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Somewhat Revenge Games On VGK’s 2024-25 Schedule

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On July 22, 2024

In Team Ops

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

When you have a lot of roster turnover like the Golden Knights had this offseason, naturally there will be some revenge games on the schedule. In 2024-25, the Golden Knights will have several emotional, personal, and potentially vengeful games on the docket. Which makes for great drama leading into the matchup.

Former VGK Players First Return In 2024-25

  • Michael Amadio (OTT): 10/25/24
  • Willam Carrier (CAR): 11/11/24
  • Logan Thompson (WAS): 11/17/24
  • Chandler Stephenson (SEA): 12/21/24
  • Alec Martinez (CHI): 2/27/25
  • Paul Cotter (NJD): 3/2/25
  • Jonathan Marchessault (VGK): 4/12/25

On April 12, 2025, the Golden Knights will be hosting the Central Division’s Nashville Predators… strike that, the Golden Knights will be hosting Jonathan Marchessault’s Nashville Predators. The original Misfit will make his homecoming late in the season which is a real bummer for VGK fans. On the flip side, Marchessault likely prefers the late-season emotional return to Las Vegas. This way he will be long settled into his new club without the distraction of an early T-Mobile Arena matchup with the Golden Knights.

It might not be quite the same level — particularly given Vegas’s recent track record of shipping out former franchise mainstays to remain ruthlessly competitive — but in the wake of Marchessault’s comments about how his Golden Knights tenure came to an end, his own homecoming promises to bring some fireworks of its own. Asked this week about his conversations with the Golden Knights brass before leaving the club he won a Conn Smythe with just two seasons ago, Marchessault made clear he’d wanted to stick around, but Vegas has other ideas. “They just didn’t believe in me for the remainder of my career, I guess,” the veteran said of his conversation with president George McPhee and general manager Kelly McCrimmon before he was sent packing. He’ll make his return to T-Mobile Arena on April 12, to make them believe. –Sonny Sachdeva on Sportsnet.ca

Naturally, the Golden Knights will face off against Pacific Division rival Seattle Kraken four times in 2024-25. Former VGK center Chandler Stephenson will return to Las Vegas with his new squad on December 21st. Stephenson will not yield the same lengthy ovation Marchessault will receive but it’ll certainly be a loud welcoming by fans at T-Mobile Arena. Remember, Stephenson represented the Golden Knights in the 2023 All-Star game, and was second on the team in scoring in both 2021-22 and 2022-23. In 327 games the 30-year-old center recorded 237 points in a Golden Knights uniform. He was an overall success in Vegas and would have continued to be if he had been offered a similar deal to the one he received from Seattle. Most notably, Stephenson is the only player in league history to hoist the Stanley Cup cup twice at T-Mobile Arena. So, it should be a special return for him as well.

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Using Pairs To Formulate A Lineup Of Forwards When Winger Depth Lacks

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On July 8, 2024

In Team Ops

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

Early in the run to the Stanley Cup in 2023, Bruce Cassidy rolled out a forward lineup that looked a bit different than anything we’d ever seen in the past with the Golden Knights.

Rather than looking for the best combination of six forwards to play in the top-six, he went to a more balanced lineup including what he described as pairs. Each line had a strong center with an excellent winger on one side and a player typically not expected to play in the top-six on the other side. Jack Eichel’s partner was Jonathan Marchessault, Chandler Stephenson’s was Mark Stone, and William Karlsson had his PowerKill buddy, Reilly Smith.

The three wingers to fill each of those lines were Ivan Barbashev, Michael Amadio, and Brett Howden. In each case, Cassidy explained that this “third” player on the line was to drive the net to create space for the other two.

It worked like a charm.

Barbashev, Amadio, and Howden contributed at least five goals and ten points a piece in the 22-game playoff run.

The lineup allowed the Golden Knights incredible flexibility both on the road and at home against every opponent they faced, consistently finding mismatches for their top players. In many ways, that lineup structure won Vegas the Stanley Cup.

