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:
Simply put, Pacioretty puts up bigger numbers and is more consistent than Marchessault. Marchessault then could match up with young dynamic players, in a mutually beneficial partnership with Cody Glass and Alex Tuch. His experience will come in handy.
Cody Glass on the Roster?:
In his short time at the NHL level, Glass showed he can hang, when healthy. He was a legitimate threat on the power play, especially when set up at the side/back of the net. His passing and vision were huge for the team early on this season. When healthy, he's dynamic and being back at center should keep him playing.
Nicolas Roy?:
Yes, Nicolas Roy is my favorite fourth-liner in the Golden Knights' short history, which says something with a big (in Vegas) name like Bellemare's on the list. Roy has shown incredible speed, tenacity, and skill in his time with the VGK. He's been a bright spot for the team and he's made it impossible to deny his talent. Head Coach Pete DeBoer has spoken highly of the 22-year-old and his versatility. He went as far as saying he sees power play time in his future. High praise for the young center.
Merrill/Miller Third Pair?:
Colin Miller's blazing slapshot can be a real weapon, as we saw during the 2017-18 season. He led all Golden Knights defensemen with 10 goals and 31 assists. He was great for the team and very serviceable, including operating as the number one defenseman in 2018-19, while Nate Schmidt was suspended.
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...:
Robin Lehner (Panda) and Marc-Andre Fleury (Flower) are both high-level goaltenders who found themselves in an elite tandem together post-trade deadline. An even 50/50 split was employed by DeBoer and Lehner showed why Kelly McCrimmon traded for his services. He's just so good and so cool and collected in goal. As the younger goalie, with better numbers, Lehner gets the lionshare of starts in my net. A 65/35 game share seems about right.
Thoughts?:
Hit me with your thoughts in the comment section. If you have a better team or line combos, I'd love to hear about them. A few players were tough to leave off the list, but it had to be done. Below are the honorable mentions I had to leave off my list.
- 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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