Recently, Jonathan Marchessault inked a six-year, $30 million dollar extension with the Golden Knights. I caught up with Marchessault, who talked about giving a "hometown discount" and why his contract is similar to Reilly Smith's.
HockeyBuzz: Regarding your extension, some people have said that you left money on the table. What do you say to that?
Jonathan Marchessault: Yeah, I think so too. But I liked it here. I didn't want to go further later in the year.
I'm happy here. I'm happy with this organization. My family was happy here.
We have a good organization; we have a good team. I wasn't looking for much better.
HB: This is your seventh pro stop in seven years. Did that play into your thinking too? Time to settle down, that kind of thinking?
JM: Exactly. I think also...one of our top players right now is Reilly Smith. It was good to have the same [AAV] as him. It shows that I have a lot of respect for him.
HB: That was really part of your thinking? Trying to kind of match Reilly's contract?
JM: Yeah, it was something that I wanted to have similar with him. I think he's a great player. I think he's probably the most valuable player to our team. I told him that I respect him a lot. I wanted the same thing as him.
HB: And when did negotiations begin?
JM: End of November, beginning of December.
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I followed up with Smith on what Marchessault said about matching contracts. He acknowledged, "He deserves the contract that he signed. I think everybody's happy about it. It's probably good for the team too."
Smith added, when discussing his friendship with his ex-Florida teammate, "He's a fun guy to have around in the locker room. He definitely keeps it pretty light."
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Like contests against the visiting Winnipeg Jets and Toronto Maple Leafs, last night's tilt with the Edmonton Oilers was a raucous affair, as a sea of orange's "Let's go Oilers!" chants dueled with "Go Knights go!" all night.
"It was fun," Pierre-Édouard Bellemare noted. "You hear half of the rink singing 'O Canada,' you're like, 'All right, here we go.' Gets you pumped up a little bit more."
Any game in T-Mobile Arena with a strong traveling fanbase has boasted this "event" feel.
Because it's the Golden Knights' debut season, more out-of-town supporters have marked these games on their calendar. Because of the home team's success, Vegas fans have been more emboldened with their rally cries.
It's truly a one-of-a-kind atmosphere. If you can, it's worth visiting now.
Unfortunately for the Knights, they couldn't rise to the occasion as they did against the Jets and Leafs, losing to the Oilers 3-2 in OT.
Winning Play
Watching Smith on this shift was a pleasure.
His man is Darnell Nurse, but just watch Smith's head on a constant swivel, picking and choosing when to help on Connor McDavid, all the while never losing sight of Nurse. While Smith misses on his two swipes at McDavid, this harassment, along with Nate Schmidt's ability to skate with the superstar center in tight spaces, eventually forces a non-threatening pass to Leon Draisaitl.
"A lot of the time, you have to be able to pick up speed with him and skate with him. It's just attention to detail," offered Smith. "You can tell different times when he starts to pick up speed when they have good possession. You have to take a good angle on him."
Most importantly, however, the Jonathan Marchessault-William Karlsson-Smith line isn't just defending. They turn the play around and put the McDavid line on its heels, drawing a penalty on Draisaitl.
After falling behind 1-0 to Edmonton, shifts like these helped Vegas take control of the game.
Pluses
Gerard Gallant went strength against strength, pitting the Karlsson line time after time against the best player in hockey. It says a lot about his belief in them, and their work, especially during the middle frame, justified his trust.
So Karlsson line has done reasonable enough job defending McDavid, but they've yet to make McDavid line defend. If they can do that, that might turn game in #VGK's favor
Unsung heroes on #VegasBorn goal: Carrier outmuscles Lucic to re-gain possession, Engelland makes good read to attack with Edmonton changing, then Smith makes McDavid defend pic.twitter.com/VUJ3Ir4haX
Love this angle, just total hockey from this trio: Smith destroys Russell on forecheck, Marchessault lofts a beaut, Karlsson fires it home #VegasBornpic.twitter.com/fjNVdcKrwz
What an outstanding period by Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith. Not just the goals, but the defense & putting pressure back on the McDavid line. The kid can't score if he's chasing you around
"We were too passive in the first. Maybe a little too much respect," Karlsson observed. "In the second, we got it going. We focused on ourselves. As long as we have the puck, the other team can't score."
The underlying stats bear out Karlsson's observation. At the end of the first period, his 5v5 Corsi was 2-7. After that, it was 10-3.
While most of the fanfare has been reserved for the Karlsson line, and deservedly so, one of the best moves that Gallant has made this season was inserting Erik Haula in Cody Eakin's place between James Neal and David Perron. Haula's speed has been a good match with the less-fleet-of-foot, more-quick-of-hands Neal and Perron.
Small example of why Haula works so well with Neal and Perron offensively. Haula's speed creates space for both, in this case, Neal #VegasBornpic.twitter.com/nm3vFIE09H
Freed from matching up against McDavid, this trio flourished, as Haula paced everybody with an 84.21 5v5 Corsi For %.
For what it's worth, Eakin's game is a better fit on the third line, and he's doing an honestly bang-up job there with Alex Tuch and Brendan Leipsic (I'm going to write more about them soon).
And though the Oilers scored the lone goal of the third, tying the game late, the Knights dominated 5v5 play in the final frame. According to Natural Stat Trick, they owned a 15-3 Corsi, 7-2 Scoring Chances, and 1-0 High-Danger Corsi For advantage. In all, this might have been the first game of the season which Vegas dominated but lost (44-26 5v5 Corsi, 24-18 Scoring chances, 5-3 High-danger).
"When you have five days of break, it's tough to get going," indicated Gallant. "I'm going to give my guys credit. I thought after the ten-minute mark, we played really well."
Minuses
"Speaking for my [power play] unit, we were a little too cute," Karlsson admitted. "Maybe more shots on net. Going to the net as well. A little simpler."
The Knights went 0-6 on the power play. Gallant blamed the four-day layoff, and certainly, rust is a factor, but they're also 1 for their last 23.
As I pointed out in my half-season stats review, they're simply not getting enough chances on the man advantage; they rank bottom-five in the league in that department. In terms of results, they're now 22nd in the league.
Scott Campbell of the Winnipeg Free Press (and former WHA/NHL player) offered an alternative but valid take:
You’re reaching on a lot of teams, here and there maybe. Their numbers are competing with strong first lines and a proven QB. Big difference.
As good as Marchessault and company have been at even strength, they're certainly not offensive superstars a la McDavid. And most importantly, the Knights lack a high-end quarterback, somebody who can help them establish possession in the zone with regularity and dictate play. Shea Theodore may grow into that role, but the 22-year-old isn't there quite yet.
So maybe 0-6 and 22nd in the league is to be expected? Regardless, I expect Vegas to have more of a back-to-the-basics "shot mentality" on their power play in their next game. Eight shots on six power plays is not great; Edmonton's penalty kill being arguably more dangerous is awful.
I've tracked #LetsGoOilers having one less chance short-handed than #VegasBorn have had on power play, which tells you all you need to know about #VGK's 0-6 PP effort tonight
Finally, we always hear get the puck deep, get the puck deep when you have the lead. Here's why:
It's a tough play for Brayden McNabb. But wow, McDavid. His acceleration turns Bellemare's sound defensive position into an outnumbered attack going the other way.
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