Heading into the upcoming season, after allowing a bevy of talented forwards to leave in free agency, it appears VGK are looking to find a little bit of that magic again.

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Salary Projections For Golden Knights Heading Towards Free Agency

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On May 28, 2024

In Team Ops

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

Money is tight in VGK land this summer. After taking a big run at repeating as Cup champions, the Golden Knights have already allocated about 90% of their salary cap to players for next season.

The midseason acquisitions of Noah Hanifin and Tomas Hertl will likely serve as Vegas’ big splashes heading into next season. Figuring out which of the expiring contracts to spend the rest of the money on will tell the rest of the story.

Vegas have six significant pending unrestricted free agents and one key RFA with arbitration rights. They have about $7.4 million of cap space (read our salary cap primer) to work with to keep as many, or as few, of them as they choose. So the question becomes, how much will it cost to keep each guy?

Lucky for us, much of the guessing game has already been done by the brilliant consulting firm, AFP Analytics. Using past contracts as a guide, they’ve come up with a projected contract for every player in the NHL currently without a contract.

Here’s what they project for each VGK free agent. Each is followed by a little blurb by me about the player’s situation as it relates to the Golden Knights.

**Take a look at the full spreadsheet of projected contracts here. And be sure to follow @AFPAnayltics on X/Twitter.**

Jonathan Marchessault
AFP Analytics Projected Contract: 3 years at $6.285m AAV
Comps: Joe Pavelski (3 years, $7m), Alex Killorn (4 years, $6.25m), Jordan Eberle (2 years, $4.75m)

The kingpin of the offseason was always likely to take up a majority of the Golden Knights’ available space. The hope for VGK is that he and the team will be able to come up with a friendly deal that will fulfill his wish to remain in Las Vegas for the rest of his career. Before the career-high 42-goal season, Killorn was an excellent comparison. Now, Marchessault stands as a unicorn as a recent Conn Smythe winner set to hit the open market. There’s a reasonable argument for Marchessault to reach as high as $9 million, while it’s also fair to look at the Eberle contract and project him for less than $5 million. Term, age, and his incredible standing with the organization make this one nearly impossible to project, but it’s pretty clear to see, if he’s going to stay in Vegas, just about everyone else set to hit the market will have to go.

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Above, Below, or Meeting Expectations: Far Too Many Golden Knights Fall Into The Wrong Category

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On May 3, 2024

In Game Analysis

Photo Credit: Ken Boehlke, SinBin.vegas

The Golden Knights are defending Stanley Cup champions.

For the last 11 months here at SinBin.vegas we’ve used that sentence to start just about every article, literally every podcast, and everywhere else possible. Tonight might be the last time we get to use it.

That is unless the Golden Knights get improved performances from a bunch of players in Game 6 and 7.

Being the reigning champions, and bringing back a roster that is similar, if not improved on paper, means Vegas doesn’t need anyone to exceed expectations. Instead, they simply need everyone to play to their ability and they should once again be the best team in the NHL.

Through 5 games in this first round series against the Stars, that is not happening. More than half of the roster is falling short of their expectations, while just a few are exceeding them.

To illustrate this, I’ve broken the team down into those three categories, exceeding expectations, meeting expectations, or below expectations. For the Golden Knights to retain their title as defending Stanley Cup champions for even one more day, a bunch of players are going to have to take a step up from the category they’ve resided in currently in this series to at least one step higher.

**These are listed in order. For “exceeding,” first is the player most exceeding their expectation. For “meeting,” first is the player closest to exceeding, last is the player closest to below. For “below,” first is the player closest to meeting, last is the player below by the most.

Exceeding Expectations
Brayden McNabb, Logan Thompson, William Carrier

There’s a legitimate argument that Brayden McNabb has been VGK’s best player in this series. If you told me that was going to be the case coming in, I’d be certain the Golden Knights are behind in the series, and that’s exactly where they are. He’s been offensively involved and even better than his already high level defensively.

