One school of thought around trade deadline is a GM will add to tell his team he believes in the group. Kelly McCrimmon looked at his Vegas Golden Knights and saw a team he didn’t want to mess up.
McCrimmon knew from Day 1 of this season that he would likely want to add some experience on the wings of his forward group and made the first step in that direction when two-time Stanley Cup winner Brandon Saad became available in late January.
As the deadline approached, McCrimmon and his hockey ops staff determined they would like to add one more veteran winger and compiled a list of candidates. Reilly Smith’s name was at the top of that list and McCrimmon went to work.
Vegas sent prospect Brendan Brisson and a third round pick to the New York Rangers in exchange for Smith.
Smith’s return to Vegas is an across the board win with the organization, fanbase, coaching staff and most importantly his teammates.
The 33-year-old still skates well and his hockey IQ has always been a strength. Smith will fit nicely in the middle of the lineup and help on both special teams.
Saad has been a nice add and has put up three goals and five points in 10 games with Vegas so far.
Vegas has now won four straight games and is 7-1-0 in its last eight and 5-1-0 since coming out of the 4Nations Face-Off break.
When Vegas won the Stanley Cup in 2022-23 they were 22-4-5 after the all-star break capturing both the Pacific Division and Western Conference regular season banners before going 16-6 in the postseason and winning the Stanley Cup.
Vegas is deep up front, has one of the best D-corps in the NHL and a Stanley Cup champion goalie in Adin Hill.
McCrimmon has once again assembled a contender. It’s now up to the players and the Hockey Gods.
The Pacific Path
Winning the Pacific Division is looking more and more desirable with an arms race unfolding in the Central Division.
Vegas (82 points) holds a six-point lead in the Pacific over the Edmonton Oilers (76 points) and Los Angeles Kings (71 points).
The Golden Knights host LA on Sunday in a gargantuan Pacific Division matchup to conclude that season series and also has one more game against the Oilers to be played on April 1st in Vegas.
If the playoffs were to start today, (Pacific 1) Vegas would be playing the Minnesota Wild (Wild Card 1) in the opening round while Edmonton and LA would square off in the Pacific 2 vs Pacific 3 series.
In the Central, the top seed Winnipeg Jets would get the Vancouver Canucks (Wild Card 2) and the (Central 2) Dallas Stars would face the (Central 3) Colorado Avalanche.
Winnipeg, Dallas and Colorado all made major adds to their lineups on or around deadline day. Only one of them can reach the Western Conference Final.
All of hockey should be cheering for Dallas and Colorado to meet up in the first round to decide the Mikko Rantanen Cup. Rantanen has had a crazy month and a bit. Colorado traded him to Carolina and when the Hurricanes couldn’t reach a deal with the elite winger he was pedaled to Dallas.
Rantanen won a Stanley Cup with Colorado and was revered in Denver. Now he’s with the Stars. Sign us up for a drama-drenched opening-round matchup.
Top of the Hill
VGK broadcaster Shane Hnidy was watching Hill in his first practice back with Vegas after his stint with Team Canada at the 4Nations Face-Off when the long-time NHL defenseman remarked: “He’s been at the greatest goalie fantasy camp ever. His game will be improved.”
Hnidy was on the beam with his comment and Hill has been almost unbeatable since returning from the 4Nations. While Hill didn’t see any game action for Canada, he did spend two weeks taking shots in practice from some of the best players in the game. Sidney Crosby, Nathan MacKinnon. Connor McDavid and Cale Makar to name a few.
The result has been a refreshed and refined goalkeeper. Hill stopped 29-of-31 shots in his team’s 5-2 win over the Leafs on Wednesday and he has won four straight allowing two goals or less in each of those games.
During this stretch, Hill has a GAA of 1.00 and a .962 save percentage.
The win over Toronto was Hill’s career-high 23rd win of the season (23-10-4).
Hill has made 37 starts this season in VGK’s first 61 games which is the most in his career for a single season.
