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Hot, Cold, And William Karlsson

On March 6, 2023

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

The Golden Knights have been on a nice run since the All Star break, losing just one game in regulation and cementing their place in the Western Conference playoff picture.

Along the way, there have been a few big-time performers stepping up consistently helping lead VGK to goals and eventually wins. Despite all the winning though, there have been a few disappointments as well, players that will need to step up their game if the Golden Knights want to achieve the ultimate goal by season’s end. And then, there’s been William Karlsson.

We’ll start with the good.

Hot

Jack Eichel
8 goals, 6 assists, 14 points, +10 rating

There’s really no point in doing this list without starting with #9. Eichel has been on his best run as a Golden Knight since the calendar flipped to February and there are no signs of him slowing down. He’s scored goals in seven of the 12 games since the break, and has been on the score sheet with at least a point in nine.

Plus, the goals have been big ones. Eichel gave the Golden Knights a 3rd period lead against both New Jersey and Dallas, he scored twice in the 2nd period to put VGK ahead against Carolina, and his power play goal against the Flames sparked the Golden Knights’ comeback.

And on top of all of it, he just flat-out looks like the best player on the ice most nights. His powerful skating stride is breathtaking and his shotmaking ability at full speed is spectacular.

Shea Theodore
3 goals, 9 assists, 12 points, +8 rating

Theodore returned from his nasty knee injury a few days before the break. He didn’t quite look himself in those games and the results showed. Since, he’s been every bit of the dynamic puck-moving defenseman the Golden Knights knew they had when they signed him to a long-term deal four years ago.

He’s driving offense from all three zones again and putting teams on their heels with his ridiculous puck-handling ability. In the last nine games, Theodore has recorded at least four shots in five of them and he’s averaging nearly 22 minutes of ice time a night, lightening the load on Alex Pietrangelo.

Scoring from the blue line is not exactly the main focal point of the Bruce Cassidy offensive system, but when Shea is going like he is, the offense looks so much more potent.

VGK Have Plenty Of Younger Players, But Most Of Their Offense Comes From Players North Of 30

By Ken Boehlke

On March 3, 2023

In Team Ops

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

This season, the Golden Knights’ top two scorers are smack dab in the primes of their careers. Chandler Stephenson’s All Star campaign has the 28-year-old on 50 points in 61 games while Jack Eichel leads the team with 22 goals and has tallied 45 points in 48 games.

The next group of players on the Golden Knights’ scoring list are not exactly in their primes though. Six of the next seven top scorers (so 6 of 9 overall) are at least 30 years old. The first player under the age of 26 on the stat sheet is Paul Cotter, checking in as the 13th-highest point producer on the team, and expected to be a healthy scratch tonight.

Simply put, the Golden Knights are old, or at the very least, their most effective players are old.

47.9% of the offense has come from 10 players aged 30 or above. Only five teams in the NHL have received more ice time from 30+-year-old players, and three of them have won a Stanley Cup in the last six seasons. VGK’s 240 points from 30+-year-olds is 4th most in the league behind Washington (373), Pittsburgh (311), Boston (277), and the New York Islanders (255).

In the present, that’s really not a problem at all. The problem lies in the group of younger players behind 30+’s. The Golden Knights have used 20 players under the age of 30 this season, so there are plenty of 20 somethings to choose from. However, outside of Eichel, Stephenson, William Carrier, and for his age Cotter, that group has not made much of an impact.

Despite ranking outside of the bottom 10 in games played, VGK rank in the bottom five in goals, assists, points, and points per 60 by players aged 25 or younger.

Now, you may be saying, “ok, but Eichel is 26, add him in.” With Eichel included, the Golden Knights rank 25th in goals, 28th in assists, 26th in points, and 29th in points per 60 by players aged 26 or younger.

It looks even worse in graphical form, including when you add in 27-year-old Shea Theodore, and 28-year-olds Stephenson and Carrier

Golden Knights Defending Superbly Since All Star Break

By Ken Boehlke

On February 17, 2023

In Team Ops

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

Most of the focus over the past few games since the All Star break has been on the offense. It’s with good reason as a team that often goes through scoring droughts has posted 19 goals in four games with all but one coming at even strength.