Thompson and Carrier are in a similar spot as both have been very good but their best moments have come in losing efforts so they get lost a bit. Thompson was out of control good in Game 3, but the team was so bad it didn’t end up making a difference. Carrier scored a wraparound goal on a wonderful individual effort, but the game-tying 1st period goal was the last Vegas scored.

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Golden Knights Have Proven Success Without Stone In Lineup

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On February 23, 2024

In Team Ops

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

On January 12th of last season, Golden Knights captain Mark Stone played in his last regular season game of 2022-23. Vegas’ roster battled through the schedule without their leader and secured the top playoff seed in the Western Conference.

We all know what transpired once the postseason began.

(Courtesy of TNT)

Without Stone in the second half of last season, the captain’s teammates went 23-9-7 to finish out the string of regular season games. It was a bit of a surprise but also a sign of what to expect in the postseason. The Stone-less lineup averaged 3.23 goals per game and allowed only 2.67 per contest. Coach Bruce Cassidy got his entire roster to buy in and finish off the season strong without their heart and soul.

January 14, 2023 to April 13, 2023 – Games Without Stone

  • Record: 23-9-7 (53 Points)
  • Points Percentage: .679
  • Goals Scored: 126
  • Goals Allowed: 104
  • Games with 4 or More Goals Scored: 20
  • Games with 5 or More Goals Scored: 9
  • Winning Streak of 4 Games or More: 3
  • Record vs. Playoff Teams: 12-6-4 (26 Points)
  • Shots Per Game: 30.5
  • Games Scoring First Goal: 22
  • Blocks Per Game: 17.74

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William Karlsson Passed An Impossible Test, Keying The End Of The Oilers’ Streak

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On February 7, 2024

In Team Ops

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

Having not played a game in nearly five weeks, William Karlsson was tasked with one of the most difficult jobs in the NHL. Stop Connor McDavid.

Might as well throw me into the fire, or to the wolves, or whatever you guys say. Yeah, just right at it, so I better be on my toes. -William Karlsson

Playing alongside a makeshift line created specifically for this matchup, Karlsson, Michael Amadio, and Jonas Rondbjerg pulled it off.

I thought Karly did a great job against McDavid. He played against him not all the time but a lot of the time, and they did a really good job. You have to if you are going to beat Edmonton. You’ve got to keep him in check. He’s going to get his looks but all in all Karly did his job great. -Cassidy

In eight minutes of ice time against the league’s best player, Karlsson’s line allowed just three shots on goal while starting every shift either in the defensive or neutral zone. As Cassidy said, McDavid and Co. got their looks, they generated 12 shot attempts, four high-danger chances, and .56 expected goals, but when the game ended the Oilers had not recorded a single goal at even strength.

Karlsson shoulders the brunt of the load as the center, but his wingers deserve a ton of credit as well. Jonas Rondbjerg delivered his usual solid defensive outing while Michael Amadio has continued to insert himself among VGK’s most reliable players.

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Vegas Wraps Up 2023 With Strong Outing Against Pacific Contender

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On December 29, 2023

In Game Analysis

(Photo Credit: Ken Boehlke, SinBin.vegas)

With two minutes to go in last night’s 3-2 victory over the LA Kings, the Golden Knights were forced to fight off a lengthy 5-on-6. LA had their chances but the reigning champions battled in front of the net, forced ineffective shots, and swept pucks out of harm’s way.

The shot we gave up for the 5-on-6 goal we’re going to give up all day long. That’s the goalie’s shot. We wanted to protect the middle. They hit a few seams but again that’s outside the middle. Would we have rather give up nothing? Yes, but we wanted to give up stuff from the outside. I wasn’t worried because it wasn’t a mad scramble in front. If a puck did come in there and there were a lot of bodies we’d have more than them. -Bruce Cassidy

Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy was pleased after the divisional win and brushed off the late attack by the visitors. The Stanley Cup champions executed the model game plan by limiting LA’s opportunities and cashing in on their handful of chances.

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