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Tag: Alex Holtz

Where Will VGK Turn If Pavel Dorofeyev Isn’t Ready For Opening Night?

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On September 30, 2025

In Team Ops

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

The Golden Knights’ lineup has been fairly set since the moment Training Camp opened. Bruce Cassidy and his staff revealed early that they are going to put Mitch Marner on the top line with Jack Eichel, then match Mark Stone with Reilly Smith and William Karlsson. That left a line they used down the stretch last year of Tomas Hertl, Brandon Saad, and Pavel Dorofeyev as the third line and the remaining trio of Colton Sissons, Brett Howden, and Keegan Kolesar as the fourth.

The only way it would be in need of a change would be due to an injury. Unfortunately for the Golden Knights, it appears that may be necessary after Pavel Dorofeyev suffered a muscle strain.

Dorofeyev played in VGK’s 2nd preseason game at home against the Los Angeles Kings. He played just four shifts before leaving the game in the 1st period. He has not practiced since, and yesterday Cassidy dropped a hint that indicates they may be without him on Opening Night.

Is Pavel going to get in? If not, who goes in his spot, so then we may shuffle (the lines) around. A couple people may move around, but no big changes. -Cassidy

Of course, there’s nothing even close to concrete in that statement from Cassidy, but bringing up the possibility definitely means there’s at least some concern the issue could linger to and through October 8th, VGK’s opener.

So, where would the Golden Knights turn if Dorofeyev cannot take his spot on the third line right wing?

It may seem a bit odd, considering the player does not even have an NHL contract at this point, but the leader to take the job is Alex Holtz. Holtz has been used in three of the four preseason games and wore an “A” in the most recent one.

He’s currently in camp on a PTO but all signs have pointed towards him being a part of this team going forward. With Alex Pietrangelo hitting LTIR for the entire season, it’s certainly possible the Golden Knights will utilize Holtz’s pending contract as a way to maximize their salary cap pool by signing him to an extremely specific contract, similar to when Nic Hague signed for $2,294,150 right before the season in 2022. That contract got the Golden Knights to within $17 of the salary cap, Holtz could certainly sign something similar next week.

However, Cassidy does have other options.

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5 Items To Watch When Training Camp Opens

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On September 16, 2025

In Team Ops

(Photo Credit: Ken Boehlke, SinBin.vegas)

Training Camp will officially get underway this week, with on-ice practices set to start on Thursday morning. The Golden Knights enter their 9th season with extremely high expectations once again, which means there’s a lot to see when the team takes the ice for the first time together.

Here are the five things I’ll have my eyes focused on as camp opens up.

Marner and Eichel together?

There are excellent arguments for both sides of the Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner together or separate battle, and it’s going to be one of the biggest storylines of the season all year long, so it’ll be interesting to see which way Bruce Cassidy leans to open camp. Marner stepping onto the top line with Eichel and Ivan Barbashev may offer some of the most continuity to the lineup that was in place when the season ended last year. However, Mark Stone was so good in that spot that it’s hard to believe they’ll go away from it straight away to start this year. As always, nothing is set in stone, and it will obviously change multiple times over the course of the year, but Cassidy has had three months to think about how he wants to use Marner in his lineup, so the first place we see him does offer a window into the head coach’s mind.

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Stock Up/Stock Down: 2024-25 Regular Season

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On June 2, 2025

In Team Ops

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

Despite the postseason disappointment, the Golden Knights’ regular season can only be defined as a success by any metric. They won 50 games for the third time, posted 110 points or more for the second time, and won the Pacific Division for the fourth time in just eight seasons.

How did they do it? With a lot of players performing significantly better than expected before the season began. However, that’s not to say there weren’t some others who underperformed expectations as well.

Stock Up

Brayden McNabb
Typically, plus/minus is not a stat to hang your hat on. But, sometimes the number is so strong it tells as compelling a story as stats like goals or assists. McNabb posted the second-best rating in VGK history, finishing the year as a +42 in 82 games. He was at least a +2 in an unbelievable 22 games (more than a quarter) and at least +1 in 39 this season. He posted a minus in just 1,7 which Vegas went on to win just five.

McNabb was a calming force both at 5-on-5 and on the penalty kill all season and allowed Cassidy to move Theodore, Hanifin, and Pietrangelo around the lineup freely, knowing he always had a shutdown pair available. He averaged more than 20 minutes per game, didn’t miss a single game all season, and posted his best point shares number in his 13-year NHL career. A 34-year-old rarely pulls out the best season of his life, but McNabb did it.

