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Golden Knights Mount Rushmores

On July 4, 2022

Happy 4th of July!

To me, one of the most American things in the world is Mount Rushmore. The fact that someone carved the faces of four Presidents into the side of a mountain in South Dakota is both absurd and amazing at the same time. Can’t get more patriotic than that.

So, let’s honor this great feat of American spirit by creating some Mount Rushmores of our own. The only requirement for each category is that there must be exactly four people chosen.

Defensemen
Nate Schmidt, Shea Theodore, Alex Pietrangelo, Deryk Engelland

There’s really only one guaranteed easy selection and that’s Theodore. After that, there’s a group of five or six that could be chosen as the final three. Engelland seemed like the easiest next choice based on his history with the franchise and playing incredibly tough minutes the first season. After that, I opted to go for Schmidt and Pietrangelo over McNabb in a close call. McNabb will probably pass Schmidt this year due to longevity but Nate’s overall impact both on and off the ice still give him the nod for now. Pietrangelo gets the call simply cause he’s the best blue liner the team has ever had.

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

Scorers
Jonathan Marchessault, William Karlsson, Max Pacioretty, Jack Eichel

The first two are obvious. Marchessault leads the franchise in goals with 122 while Karlsson remains the single-season leader with the insane 43-goal year. Reilly Smith actually has one more goal as a Golden Knight than Pacioretty, but Max has played in nearly 100 fewer games. The final slot was going to go to Mark Stone, but I just couldn’t leave Eichel off of this. He’s going to lead the team in scoring multiple times over the next few years and he has the best chance of anyone to break Karlsson’s record. Mount Rushmore isn’t usually for forward-thinking, but it’s going to look awfully weird in a few years if Eichel isn’t up there, so let’s just do it and save ourselves the future explanations.

Robin Lehner Excited To See What Free Agency Has In Store For Him

By Jason Pothier

On July 15, 2020

In Team Ops

(Photo Credit: Jason Pothier, SinBin.vegas)

It’s been Goaltending Month here at SinBin. Earlier this month we examined the offseason decisions the Golden Knights front office will have to make in net. Last week was focused on cap percentage and how much is the right amount to spend on goaltending. So, let’s continue Tendy Month by getting some insight from Vegas’ exceptional backup goaltender as he addressed his future with the Golden Knights.

On Ottawa radio, unrestricted free agent to be Robin Lehner explained his desire to find a permanent address this offseason.

I’m looking for the right set up for me and my family. I got a five year-old and a two-year-old. My five-year-old has been to five different teams. I feel like I deserve to get some stability for me and my family. -Lehner on TSN Ottawa

It’s been a journey for Lehner. At 29 years-old with ten years of NHL service, the goaltender hasn’t found a location to settle down in.

We will see what happens and what makes sense for me and my family. To say I that need X amount of years or dollars, it’s kind of not what it’s been for me. I just try to perform as good as I can and I think I’ve done that throughout my career. I’ve had some other issues obviously but I’ve also taken the steps and been very serious about those steps and I’ve bounced back and I’ve shown that I’m on a really good path which is only getting better and better. -Lehner

The former Senator, Sabre, Islander, and Blackhawk is proud of success on and off the ice and feels he’s earned the opportunity to find a permanent NHL address. Especially, for his wife and kids.

I believe that I’ve proven my statistics for a long time and that I’m a very reliable goaltender… We’ll see what opens up and what makes sense for me and my family. We’re excited to see what happens this offseason. -Lehner

Can the playoffs do anything to help leverage Lehner’s future contract negotiations? Will he need to compete with Marc-Andre Fleury for playing time and excel in the postseason?

Misery Loves Company: VGK Not Only Team To Experience Four Straight 3-0 Deficits

By Ken Boehlke

On January 13, 2020

In Stats

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

The Golden Knights found themselves in a three-goal hole late in the 1st period against the Blues. It felt like the sky was falling until Vegas stormed back to win the game 5-4 in overtime.

Three nights later, once again, Vegas saw 3-0 on the scoreboard, this time against Pittsburgh. Back-to-back games falling behind by three felt improbable, yet once again they stormed back only to come up a bit short.