The other end of the ice is where the Golden Knights have really been winning games though. Their ability to limit the opposition has helped allow the attack more time to work and it’s also fed the transition game Vegas relies on so heavily.

It’s not just the defensemen that are making this happen.

Part of the reason (our opponents) haven’t generated much is what we’ve done between the blue lines. I think it’s a combination of our forwards working really hard to get out of the other end and working back to help. It’s all gap related, if our D can have confidence to close their gap they’ll kill some of those plays knowing the forward will cover for them if they don’t get there in time. That’s just a team playing the right way and it’s best for the group if we play that way. -Bruce Cassidy

Where that has shown up most is Vegas’ ability to limit odd-man rushes. In the past four games, they’ve only allowed two true odd-man rushes, once against Minnesota and another against Anaheim. Cassidy also believes forwards reloading to help the defensemen in the neutral zone has helped their offense as well.

That’s the selling part for me. You tell the forwards, if you work back really hard and we’re on time there’s a pretty good chance you’ll get yourself a puck five seconds later with a chance to attack and I think we’ve done a good job of that. -Cassidy

There’s no denying the impact the group of six healthy defensemen have had on the game as well. With both Zach Whitecloud and Shea Theodore back in the lineup, the Golden Knights look more comfortable in every aspect of defending.

Continued Reliance On Offense From Defense In New System?

By Ken Boehlke

On July 5, 2022

In Team Ops

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

Over the course of his first few weeks as the head coach of the Golden Knights, Bruce Cassidy has shared quite a bit of information on his preferred systems of play. One of the constants that has come up is his appetite to see the puck on the sticks of the forwards a bit more in the offensive zone.

That’s not to say Cassidy is completely against the low-to-high play the Golden Knights have grown accustomed to using, but it’s not going to be Plan A as it has been for the past few years.

With it comes a fairly large concern due to the point distribution Vegas has seen over the past few seasons under Pete DeBoer.

Last year, Vegas defensemen scored 47 goals or 18% of the total output for the team. They had three players (Pietrangelo, Theodore, Whitecloud) with at least seven goals and saw the blue line generate almost a quarter (24.2%) of all team points.

Offense from defensemen has become a staple of the Golden Knights’ identity and they’ve just hired a head coach that certainly does not operate his offensive system the same way.

In his five full seasons behind the bench in Boston, defensemen never accounted for more than 34 goals in a season, typically amassed between 11-12% of the team’s goal-scoring output, and saw just three players in the last four years combined (McAvoy, Krug, McAvoy) score seven or more goals in a season.

	Goals	Goals/Game	% of Team Goals	Points	Pts/Game	% of Team Points
2021-22 VGK	47	0.57	0.179	167	2.04	0.242
2020-21 VGK	36	0.64	0.189	142	2.54	0.275
2019-20 VGK	34	0.48	0.152	133	1.87	0.230
2021-22 BOS	31	0.38	0.123	141	1.72	0.201
2020-21 BOS	18	0.32	0.110	100	1.79	0.223
2019-20 BOS	32	0.46	0.141	144	2.06	0.236
2018-19 BOS	31	0.38	0.121	155	1.89	0.222
2017-18 BOS	34	0.41	0.127	162	1.98	0.223

Hero vs Heel: VGK Swapped Roles, Now Do They Need To Swap Back?

By Ken Boehlke

On May 10, 2022

In Team Ops

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

Down the stretch of the regular season, there was a common refrain from most hockey fans, (four-letter word) the Golden Knights.

It seemed like everyone outside of the Vegas fan base was openly, and strongly, rooting against the Golden Knights, almost finding the adversity VGK were facing to be comical. Whether it was tweets directly from other teams or Twitter accounts banding together, it was definitely in vogue to cheer for anyone else in the Western Conference.

The Golden Knights took notice.

Everyone does, everyone roots against us, but it’s all about the guys that we have in that locker room, the ones we battle with. There’s nothing much else you can do. -Shea Theodore

But they still aren’t exactly sure why.

It’s a great question, I have no idea. -Theodore

I’m sad to think of (how the perception has changed.) We would see the last few games that the whole NHL was rooting against us. It’s sad to think that but it’s not necessarily because of one person that it happened like that. It’s just an accumulation of a few things that people were just irritated with us. -Jonathan Marchessault

Usually it’s something players shrug off as uncontrollable and in many ways unimportant, but when you look at the shift in perception from the Expansion team that reached the Cup final to the Year 5 team that miss the playoffs, it’s impossible to ignore.

