Follow @VGK_Buzz With this COVID-19 induced hockey hiatus upon us, we at HockeyBuzz decided that creating All-Time teams would be a fun exercise. Unfortunately for Vegas, there are only three years worth of players to choose from, as the team began play waaaaayyyyy back in October 2017. Yes, it's too early for something like this. Do I care? No, there's no hockey.
At the same time, the roster has been pretty solid over those three seasons. There's a good mix of top-end talent and bottom-sixers. The defense has been a question mark, but I (or George McPhee in 2017) can make a competent group.
For the sake of the exercise, I looked at this like a coach in the NHL today. I didn't try to construct four "first lines", meaning the bottom-six can play the traditional roles. They aren't going to be strict grinder/enforcer types, as I like a fourth line that can chip in offensively, in addition to playing the momentum game. I also took play styles into account during line construction.
Without further ado, here are your all-time Golden Knights. Select justifications will be provided following the roster.
#67 Pacioretty - #71 Karlsson - #61 Stone #57 Perron(A) - #56 Haula - #19 Smith(C) #81 Marchessault - #9 Glass - #89 Tuch #41 Bellemare(A) - #10 Roy - #28 Carrier
#3 McNabb - #88 Schmidt #23 Martinez - #27 Theodore #15 Merrill - #6 Miller
Goalies: #90 Robin Lehner #29 Marc-Andre Fleury
Coach: Pete DeBoer
PP1: Pacioretty - Karlsson - Stone Marchessault - Theodore
PP2: Glass - Haula - Smith Perron - Miller
PK1: Bellemare - Stone McNabb - Schmidt PK2: Roy - Perron Merrill - Martinez PK3: Karlsson - Smith
Now I know you all won't agree with some of my choices. That's obvious. Let me take a stab at a few of the questions you may have after looking at this roster.
Marchessault on L3:
Cody Glass on the Roster?:
Nicolas Roy?:
Merrill/Miller Third Pair?:
Miller has seemingly regressed since his big 2017-18 season, but a change back to Vegas would be good for him. Merrill on the other hand is regularly squeezed out of the lineup, but his two-way skillset could be beneficial to the team, both now and in this hypothetical alongside Miller. He's extremely solid and has some offensive upside, even scoring a goal in his first game as a forward. Merrill is a gamer, is never overmatched, and can be in my lineup any day.
A Panda and a Flower Walk Into a Bar...:
Thoughts?:
- James Neal, LW (middle-sixer) - Paul Stastny, C (middle-sixer) - Brad Hunt, D (bottom pair, PP) - Zach Whitecloud, D (bottom pair, PK) - Nick Cousins, C (bottom-sixer with upside)
In the next day or two, I will start my series breaking down each Golden Knight, their skillset, and what makes them unique and/or valuable to the team. Be on the lookout for that. HockeyBuzz will continue to pump out quality work for your reading pleasure during these tough times.
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