A couple nights later, it happened again! 3-0 turned to 4-0 against the LA Kings and it’s officially reached epidemic levels.

Then, Saturday. 1-0 in the 1st. 2-0 in the 2nd, and what do you know in the 3rd, 3-0 again for the fourth straight game.

All we could do was shout things that Jackie Chiles would say. “That’s deplorable, unfathomable, improbable!”

Here at SinBin.vegas, our first thought was, this has to be historic. 3-0, four games in a row, there’s no way anyone else has done this in a decade. Wrong!

In fact, a team currently residing in 1st place in the Pacific Division did it just two months ago.

The Calgary Flames fell behind 3-0 against the Coyotes, Golden Knights, Avalanche, and Blue in four straight games from November 16th to the 21st.

Falling behind 3-0 in a game isn’t nearly as rare as it would seem. Every single team in the NHL has done it at least once, and 24 of the 31 teams have done it at least three times this season.

The Golden Knights Have Real Flaws Which Are More Important Than Imaginary Ones

By Ken Boehlke

On January 11, 2020

In Game Analysis

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

The Golden Knights lost again. Again they fell behind in the 1st period, again they watched the lead grow to a number they wouldn’t be able to overcome, and again they salted away a pair of points at home they really should have won.

Everyone’s entitled to their own opinion as to what’s going wrong, but personally, I’m sick of the intangible excuses that are being made for this team. Tonight’s game was not about a lack of effort, a sense of complacency or any other unmeasurable factor people want to throw around. Instead, tonight was a full display of all that is wrong with the Golden Knights.

It starts with forward depth. This team doesn’t have enough of it. When Cody Glass and Jonathan Marchessault are out they don’t have the horses to fill their roles. And it would be a problem if there were any two of the top nine forwards missing.

Because of it, they’re forced to move Alex Tuch up to the 1st line to play out of position and on a line he has never fit on despite playing 13 prior games with Karlsson as the center. Some line combinations don’t fit, especially when you are playing one player out of position on his off-wing. That’s okay, but when a team is built in a way in which they literally don’t have another option outside of William Carrier, who has been exclusively a 4th liner until 2 weeks ago, it becomes a problem.

That then bleeds down to the 2nd line. The best 2nd line the Golden Knights can make is Paul Stastny between Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone. It’s a line that has proven to work time and time again, including an unreal start to the playoffs last year, but isn’t truly an option currently because it leaves the bottom six far too bare. So, that forces Chandler Stephenson, to fill a role higher in the lineup that most teams would prefer. Stastny moves down in an attempt to put a bit more skill and vision with a pair of wingers who have proven they can’t be relied upon to score.

Finally, you are left with a 4th line that can certainly do the job of a standard 4th line, but must be expected to do more because there’s not enough scoring above them.

When they need an extra player, they turn to Nicolas Roy, Valentin Zykov, or Keegan Kolesar. All fine players, but none can be expected to score at the NHL level, especially when playing alongside other non-scorers Cody Eakin, Ryan Reaves, William Carrier, and Tomas Nosek.

This is a risk the front office took when they chose to go down a path this offseason of offloading talented forwards for a prospect and a bushel of picks as opposed to attempting to bite the bullet and unload some overpaid role players. When healthy, the team has plenty of offense, when not, they’re short.

Which leads to the next problem. Defensive scoring. With Nate Schmidt having a bit of a down year to this point, the only legitimate offensive threat is Shea Theodore. He may end up outscoring the rest of the Golden Knights blue line combined. If the forwards were putting up three or four goals a night, it would be fine to have a defense focused on defending, but while missing players, the team needs some chip in from the defensemen. At the moment, they don’t have the guys to do it. Nic Hague may eventually become more of an offensive weapon, but while he’s getting his feet wet in the NHL, making sure his defensive game is under control is more important. Brayden McNabb, Deryk Engelland, Jon Merrill, and Nick Holden are all acceptable NHL level defensemen, but between them, there’s one season of more than 30 points and they’ve played a combined 35 years in the NHL. So expecting to get anything more than they’ve already given to this point is unrealistic.

