are already elite NHL players. The Golden Knights’ thought Glass would be a player of that caliber and jumped on him when he was available at No. 6.
Now, Paul Stastny has been traded and they need someone to plug into that second line. The best way it could work out for the Golden Knights is if Glass could finally live up to his draft status. He showed glimpses last year, but wasn’t able to stay healthy and went long stretches while doing little.
If he comes up big and the Golden Knights can put Chandler Stephenson on a third line with Alex Tuch and Nic Roy, they can create a huge match-up problem with the third line while have two very strong top lines.
If Glass struggles, Stephenson moves up to center one of the top two and the third line suddenly isn’t as much of a scoring threat. Glass’ success will tell much about the kind of season the VGK will having in 2021.
Jason – Is this a trick question? Of course, it’s Lehner, without him the Golden Knights don’t have a goaltender. Sure, they have two now but by the time the season begins Fleury will be gone, leaving Lehner as the only starting goaltender in Vegas. I understand we were told by the Golden Knights that the plan on keeping both goalies but I don’t see that happening. In a shortened season, a condensed schedule may require a sturdy backup but how many nights do they plan on sitting Lehner? 10-15 games? The 29-year-old has started more than 34 games in the last four seasons, so it doesn’t make sense to relieve him with an expensive backup like Fleury?
Both sides have said the right thing over the past few months but in reality, keeping both isn’t good business. If the Golden Knights are seriously trying to win the Stanley Cup it won’t be by spending $12M in net. They’re too smart for that. And with that, Robin Lehner’s presence in the VGK lineup is paramount.
Ken – I originally had Lehner, for all the reasons Jason spelled out, plus the fact that losing him for any amount of time would further the lunacy of keeping them both. But, while both goalies are on the roster, I just couldn’t bring myself to rank Lehner above Mark Stone.
Stone has been the engine of the team since the moment he got here at the deadline in 2018-19. When he’s scoring or helping others score, the Golden Knights are basically unbeatable. Think back to the Sharks series. He drops 10 points in the first four games and VGK leads 3-1. Goes silent in Games 5 and 6 and they lose them both. (He had two points in Game 7, which still remains a win in my book.)
Yes, the Golden Knights have replacements, but no one can do what he can do. The season isn’t over if they lose Stone, but you can forget about winning the Cup if he’s not out there and dominating.
The world lost a legend last week. Noted hockey fan and one of the greatest Canadians of all time, Alex Trebek, passed away at the age of 80.
To honor Alex, let’s play Vegas Golden Knights Jeopardy! The Jeopardy! round was Friday (click this link to play), Double Jeopardy! was yesterday (click this link to play) and Final Jeopardy! is now.
Let’s see the category for Final Jeopardy!
Place your bid, then press play on the YouTube video while you read the clue.
The world lost a legend last week. Noted hockey fan and one of the greatest Canadians of all time, Alex Trebek, passed away at the age of 80.
To honor Alex, let’s play Vegas Golden Knights Jeopardy! The Jeopardy! round was yesterday (click this link to play), Double Jeopardy! is today and Final Jeopardy! tomorrow.
We answer a bunch of fan questions about the Golden Knights while taking breaks to teach our intern important Vegas history. Hosted by Ken Boehlke and Jason Pothier.
At this point, we’ll take hockey back no matter how we can get it, but the latest pair of plans floating around might not be ideal for the Golden Knights competitively.
The Golden Knights are among the best teams in the NHL on paper and are expected to win the Pacific Division and compete for the President’s Trophy. At the very least, Vegas will be penciled in as a playoff team by anyone making prognostications.
That won’t change regardless of whichever plan the NHL lands on to bring the season back, but the current ones seem to lean towards helping middle of the road teams as opposed to elite ones.
That’s the more extreme of the options. The other idea is to have teams travel to each market, but play multiple games while there. In other words, each team would only take one trip to each location and essentially play a series to reduce travel.
So, why is this disadvantageous for the Golden Knights?
