The numbers speak for themselves. 22-4-5 to finish the 2022-23 regular season. 16-6 in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last spring. And now 8-0-1 to start the 2023-24 regular season. Overall, it’s 46-10-6 since last season’s All-Star break.
Sure, we’re early in this campaign, but there’s no denying that the Vegas Golden Knights are the best team in hockey. They have the Stanley Cup and first place in the current NHL standings to prove it.
All these victories do not happen by chance. There are a lot of things that come into play, from the aftermath of City National Arena’s hockey operations to the players on the ice.
What Vegas has right now is roster. From the owner to the management, including the technical staff and the players. They all agree on what it should look like and how to achieve it.
Vegas has been a consistent contender since joining the league in 2017-18. The earnings columns read like something from a pre-salary cap era.
Regular season record:
275-147-42 (.638, 5th)
Postseason record: (54-34, 2sd)
• Second most playoff wins in the NHL
• 2nd most won playoff series (11)
• Tied for 1st with four appearances in the quarter-finals
VGK head coach Bruce Cassidy spoke about this alignment this summer in an interview for the book “It Hurts to Win: The Official History of the 2022-23 Stanley Cup Champion Vegas Golden Knights “. The book is available now from The Arsenal.
“At the end of the day, Kelly is a very intelligent hockey player. When I talk to him about how I see the team, we align on how we want to play, our strengths, in the middle, the D-core, the things I believe in too. Yes, he did a wonderful job and did a wonderful job,” Cassidy said. “From the outside still, it sometimes looks like he got rid of all the popular guys to do it. Sometimes it’s business. If you want to win, these are the decisions you have to make, especially with a hard cap. I didn’t see him that way, I just saw him as a guy willing to make tough decisions for the good of the team. If this is a good fit for you, as a player, coach and person working for the team, then this is a great place for you. If you’re a little more sentimental, this might not be the case.
Hughes vs. McDavid
Two NHL coaches, Buffalo’s Don Granato and Washington’s Spencer Carbery, made statements last week questioning whether Devils center Jack Hughes should be considered the equal of Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid in the field of offensive engineering.
Granato on Hughes: “There is a case where you could say he is the best player in the world right now.”
Carbery on Hughes: “Looks like he’s establishing himself as a global talent: as good as anyone in the National Hockey League, from what I’ve seen the other evening.”
Hughes leads the NHL with five goals and eighteen points while the injured McDavid is stalled with two goals and eight points.
McDavid, 26, recorded a career-high 153 points last season, while Hughes, 22, also recorded a career-high 99.
McDavid has surpassed 100 points six times during his career. Hughes is yet to cross the century mark in a season.
Calling the NHL to ask about this topic, one could almost definitely separate the responses into two piles: Western respondents favored McDavid while Eastern respondents lined up behind Hughes.
This is a small sample size to start the season. If Hughes keeps up this pace, this conversation will only intensify. It should be fun to watch.
Butch’s bling-bling ring: Cassidy trained his 600th NHL game Saturday night. He was asked before the match the difference between match 1 and match 600: “Good feeling. Actually, it was the difference between 1 and 300. The difference between 300 and 600? We have some bling now,” the coach said before walking away from the group of broadcasters in question and looking over his shoulder with a cheerful smile.
Wild Bill Redux: William Karlsson scored 43 goals and 78 points in his first season in Vegas and both reached career highs. Since then, he has followed up with solid but less prolific offensive seasons.
Since last year’s playoffs, Karlsson has scored at a rate close to a point per game. The 30-year-old center scored 11 goals and 17 points in 22 playoff games and started the regular season with three goals and 10 points in nine games. Karlsson is tied with Shea Theodore for the team lead in points.
All while being one of the best defensive centers in the NHL.
“Nothing different,” Karlsson shrugged Saturday morning. “It just came in.”
Karlsson had an assist Saturday night in a win over the Los Angeles Kings to extend his point streak to six games.
The line of Karlsson, Michael Amadio and Pavel Dorofeyev has been excellent in the last two games with three goals.