Consecutive Goals Both A Blessing And A Curse

By Ken Boehlke

On January 10, 2020

In Stats

1st period problems have been evident throughout the entire homestand with the Golden Knights allowing 13 goals in the opening frame in the last six games. However, that’s been a temporary problem. There’s a bigger problem that’s been going on all year, and it’s reared its ugly head these last three games.

Consecutive goals.

The Blues, Penguins, and Kings all scored at least three straight on the Golden Knights. In 13 separate games, Vegas has allowed the opposing team to score three or more consecutive goals. They are 2-10-1 in those games, and 1-6-1 at home.

Allowing 3+ consecutive goals
10/08/19: 4-3 loss vs Boston – 4 straight
10/15/19: 5-2 loss at Nashville – 4 straight
10/21/19: 6-2 loss at Philadelphia – 4 straight
10/25/19: 6-1 loss vs Colorado – 4 straight
11/02/19: 4-3 OTL vs Winnipeg – 3 straight
11/13/19: 5-3 loss vs Chicago – 5 straight
11/27/19: 4-3 OT win at Nashville – 3 straight
12/08/19: 5-0 loss vs NY Rangers – 5 straight
12/12/19: 4-2 loss at St. Louis – 3 straight
12/27/19: 4-3 loss at Anaheim – 4 straight
01/04/20: 5-4 OT win vs St. Louis – 3 straight
01/07/20: 4-3 loss vs Pittsburgh – 3 straight
01/09/20: 5-2 loss vs LA – 4 straight

We were on to this earlier in the season, especially after Max Pacioretty made a comment about their inability to overcome adversity.

We have to find a way to be resilient and hopefully, these last couple of games can give us the experience we need to overcome this adversity and be better from it. -Max Pacioretty on 11/12/19

The Golden Knights have played 26 home games so far this season. In eight of them they’ve allowed at least three straight goals. That means once in every three home games!

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

It’s unacceptable for it to happen once in a blue moon in your own building, let alone 30% of the time.

Vegas Point Streak Overshadowed by OT Losses

By Jason Pothier

On November 8, 2019

In Stats

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

For the most part, fans only care about wins and losses, but they must remember an NHL season is a marathon, not a race. I know, blah, blah, blah.

Over the past five games, the Golden Knights have won just two of them. Many fans are up in arms screaming about blown leads, consistency, and scoring issues, but they should be happy with that stretch as their team earned at least one point in five straight games. Look at it as a competitive team finding a way to earn a point, even in a losing effort. Last night in Toronto was a perfect example of a well-earned point.

Somehow the Golden Knights found themselves in a 1-1 tie at the end of regulation against one of the better offensively skilled clubs in the league. With their backup goaltender in net, let’s face it the odds were stacked against them. Vegas held a team that averages 3.35 goals per game to one score in 60 minutes. Even more notable was the Golden Knights penalty killers allowed only one goal in six power play opportunities. That lone Leafs goal was scored 48 minutes into the game. The Golden Knights defensive plan, on purpose or not, worked and earned them a point.

A loss isn’t a loss in the NHL. Overtime losses are half a win, and that’s how I’m looking at the Toronto game. Same goes for Vegas’ overtime losses against Montreal and Winnipeg even though those are understandably tougher pills to swallow. Sure you can look at Vegas’ three OTL’s as late-game failures or you can see it as a step closer to a playoff berth.

This season, the Golden Knights have earned an average of 1.23 points per game. That’s a pace that would give Vegas 102 points by the end of the regular season. Remember, no team with at least 100 points has missed the playoffs. Over the past five games of “inconsistent” play, they’ve racked up seven points, which is good for 115 over an 82 game season.

Everyone, including the head coach, knows the Golden Knights have more to give, yet here they sit right in the thick of the playoff chase early in the season. Their PDO is 97.9, which is the 5th worst in the NHL. (For those new to PDO, read this.) They’ve scored seven fewer goals than the “expected goal” rates show and yet they’ve overcome it. The other teams with negative actual goal vs expected goal rates have all struggled mightily (SJS, DET, NJD, LAK). And, they have the league’s 4th worst shooting percentage at even-strength at just 6.47%. The last two years that number was 7.75% and 8.38%.

Put all of that together, and it all points to the same thing. The best has yet to come for the Golden Knights.

