Golden Knights on a heater of a debut
Never bet against the house.
Now that we have that out of our system, let’s look at what’s going on in Las Vegas, where the Golden Knights are 7-1-0 to start the season. Everyone’s favourite pick to finish in the bottom three had the best winning percentage in the NHL before Thursday’s games. They’ve beaten the playoff-bound Chicago Blackhawks, St. Louis Blues and Dallas Stars.
And, unlike when the Minnesota Wild or Columbus Blue Jackets entered the league in 2000, they’re actually fun to watch.
In other words, this is not your typical expansion team. Nor was it ever supposed to be. The NHL set Vegas up for early success by altering the rules around its expansion draft and providing the team with players whom fans had actually heard of. But as commissioner Gary Bettman joked at their home opener a couple of weeks ago, did they do too good of a job?
Yes and no.
The Golden Knights, who have the 20th-highest payroll in the league, are winning games with their No. 1 and No. 2 goalies both injured, without a top-50 scorer and with their top free-agent signing in the minors. So how are they doing it? Well, some of it is smoke and mirrors, but also with a lot of depth, a little bit of luck and some surprising contributions.
You might also say they’re playing with house money.
“Everything’s gone our way right now. We’re working hard and competing hard,” head coach Gerard Gallant told reporters. “It’s all about a team with us. It’s a team game and that’s how we want to play.”
The highest-paid forward on the team — if you don’t include David Clarkson and Mikhail Grabovski, who are both on injured reserve and not expected to play — is earning every dollar of his US$5-million contract so far.
James Neal, who scored the game-winner in each of Vegas’ first three games, has six goals and two assists. It’s more than most had expected out of a player who missed most of training camp after undergoing major surgery on a broken hand in the summer. “Don’t jinx me,” Neal told Postmedia News earlier this year.
Goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury carried the Golden Knights through the first three wins of the season, allowing four goals on 107 shots. When he went down against Detroit with a concussion, backup Malcolm Subban continued the stellar play in back-to-back wins against the Bruins and Sabres. But then he suffered a lower-body injury during a game against the Blues, forcing Vegas to turn to its thirdstring goalie.
Like Fleury and Subban before him, 23-year-old Oscar Dansk held the fort. Making his first career start against Chicago, Dansk stopped 29 of 31 shots in a 4-2 win.