Tag: Zach Aston-Reese

Before each of his first two seasons in Las Vegas, head coach Bruce Cassidy expressed a desire to use bottom-six forwards on the penalty kill. The idea is to lighten the load on some of the Golden Knights’ best players. When push came to shove in the postseasons though, he didn’t do it, instead leaning heavily on Mark Stone, William Karlsson, and Jack Eichel.

This year, the roster’s makeup may force that to change.

Shorthanded Time On Ice Per Game
Jack Eichel – 1:57
William Karlsson – 1:53
Mark Stone – 1:35
Chandler Stephenson – 1:35
Nic Roy – 1:21
Brett Howden – 1:16
Tomas Hertl – 1:04
Jonas Rondbjerg – 0:59

When healthy, any time the Golden Knights needed to kill a penalty, Eichel and Karlsson would hop over the boards first, then Stephenson and Stone would follow. With Chandler signing a massive deal in Seattle, there’s a decent-sized hole on the VGK PK.

The first, and most obvious, replacement is Tomas Hertl. He has killed penalties for much of his career and is excellent in the faceoff circle, a quality Cassidy loves in his killers. But his fit with Stone isn’t great considering the lack of foot speed between the two of them.

That likely will push Nic Roy into a more significant role. He’s been paired with Brett Howden a lot over the last three seasons, but the results have been mixed. The two have allowed eight goals in 53 shorthanded minutes. That’s 9.05 per 60, which is nearly four goals worse than the elite pair of Eichel and Karlsson (5.19).

This is where the final winger position battle could come in. The leading candidates to fill out the VGK forward group are Alexander Holtz, Victor Olofsson, and Brendan Brisson. None of the three have been consistent penalty killers at any level, let alone the NHL. So, the door may be open for a guy like Jonas Rondbjerg, or even newcomers Zach Aston-Reese or Tanner Laczynski, to come in and secure that final spot.

Penalty killing is unlikely to be the top priority when it comes to position battles in training camp. But if a player like Rondbjerg, Aston-Reese, or Lacysnski can keep it close with Holtz, Olofsson, or Brisson, the added bonus of the PK will probably give them the edge.