Of course, we can’t sit here and celebrate overtime losses for the whole season because eventually, they will have to start earning two points a night rather than one. But as long as they keep pace, an occasional OTL isn’t the end of the world. In fact, it’s getting them closer to the century mark.

It might sound too simple, and something you’d hear from a coach, but it’s true. Good teams find a way to earn a point. Actually, I’m pretty sure we’ve heard a coach say that.

Rookie Game 1 Takeaways – Golden Knights 7 Avalanche 6

By Ken Boehlke

On September 9, 2018

In Personnel

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

There’s a lot to talk about after the first of three Golden Knights rookie games. When that happens, we tend to take the easy route and just chuck them all in one article using bullet points. So, here are 13 bullet points, one for every goal scored in the Golden Knights 7-6 win.

Erik Brannstrom is incredible. This isn’t new, but every time this guy steps on the ice he’s excellent. Tonight he tamed back a bit of his aggressiveness yet still found ways to make a bunch of offensive plays including a dandy of a goal.
The Golden Knights opted to put Brannstrom on the PK (something we wouldn’t project him to do much at the NHL level due to his size). Coach Rocky Thompson (Chicago Wolves) explained why they did it…
- “Ultimately, it’s going to take time for him on the penalty kill, but we wanted to see some situations. We dialed it back a little bit later in the game, but we definitely wanted to see. It’s definitely a place where we see him in the future is being a top two defenseman. When you are a top two defenseman you have to be well-rounded, so you can beat those minutes.” -Thompson
Nic Hague had an interesting night proving something we haven’t gotten to see a ton of because we haven’t seen them play actual games against other teams, and that’s his PP prowess. Playing on the Golden Knights lesser talented PP unit, he scored twice from the exact same spot. (Also, I highly enjoyed the celly on the first one.)
The first period was a perfect example of a team playing “Golden Knights” style hockey. Incredibly fast in transition, pushing the puck out of the defensive zone quickly, and capitalizing on mistakes. It did in the rookie game what the Golden Knights did to many teams last year, overwhelm the opponent. Hence the five-goal lead after 20 minutes. Coach Thompson says they started to cheat out of the system a bit and that’s why the lead evaporated.

Interview: Chris Creamer From SportsLogos.net

By Ken Boehlke

On November 23, 2016

In Team Ops

The founder of the world’s foremost authority on logos in sports, Chris Creamer of SportsLogos.net joined me on KXNT NewsTalk 840 AM to talk about the Golden Knights name, logos, colors, and more.

Three Names Trademarked, All Knights Related

By Ken Boehlke

On August 27, 2016

In News, Team Ops

Finally, a few names have hit the US Patent and Trademark database and one is likely the final name selected for the Las Vegas hockey team name.

The Creator‘s desired Black Knights was ruled out, so he had to choose another adjective. Desert Knights, Silver Knights, and Golden Knights were trademarked by Black Knight Sports and Entertainment. You can see the trademarks by going here and searching “Las Vegas AND Knights”

Can’t guarantee (these are the final three names) but the filings are on behalf of Black Knight Sports and Entertainment. -The Creator

This is the major step we’ve been waiting for as there’s no way for an NHL organization to print and sell anything without a trademark. Otherwise, SinBin.vegas would be printing Silver Knights stuff left and right and raking in the cash.

Trademarks are a much larger indication of the possible team name than domain names, which can be purchased after the fact… or not purchased at all. Plus, trademarks cannot be hidden as they must be registered by the business name planning on using them, while domains can be purchased by anyone and transferred.

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Praise Be To Foley, Vegas Golden Knights Hockey Website

Tag: Golden Knights

Golden Knights Mount Rushmores

Robin Lehner Excited To See What Free Agency Has In Store For Him

Misery Loves Company: VGK Not Only Team To Experience Four Straight 3-0 Deficits

The Golden Knights Have Real Flaws Which Are More Important Than Imaginary Ones

Consecutive Goals Both A Blessing And A Curse

Vegas Point Streak Overshadowed by OT Losses

Rookie Game 1 Takeaways – Golden Knights 7 Avalanche 6

Interview: Chris Creamer From SportsLogos.net

Three Names Trademarked, All Knights Related

Points To Elimination

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