New-look Golden Knights Ready for 2022-23 Campaign

Pissed off. Hungry. Ready to go. Having something to prove. Us against the world. Pick your 2022-23 Vegas Golden Knights bumper sticker.
Sound familiar? It should. The mindset which took the 2017-18 VGK all the way to the Stanley Cup Final is back. The largest difference between this team and the Golden Misfits who shocked the hockey world is talent. As in the current group has higher end talent and more throughout the lineup.

Vegas now boasts a team which includes Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, Alex Pietrangelo and a mature Shea Theodore. Those players are all superior to what the 17-18 roster boasted. The motivation from that magical season can never be duplicated but what's simmering in the VGK dressing room right now can get close. This group, no question about it, is motivated.
Lots of things can be measured on paper. Statistics can help to explain the past and provide insight to predict the future. It's what the experts rely on. Some things, however, can't be measured.
Hunger, anger, frustration and above all the push to prove others wrong is what made those misfits of Season 1 the most successful group in franchise history. No one on the outside believed in that group and the same can be said about the team new head coach Bruce Cassidy will ice in mid-October. People are excited to see the VGK fail. It's become a thing. The players know it. And it's going to drive them to succeed.
The NHL ran a poll on its Instagram account this week: Can The Golden Knights Make The Playoffs?

The results were decidedly one-sided with No being the overall theme. False narratives, which are inevitable in the echo chamber known as social media, abound. No one knows this better than professional athletes. For the Golden Knights, the doubts are nothing new. But they still get under the skin and provide an itch to be scratched. Winning being the only effective balm.
It's all guesswork, of course, just like the opinion about to be forwarded here stating the Golden Knights are poised for a huge season. So let's get it out there. Vegas will be back. In a big way. Jack Eichel will have a monster season and silence the questions about his health, ability and leadership. He's found a home in Vegas and a group which can support him, challenge him and elevate him.
Eichel is the centerpiece of an elite group down the middle which includes William Karlsson, Chandler Stephenson, Nic Roy and Brett Howden.
The impacts of health, a new coaching staff, internal improvement and a unifying desire to prove the outside world wrong will combine to make Vegas a top team in its division. Kelly McCrimmon and George McPhee have built a perpetual contender in Vegas with three trips to the final four in the club's five seasons. Season 6 will see a return to that status. This is the best set of skaters the team has ever iced heading into a season. No Vegas team until now has had an elite #1 center to go along with what they have in some of their best-in-class players like Stone, Pietrangelo and Theodore.
This week's addition of veteran playmaker Phil Kessel adds scoring depth and a power play threat the club was missing. Kessel will nicely fit in the top 9 with the utility to slide up and down the lineup and provide elite PP abilities.
Vegas has question marks (every team in a salary cap world does) but management has the cap space to address them if and when it's required.
"What about the goaltending?" the reader screams? True, there is no evident No. 1 in the group of Logan Thompson, Laurent Brossoit and Michael Hutchinson.
Here are our thoughts on this. Thompson has talent. He showed this at the end of last season when he almost pulled Vegas into the playoffs. Is he on the verge of becoming a consistent No. 1? We're going to find out. Incoming goalie coach Sean Burke is one of the best in the business. He'll have an impact on Thompson and can help him reach his full potential.
Injuries derailed Brossoit last season and he'll be better with health and the tutelage of Burke.
Vegas will start the season wondering if these goalies can get it done. If they can, great. If not, there will be options as the season unfolds.
There's also the impact Cassidy and his excellent record of defensive play. Bruce Cassidy makes goalies better.
Cassidy's Bruins were the best team in the league at defending high danger chances in 2021-22.
BOS: 9.46 HD chances against/60 at all strengths (1st)
VGK: 12.22 HD chances against/60 at all strengths (26th)
The defensive aspect of the game and not the offensive is what kept Vegas out of the playoffs last year despite the team running near the top of the league in man games lost.
The Golden Knights averaged 3.20 goals for per game which was higher than the combined average of the first four seasons at 3.19. Goals against, however, came in at 2.98 which was much higher than the 2.69 the team averaged in its first four seasons.
The team's high danger chances for per game number was higher at 13.09 than the 12.11 it averaged over the four previous seasons. High danger chances against was also higher at 12.37 than the 10.49 the team previously averaged.
So, the Golden Knights maintained their scoring and offense even with Eichel, Karlsson, Max Pacioretty, Smith and Stone having long absences but allowed 11 percent more goals and 18 percent more high danger chances against.
Lots has been made about the lost scoring with Pacioretty and Evgenii Dadonov moving on. The duo combined for 39 goals last season.
Using career averages from Eichel, Karlsson, Reilly Smith and Stone, a big chunk of those goals are made up. Add Kessel and his potential to score 20 goals as well as growth from players like Howden, Keegan Kolesar, Roy or any additions the team makes between now and the start of the season and the offense isn't a concern.
Depth at the forward group is not an issue. Take the top-150 under-25 forwards in goals scored last year and Vegas had five of them (Roy, Eichel, Michael Amadio, Howden, Kolesar), which ranked 11th in the NHL. That's a group of forwards that still has room to grow, both with development and increased opportunity.
Not to mention the possibility of prospect Brendan Brisson breaking through and adding an elite shot as well as some youthful energy and confidence.
There's an excitement inside the Golden Knights offices right now. The hockey calendar is back on schedule after the irregularity of the pandemic. Vegas missing the playoffs reverberated throughout the NHL but more importantly within the organization. It wasn't fun and it made for a long summer.
Fans were frustrated. Players even more so. Changes have been made and attitudes adjusted.
So, who is right? We're going to find out. See you at the rink.