Jets GM can see how Vegas hit jackpot

NEW YO R K Kevin Cheveldayoff knew the rules were set up for the expansion Vegas Golden Knights to be good, but nobody expected them to be this good.

The Knights, built through an expansion draft last June, entered Friday night’s action with 46 points, good enough for second place in the Pacific Division and the same number as the established Jets, Nashville Predators and St. Louis Blues.

“We envisioned there would be a level of players that would be very defensively responsible,” Cheveldayoff said.

“The rules were set up that they were supposed to get a good player from every team.

“If you look at that team, there really are no players who don’t fit in the NHL. They’ve been fortunate that they’ve been able to acquire some players that can score and they got some good goaltending.”

The Knights drafted veteran goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, but he’s not the reason for their success as he’s missed all but seven games due to injury.

What has really worked well is a balanced scoring attack from players like Jonathan Marchessault (12 goals, 31 points), James Neal (17 goals, 27 points), William Karlsson (15 goals, 27 points) and Erik Haula (13 goals, 24 points).

“The real key is the job their staff did to put together the team and the job their coaching staff has done to mesh the group together,” Cheveldayoff said. “The group has collectively done a great job.”