Coach intent on getting Knights rookies right

Rocky Thompson won’t take offense if the players he’s coaching during the Golden Knights’ rookie camp don’t ultimately want to play for him.

But you can expect the 24 rookies who will be under his guidance over the next six days to give him their best effort as they try to make a good impression and earn an invitation to the team’s inaugural veterans camp next Thursday.

Thompson, coach of the Chicago Wolves, the Knights’ American Hockey League affiliate, said he wants the rookies to aim high and play for Gerard Gallant.

But the reality is few, if any, of the rookie camp participants will be on the plane to Dallas when the Knights open their inaugural NHL season Oct. 6 against the Stars.

“We want them to focus on making the Vegas Golden Knights,” Thompson said Thursday at City National Arena on the eve of rookie camp. “If and when the pieces fall and they’ll be members of the Chicago Wolves we’ll

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do everything we can to help them get to the Golden Knights.”

The drafted rookies such as

Cody Glass, Nick Suzuki and Jake Leschyshyn don’t have to worry about finding a place to live in the Chicago suburbs. If they don’t make the Knights, they’ll be going back to their junior teams. For the free agents, it’s a different story. The AHL may very well be their final destination.

“Who gets to stay remains to be seen,” Thompson said. “But what we want to do is give them the best foundation to help them succeed.”

Thompson and his assistants,

Chris Dennis and Bob Nardella, will run the rookie camp and will be behind the bench when the Knights rookies go to Los Angeles to scrimmage the Kings rookies Tuesday and Wednesday at the Toyota Sports Center in El Segundo, California.

The rookies will play a system similar to one Gallant will run with the Knights.

Thompson and the majority of the rookies already know each other from the Knights’ development camp in late June. So that familiarity helps both sides.

“That was my first time seeing Cody Glass, Nick Suzuki and some of the free agents come in,” Thompson said. “But I had seen some of them play from when I was coaching juniors (with the Windsor Spitfires). So I have a pretty good idea about what they can do.”

Forward Reid Duke said of Thompson: “He seems very knowledgeable. I think the guys will play hard for him (in rookie camp).”

Development camp was a nice getting-to-know-you opportunity, but things are much different this time around.

The window to make a positive impression is short. The stakes are higher in trying to get invited back to the vets’ camp. Things figure to be more intense.

“The season’s right around the corner,” Thompson said. “Guys are going to be trying to make the team, and I think you’ll see the tempo pick up. This is the real deal.”

Contact Steve Carp at scarp@ reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.