Knights 2024 review

[yave1964]

PRESEASON OUTLOOK Well they won the Championship the year before and more or less returned the same team, so everyone expected them to fight to repeat

 

FINAL RECORD 45-29-8 98 points, fourth in Pacific, 8th in the West. Lost in a spirited 7 game series to Dallas

 

STRANGE STAT OF THE YEAR This is a team loaded with veteran firepower, a serious bunch of explosive players, yet for all of that it is surprising that they are 20th in power play. This team was soft, 4th in the league in total penalties and led all of the NHL in the least amount of minor penalties

 

HIGH POINT OF THE YEAR Trade deadline. Added Tomas Hertl in a mindblowing surprise move, added Hanifin moving Stone to IR to make it all work causing fans of 31 NHL fans scream foul. 

  On the ice the high point was their torrid start, going 11-0-1 to begin the year, culminating with a convincing 7-0 victory over the Avalanche.

 

LOW POINT OF THE YEAR Getting picky, after that amazing start, for the rest of the year total they were only 4 games over .500. After beating Edmonton and AriUtah, in early Febraury they sat at 31-15-6 then it all fell apart. They went on a skid going 2-8-1 and were actually in danger of missing the playoffs before sort of righting the ship.

 

WHAT WENT RIGHT Marchessault led the team in scoring and had 42 goals. Eichel had 68 points in 63 games. Hanifin was brilliant in the postseason. The two goalies were damn solid. Stone had a point a game pace. Stephenson was fantastic. Theodore scored at nearly a point a game. Roy was solid. Amadio and Doroyefev provided secondary scoring. Barbachev was very good, McNabb was arguably the best defender. 

 

WHAT WENT WRONG Karlsson and Stephenson dissapeared against Dallas. This is an old team, they suffered a ton of injuries, Pietrangelo (18 games) was very ordinary, Eichel (19), Karlsson (12), Stone (26), Theodore (35), Roy (12), Martinez (27) missed a massive amount of games. Hague took a step back in his game. Kolesar was the enforcer but manged only 49 PIMs. Cotter and Howden did little. 

 

FREE AGENTS  HUGE decisions to be made, Marchessault is an UFA and is the heart of this club. Stephenson is a brilliant player who does everything right and will be highly in demand around the league, I seriously doubt they can retain both. Amadio, Mantha and Kolesar are complimentary spear carriers they may be able to keep one of them tops. Alec Martinez wont be back, the leagues best shot blocker has been repalced by Hanifin. 

  They have a first round pick but traded away their second, third and fourth.

 They also have very tough decisions going forward, Hill, McNabb, Theodore, Thompson and Howden are free agents the year after next. This is a critical offseason for the Knights as they are older and need to make decisions about how they see themselves going forward.

 

TOP PROSPECTS Lukas Cormier is the teams best defenseman and arguably their top prospect, he can move the puck but is a turnover machine at this point in his growth. Brendan Brisson is a decent middle six winger, likely a third rounder who will take Manthas spot possibly. I cant lie, i dont see much ehre to like. 

 

OFFSEASON QUESTION MARKS Bruce Cassidy may have 30-35 percent of his core players either gone or going by opening day. Can the Knights in todays cap era repace MARCHESSAULT AND sTEPHENESON or somehow manage to keep one? If so, which one? Injuries ravaged the older club last year with a longer recovery period with being bounced in the first round will they be able to stay healthy next year? Pietrangelo was very slow and ordinary, can he bounce back? Stone, Karlsson, Pietrangelo, Hertl and McNabb are all on the wrong side of 30,  so are Stephenson and Marchessault as well, can all of them bounce back?

  

Edited May 17 by yave1964