Thoughts and Predictions on the Pacific Division
3. Vegas Golden Knights
Last season Vegas finished with 98 points which landed them fourth in the Pacific and the second Wild Card spot.
This offseason Vegas added Alexander Holtz, Akira Schmid, Ilya Samsonov and Victor Olofsson. They lost Logan Thompson, Paul Cotter, Jonathan Marchessault, Alec Martinez, William Carrier, Anthony Mantha, Michael Amadio, and Chandler Stephenson.
This might be the worst Vegas team we've seen since they entered the league. The decision between who was third and fourth between Vegas and LA was a tough decision. Ultimately, what put Vegas over the top for me was their defence core.
Although I said this might be the worst Vegas team we've seen this defense core is still great. They acquired Hanifin at the deadline last year from the Flames and will get a full season of him paired with Alex Pietrangelo which should be unreal. Theodore's defensive game is starting to fall off but he still produces points and Brayden McNabb is a solid defenseman in his own right. I'm not the biggest fan of the third pair which is currently projected on dailyfaceoff.com as Zach Whitecloud and Nicolas Hague.
Where the roster is lacking is in the forward core. They added Olofsson from the Sabres who struggled last year posting seven goals and eight assists in 51 games. He is projected to be on the first line with Eichel and Barbashev who are both great players. Vegas needs a fully healthy year from Eichel which he has never produced in his full career. He only played 63 games last year and Vegas is going to need to see a significant jump in that if they want a successful season.
Another elite forward Vegas has that historically has struggled with injuries is Mark Stone. Stone only played 56 games last year and it has become almost a running joke that he is always injured but always healthy in time for the playoffs. This year Vegas can't afford for Stone to miss half the regular season and just be ready for the playoffs. They're going to need him for the full season and I'm not one of those people who think he was never injured when he was on LTIR.
I like some guys on the forward core like Pavel Dorofeyev who had a strong year posting 13 goals and 11 assists for 24 points in 47 games. William Karlsson is a solid third-line centre, Holtz is still 22 and I think there is still some upside there, and Hertl will get a full year in Vegas after being acquired at the deadline last year.
When it comes to their goaltending, Adin Hill is solid. He played 35 games last year posting a .910 save percentage, 4.96 goals saved above average, and 7.79 goals saved above expected. What I don't get is the bet they're making on Samsonov. Leafs fans are familiar with Samsonov and his struggles last year. While he isn't supposed to be the starter Adin Hill played in a career-high of games last season so Samsonov will likely have to play in a good chunk of the games. Trading away Logan Thompson to Washington and replacing him with Samsonov will be something they regret after this season.
If there are injuries to the core of their forwards this season could get uglier than I have them projected. As of right now, I think Vegas make the playoffs with how weak the Pacific is this year.