The question becomes, is it healthy, is it helpful, and can it be harnessed?

Golden Knights 2021-22 Locker Cleanout Press Conference Audio

By Ken Boehlke

On May 3, 2022

In Team Ops

(Photo Credit: Ken Boehlke, SinBin.vegas)

The Golden Knights conducted their season-end media availability today at City National Arena. This is the complete unedited audio of every press conference.

0:00 – 31:47 – Pete DeBoer

31:47 – 1:07:24 – Kelly McCrimmon

1:07:24 – 1:23:10 – Alec Martinez

1:23:10 – 1:39:20 – Max Pacioretty

1:39:20 – 1:48:27 – Shea Theodore

1:48:27 – 2:01:44 – Jack Eichel

2:01:44 – 2:13:20 – Zach Whitecloud

2:13:20 – 2:26:48 – Mark Stone

2:26:48 – 2:38:01 – Jonathan Marchessault

2:38:01 – 2:47:46 – William Karlsson

2:47:46 – 2:57:56 – Brayden McNabb

Kevin Iole’s Deadline Blueprint

By Ken Boehlke

On March 18, 2022

In Team Ops

This season, diehard VGK fan and legendary combat sports columnist Kevin Iole will be delivering columns a few times a month on usually on Sundays. Today, Kevin lays out what he believes is the correct course of action for the Golden Knights at this deadline.

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

The trading deadline is Monday and in the first four years of the VGK’s existence, it was a joyous time. We were like children waking up on Christmas morning to see what Santa left under the tree.

There was no question that the Golden Knights were going to add at the deadline in any of those four seasons. The question was how big would they go?

This season figured to be no different. But then, the Knights have gone 11-14-4 since Jan. 1 and just completed an 0-5 road trip largely against the dregs of the league. The win against Florida last night was great, but it doesn’t change what has happened over the course of the last three months.

This time, the trading deadline arrives and the Knights are a team in disarray, no longer a Stanley Cup contender and perhaps a team that may play its way into the draft lottery.

The deadline will still come, and it’s clear the VGK need a lot of work — for next season. The bulk of that can be done in the summer, but this trade deadline can give it a start.

Here are moves I would make if I were Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon to help fortify the team for a run at the 2023 Stanley Cup:

1. Shut down Alec Martinez for the remainder of the season: There is something seriously wrong with the guy, and it goes well beyond getting cut in the face by a skate in November. Nobody in the game is tougher than Martinez, and the fact he’s not playing five months later is an ominous sign.

This season is lost; even if they somehow miraculously sneak into the playoffs, they’re not winning the Stanley Cup this year. So shut down Martinez for the remainder of the year and hope he comes back in September fully health.

McPhee Stresses Defense With Former NHL Defenseman He Drafted

By Jason Pothier

On January 26, 2022

In Team Ops

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

Late in overtime Golden Knights’ defenseman Alex Pietrangelo made an unfortunate turnover costing them an extra point in Carolina. The miscue stung but in reality, earning one point in a game that seemingly looked over was a nice parting gift. Unfortunately, players don’t see it that way. Especially, the players that make game-ending gaffes.

If it weren’t for Pietrangelo’s work in regulation it’s possible Vegas never even forces overtime. And for that, coaches, teammates, and some fans tend to cut heavily used defensemen some slack. Last night was a good example of that. It was Pietrangelo’s team-leading 29th shift of the game when his soft pass was scooped up by Andrei Svechnikov.

If you’ve got a good defense then you can be in every game. –George McPhee on Alz Caps podcast

McPhee joined one of his former draft picks, 12-year NHL veteran Karl Alzner on his podcast to talk some puck and the importance of reliable defensemen.

**The whole interview can be found here. It’s an excellent listen for any VGK fan.**

It’s clear the Golden Knights organization values top-tier defensemen. Acquiring Shea Theodore around the expansion draft, making an in-season trade for Alec Martinez, and inking Alex Pietrangelo to a loaded seven-year commitment should be enough evidence.