Brett Howden
Not only did Howden eclipse the double-digit goal plateau for the first time in his career, he scored more than 20 for the first time ever in 24-25. Howden’s offense game popped early in the season and continued right down to the end of the year. Even more impressive, not a single one of Howden’s goals was scored on VGK’s historically excellent power play.

Also, Howden took a massive step forward in terms of responsibility and versatility. Just about every time Bruce Cassidy needed a forward to move up in the lineup it was Howden. He played as a center and a winger in both the top and bottom six at different points of the year, he was a trusted penalty killer, and he was consistently an option late in games against the empty net. His +17 rating was a long way from the -11 he posted last year with the Golden Knights and his 14:52 per game was the most he’s played since his rookie season in New York.

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VGK Set to Make Defensive Adjustment To Help Young Wingers

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On October 22, 2024

In Game Analysis

Photo Credit: Ken Boehlke, SinBin.vegas

The Golden Knights roster in 2024-25 is constructed quite a bit differently than it was when they reached the pinnacle of the sport in June 2023.

The main place that has been affected has been on the wings. Of the eight wingers to start Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Final against Florida, just four remain, Mark Stone, Ivan Barbashev, Brett Howden, and Keegan Kolesar. Pavel Dorofeyev, Alex Holtz, Brendan Brisson, and Tanner Pearson replaced Reilly Smith, Jonathan Marchessault, William Carrier, and Michael Amadio.

The new group is much younger, more offensive-minded, and greener to the style of play Bruce Cassidy has used to lead his teams to success.

We relied on wall battles around here for years because we were very good at it. -Cassidy

That has not been the case through six games. After a troublesome road trip, Cassidy and his coaches poured through the video and came to a realization.

We’ve played a certain way and maybe we need to start stretching our wingers out a little more. Especially younger guys that are still learning their way on the walls. -Cassidy

Cassidy’s system typically calls for wingers to retreat deep into the defensive zone as outlets for defensemen on breakouts. It’s not uncommon to see a Vegas wing along the wall as far as the bottom of the faceoff circle. When the puck comes to them in that position, the center is expected to present an outlet to the middle of the ice. At that point, the Golden Knights back their winger to make the right decision moving the puck forward and eventually out of the zone.

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5 Burning Lineup Questions To Open Training Camp And Preseason

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On September 18, 2024

In Team Ops

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

Golden Knights training camp is officially underway with the players hitting the ice for full practices for the first time tomorrow. After a tumultuous summer, this year’s team enters camp with as many unknowns as there have been since the first season. There are open spots in the lineup at multiple forward positions, a serious battle for starting jobs on the blue line, and plenty of moving pieces on special teams.

Most of the lineup spots and position battles will take months to truly be settled, but training camp will offer an important look at Bruce Cassidy’s first choice option for each. Here are the five questions I’m most looking forward to getting answers to over the next three weeks.

Who gets the first look at 1st line right wing?

For the last five and a half seasons, Jonathan Marchessault has joined Mark Stone to lock down the right-hand side of the Golden Knights’ top six. With Marchessault out of the picture, a spot alongside Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev is open and there’s a myriad of candidates to potentially fill it. VGK brought in Alexander Holtz and Victor Olofsson, presumably to give them a look in that spot, but the question marks surrounding each may lead Cassidy to choose a more familiar option.

Mark Stone is clearly the best of the bunch and would make perfect sense as a loaded-up top line, but depth would instantly become an issue. Pavel Dorofeyev could garner a look, but he played more than 80% of his games last season on the left and was healthy scratched in six of the seven playoff games. Is Cassidy ready to go from not trusting Pavel to play against the Stars to handing him a role on the top line? The wild card option may be Nic Roy. Despite VGK brass spending most of the summer touting the depth of their centers, Roy is arguably the most reliable right-winger aside from Stone to fill the role.

I have a feeling a lot of players will get looks in this spot throughout the preseason and into the regular season, but Cassidy has had months to consider who he likes best in that spot, so whoever gets the first chance will be telling, even if others are given opportunities.

What is the plan with the top three defensemen on the power play?

Historically, Cassidy has preferred to use four forwards and one defenseman on each of his power play units. Vegas enters camp with three bonafide power play weapons who all happen to play the same position though. Noah Hanifin, Alex Pietrangelo, and Shea Theodore have all had success running the “quarterback” atop a VGK power play. So, does Cassidy find a way to get two of them on the same unit and if so, which one plays out of position?

It’s likely going to take well into training camp and preseason before we get a true answer for this, and Cassidy will certainly try all options at times in practice and in exhibition games. Opening Night will be a big one on this front though, assuming everyone is healthy.

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