Over The Hump: Knights Stare Down Season’s Back Half

Fresh faces

Two signings and an offseason trade. That’s how the Knights moved into year two with a trio of veterans getting acquainted with life in Sin City. The team traded for forward Max Pacioretty, while signing Nick Holden and the crown jewel of the offseason, center Paul Stastny. Stastny came to the Knights on a three-year deal worth almost $20 million. The team also paid a hefty price for Pacioretty, sending Montreal a high pick and forward prospect Nick Suzuki, as well as forward Tomas Tatar.

While Holden has been steady as can be, missing just one game, the two offensive newcomers have had issues saying on the ice. Pacioretty played in 39 games so far after suffering an undisclosed injury in December and Stastny has played in only 22 games after being hit with a lower body injury in October. It wasn’t until December when the offseason’s prepared lineups finally aligned.

To recap:
* "All-American Line" of Pacioretty-Stastny-Tuch plays its first game together
* "International Line" of Carrier-PEB-Nosek is reunited
* Merrill in for Engelland and will skate with Miller; Holden will partner Theodore
* Fleury starts
I think that's all. #VegasBorn

— David Schoen 📰🗞🏒 (@DavidSchoenLVRJ) December 16, 2018

Despite their prolonged absences, each one has made their presence known on the team leaderboards. Pacioretty is fourth on the team in goals scored with 15 and is tied for second in offensive point shares with 2.5. Stastny has the fourth best shooting percentage on the team at 12.2 percent and is fourth in faceoff win percentage. He’s also found the back of the net six time and collected 12 assists.

The only new defenseman, Holden is third on the team in defensive point shares. He has 2.8, behind only Schmidt and first-liner Brayden McNabb. Holden’s 63 blocks are also good for third on the team behind McNabb and Deryk Engelland. While those three are the only newcomers to make their mark, there’s still time for Valentin Zykov, there’s still plenty of surprises from players who only made cameo appearances last season.

Paul Stastny is a wizard. Pacioretty does well to find himself some room in the slot, Stastny finds him, and we're tied. Big goal to get this game back in order.

— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) January 22, 2019

Even though he played with the Knights in their inaugural season, a whole two games, Brandon Pirri has become a fan-favorite scoring machine. Pirri has been a dream come true. Nobody leads to more curiosity and intrigue on the Knights roster than the young center.

In his first eight games with the team this season, he picked up seven goals and three assists. Pirri has become the face of Gerard Gallant’s ability to get the best out of players. He’s also been back in Chicago since the middle of January. It’s anyone’s guess when the Knights faithful will see Pirri back in the T-Mobile Arena, but if the team wants to make the leap they’ll need results from every newcomer to compete deep into May.

And no matter what happens in the end, fans will still pack into the T-Mobile and cheer for their Golden Misfits. As much as fans want to see the Cup hoisted down the Strip, they’ll cheer for their Golden Knights no matter what.