You’ve seen it with the Caps and you can see it with our team and other teams that have a lot of injuries this year. You can lose some forwards and hang in there. You start losing defenseman and you’re in trouble. –McPhee on Alz Caps podcast

For reference, McPhee’s first two picks in Washington were defenseman. Overall, while managing the Capitals McPhee selected 38 defensemen and nine of them in the first round. Including, choosing Alzner fifth overall in 2007. Clearly, it’s a position McPhee heavily values.

Golden Knights Shining With Own Net Empty

By Ken Boehlke

On November 8, 2021

In Game Analysis

(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

Throughout the course of this season the Golden Knights have been in survival mode. Whether the reasons have been self-inflicted or not, this version of the Golden Knights hasn’t looked anything like the ones we’ve grown accustomed to watching in the past.

Often times we hear coaches talk about the process over the results. Basically saying that over a long season it’s more important how a team is playing than whether or not they get a win on any given night. This season, the process for the Golden Knights hasn’t been great. They’re allowing far too many chances, the power play is pushing historically bad levels, and they aren’t finishing the opportunities to the same degree they are capable of. The results have been ok, but everyone’s aware they could be much worse.

There is one place where the process has been stellar, if not elite. It’s when the Golden Knights have trailed late in a game and have been forced to remove their goalie to push for the comeback goal.

Vegas has spent 11:40 with their net empty this year which has resulted in just one goal for and three against. Not exactly the results a team is looking for with the goalie pulled, but not terrible. However, the process has been excellent, and there was no better display of it than last night.

Trailing by two, Pete DeBoer opted to pull Laurent Brossoit from the goal with 4:08 left in the final period. At that moment, Vegas had Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Theodore, Nic Roy, Reilly Smith, Chandler Stephenson, and Jonathan Marchessault on the ice. With the help of a timeout 68 seconds in, all six of those players put in more than three minutes of ice time in the final four, and Pietrangelo and Theodore were on the ice for a three minute and 47 second long shift.

Golden Knights Must Manage Minutes Amidst Injuries

By Ken Boehlke

On October 30, 2021

In Game Analysis

(Photo Credit: Ken Boehlke, SinBin.vegas)

It’s no secret the Golden Knights are banged up. Heck, I think I’ve started every one of the last 10 stories I’ve written with some version of that statement. But the fact of the matter is whether it’s the play on the ice, the discussions off it, or anything in between, it’s affecting everything surrounding the team right now.

One such place we’re seeing that effect is in playing time. The Golden Knights have played a lot of hockey and traveled three times (one of which had complications) in the past eight days. Pete DeBoer is convinced fatigue is one of the main reasons his team threw away a three goal lead last night.

It’s that time of year, you look around the league and there’s a lot of blown leads. Teams don’t quite have things locked down yet. I think you combine that with five games in eight nights this week and some tired guys. We put some big minutes on guys with some of the injuries and I think we ran out of a little bit of gas and lost some momentum there. -DeBoer

Of the Golden Knights top four minute-getters at forward and defense, six are on pace to set career highs in average time on ice per game.

	This Season	Last Season	Career High
Stephenson	19:48	18:06	18:06 (20-21)
Smith	19:01	17:52	18:37 (15-16)
Karlsson	18:56	18:40	18:52 (19-20)
Marchessault	18:27	17:25	18:09 (18-19)

Pietrangelo	26:23	24:26	26:18 (15-16)
Theodore	23:28	22:33	22:33 (20-21)
Martinez	22:30	22:34	22:52 (17-18)
Hague	17:55	16:00	16:00 (20-21)

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Praise Be To Foley, Vegas Golden Knights Hockey Website

Tag: Shea Theodore Page 1 of 11

Hot, Cold, And William Karlsson

VGK Have Plenty Of Younger Players, But Most Of Their Offense Comes From Players North Of 30

Golden Knights Defending Superbly Since All Star Break

Continued Reliance On Offense From Defense In New System?

Hero vs Heel: VGK Swapped Roles, Now Do They Need To Swap Back?

Golden Knights 2021-22 Locker Cleanout Press Conference Audio

Kevin Iole’s Deadline Blueprint

McPhee Stresses Defense With Former NHL Defenseman He Drafted

Golden Knights Shining With Own Net Empty

Golden Knights Must Manage Minutes Amidst Injuries

Points To Elimination

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