Golden nights in Vegas usually cost extra- year in review

[yave1964]

PRESEASON OUTLOOK They dealt Flower to the Hawks before the season to clear the way for Lehner to take the wheel, other than that they returned the whole team and were rumored to be in on Eichel. Nobody ould have thought anything less than a playoff spot was in their future, with a potential deep run.

 

FINAL RECORD 43-31-8 4th in the Pacific, missed the playoffs for the first time in team history

 

HIGH POINT OF THE YEAR Well November 4th was a huge day in team history, a couple weeks into the season they added Eichel in a trade, he had his surgery and worked hard to get back in the lineup. On the ice it was probably February 8th, a three game winning streak including convincing wins over the Bolts and the Oilers pushed their record to 28-16-3 they were a virtual lock for a playoff spot.

 

LOW POINT OF THE YEAR Well November 4th was a horrible day for the Knights season, they traded Tuch and Krebs and a bundle of picks, IMHO the trade easily cost them a playoff spot. Tuch and Krebs all year woulda more than made up for the couple of points they missed the playoffs by. Eichel hit the ice on February 16th (a loss) and they went into a tailspin, going 4-9-1 in his first 14 games culminating with an 0-5-0 road trip that included losses to bad teams in Philly, Buffalo and Coumbus.  The mad scramble to make up ground commenced and they never got there.

 

WHAT WENT RIGHT Marchessault had a fantastic year. Chandler Stephenson was one of the biggest values in the game. Theodore and Pietrangelo were one of the leagues top duos on the back end. Dadonov after the fiasco where his trade was nixed by the league caught fire and had a strong finish. Nicolas Roy had a great year in a supporting role so did william Carrier. Brossoit was a solid backup goalie. 

 

WHAT WENT WRONG Lehner was very human and missed a ton of time with various ailments. So many key players missed time

Reilly Smith 27 games. Eichel took three months after the trade to get on the ice. Mark Stone missed 45 games, Pacioretty missed 43. William Karlsson missed 15 games as did Janmark. Alec Martinez missed 56 games. On top of the man games these key veterans missed all scored under their career average points per game in spite of scoring being up everywhere. The Dadonov trade fisasco was egg on the face. They traded their first to Buffalo and have only two picks in the first four rounds.

 

FREE AGENTS Reilly Smith at 5 million wont return, though he may sign for less to stay. Janmark wont return either. Pacioretty has one year left on his deal and signing him to an extention is important going forward.

 

TOP PROSPECTS Pavel Dorofeyev is a scoring winger whose game hasnt translated yet but they think he could replace Smith in the middle six. Kaeden Korczak is a big tough stay at home 6/7 defender who should stick but has limited upside. Jack Dugan is another who might stick on the back end but doesnt really have much in the way of upside. In other words, the veterans need to step up because the farm system absolutely sucks. 

 

STRANGE STAT OF THE YEAR Dadonov was traded to the Ducks at the deadline but it was voided by the commissioner becsuse they were on his no fly zone. Here are his stats before the trade and after

 

BEFORE 62 games 15 goals 12 assists 27 points .44 points per game

AFTER  16 games 5 goals 11 assists 16 points average of a point a game

 

OFFSEASON OUTLOOK The team has fired Deboer, finding his replacement is the big move they will be looking to make. They are a veteran bunch and they have to hope that health gets better for Eichel, Stone, Pax, Lehner, ect.....

The big question is if they feel that Lehners lost season was a blip or if he needs replaced.  I think they are a playoff team if healthy but there is the age question and the cupboards are bare as far as prospects go. The window may not be shut but it is closing fast.