Golden Knights’ second act shaping up to rival their first
LAS VEGAS — Shea Theodore and Alex Tuch had to have faith.
When the Vegas Golden Knights decided to send them to the minors at the start of last season, Theodore and Tuch chose to believe what general manager George McPhee told them.
“The message was that we were part of the future of this team and he definitely saw us in that long-term plan,” Theodore said.
Within weeks, they were back in the NHL as part of the fastest-starting expansion team in history and played significant roles in the Golden Knights’ run to the Stanley Cup Final in their inaugural season. Each player got a long-term contract before he played his first game this season, and they weren’t alone as McPhee went about the process of turning Vegas from a oneyear wonder into a perennial title contender.
He locked up 75-point forward Jonathan Marchessault through 2024, signed faceof-the-franchise goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury to a threeyear extension, inked defenseman Nate Schmidt to a sixyear contract that begins next season, signed center Paul Stastny as a free agent and acquired big winger Max Pacioretty in a trade with Montreal. Those moves have paid off so far with Vegas five points back of first place in the Pacific Division and looking like its second act could rival its first.
“We have a couple guys signed long term, and it’s fun because it means that we have a core and we’re building something,” Marchessault said.
“You want to be part of a story as a hockey player, and it feels like we’re part of one here.”
The Golden Knights’ story was a fairy tale: A team that looked on paper like it would be among the worst in the league won its division and steamrolled to the final before losing to McPhee’s former team, the Washington Capitals, in five games. Marchessault said he felt in June like this team could be a legitimate threat for years to come.
McPhee’s job was to ensure that. The veteran executive who got to build the Golden Knights from scratch through a wildly successful expansion draft understood he had the benefit of not having to dig out from bad contracts. But he also shouldered the burden of drawing up a whole host of new ones after one season during which seemingly everyone overachieved.
“We did have a lot of work to do because most of the guys that we acquired were either free agents or were on one-year deals and their deals had matured and it was time to negotiate again,” McPhee said.
“And we just thought, we know what they are, we’re comfortable projecting what they will be in the future and we had the cap space, so why not use it now because cap space is like perishable inventory. If you don’t use it, it’s gone at the end of the year. We just wanted some cost certainty moving forward, so it would help us to plan for things better in the future.”
Fleury got $7 million a year, Schmidt, $5.95 million, Theodore, $5.2 million, Marchessault, $5 million and Tuch, $4.75 million. Fleury leads the NHL with 26 wins, Schmidt has played over 23 minutes a game since returning from suspension, Theodore leads Vegas defensemen with 21 points and Tuch and Marchessault are 1-2 on the team in scoring.
Beyond cost certainty, it was money smartly spent to keep morale up, raise expectations and get bang for owner Bill Foley’s buck.
“When you have a guy believe in you like that, sign you to that kind of a term, you don’t want to make him look bad and I think every night you want to go out and you want to play your best,” said Theodore, who is under contract through 2025.
“I think it’s been paying off for us and hopefully will in the future.” By K.C. Johnson
Almost casually, Robin Lopez boasted.
“I possess the unique ability to slip into a coma at any moment’s notice,” the Bulls center said.
What a tranquil talent. What a placid power.
The Bulls will conclude a five-game, 11-day trip Thursday in Denver. They’re back on Mountain time after two separate jaunts to the Pacific time zone.
Their days are filled with breakfast meetings, film study, trainer treatments and massages, meals, practices or games and, often, late-night flights.
And naps.
“If I don’t nap, I feel it,” rookie Wendell Carter Jr. said.
This might seem like mere frivolity, attaching an activity most associated with toddlers to professional athletes. It’s not.
Sleep study has become as much a part of the NBA as analytics. Teams spend plenty of time deciding travel schedules and the like to optimize sleep. On this trip, the Bulls stayed overnight in Portland, Ore., and Los Angeles following games rather than flying to the next city, which used to be the norm.
Sleep is as necessary an ingredient to players’ success as lifting weights or eating properly. After all, players’ bodies are the engines that drive their livelihood and the franchise’s success.
“NBA naps are a thing,” Zach LaVine said. “We nap a lot. I’m about to get one right now.”
Like anything else, there’s an art to the practice for some players, whereas others, like Lopez, can fall asleep at any given moment.
When he’s in Chicago, LaVine has a massage chair from which he’ll play video games and often fall asleep right there. On the road, he’ll watch TV before his nap, which comes after his post-practice or post-shootaround meal.
Bobby Portis, who always wakes up in time to eat pasta for his pregame meal, needs a dark room.
“I’ll be on my phone and then I’m just out,” Portis said. “I wake up and I’ll still be holding my phone or it will be near me. As long as the room is dark, I’m good.”
On home-game days, Lauri Markkanen has the additional juggling act of being a father. But he said spending time with his son relaxes him and often precedes his nap.
“I’m lucky. Whenever I’m home, my family understands this is my job. So I can sleep even if we’re at home,” Markkanen said. “I don’t mind if it’s even only for 30 minutes. You have to take care of your body. I just have to get up right away when I wake up and not lay there.”
NBA players seem different from the societal norm in their ability to fall asleep. They’re so experienced in the practice that they don’t feel pressure to fall asleep and miss the nap.
But they’re very similar to the general public about the fear of oversleeping.
“If I didn’t set an alarm, you guys might never see me again,” Lopez said.
Added Markkanen: “I check my alarm, like, 10 times to make sure it’s on and the volume is up. I don’t want to jinx anything. But I haven’t been late yet.”
LaVine not only sets an alarm to make sure he wakes on time but also often has his girlfriend call him as a backup.
“I’m knocked out,” LaVine said.
Players also have intriguing variables that can affect a nap’s duration.
Portis said his naps as a rookie were shorter because rookies are assigned the early pregame shooting-session times with assistant coaches, a schedule that is set by seniority. Lopez talked ruefully about his time with the Knicks, whose practice facility is in Westchester, N.Y. Most players live near there and then have to brave the commute to Madison Square Garden.
“You do have to adjust a bit,” Lopez said. “I could only watch one episode of my silly sitcoms instead of two before I passed out.”
But Lopez doesn’t just pass out. He also passes on his weary wisdom.
“Damian Lillard didn’t nap his first couple years. Then when I was in Portland, he started napping,” Lopez said. “And he said he felt completely different afterward. I’m damn proud of that.”