Historic? Yeah. Unprecedented? You bet. Three wins short of one of the best sports stories of all time? Unfortunately for Golden Knights fans, yes. The inaugural season for the Vegas Golden Knights was spectacular on so many levels. Still, the pressure to repeat last year’s success has created some question marks for the 2018-19 season.
Being 500-to-1 odds to win the Stanley Cup, ESPN predicting them to be dead last in the league, and dealing with all the haters along the way saying it was a spoof, the Knights now face the task of proving to everyone that last season was no fluke. Here are some of the key question marks going into the upcoming season.
Will William “Wild Bill” Karlsson repeat last year’s success?
William Karlsson exploded onto the scene last year, putting up career highs in almost every possible statistical category — 43 goals, a league-high +/- rating of 49 (only Peter Forsberg has put up a higher rating among centers in the last 20 years), a Lady-Byng winner, and other countless accolades for the 25-year-old Swedish center. The stat is most intriguing was his shooting percentage.
Wild Bill posted a roughly 23 percent shooting percentage. One in every four times he shot the puck, it went in the back of the net. That is not very common and that level has not been repeated in the following season in the last 20 years very often. Only Alex Ovechkin has put up a shooting percentage in back to back seasons. So is it possible Wild Bill can repeat the season he had? Of course. Is it likely? The statistics are against him repeating.
Can Marc-Andre Fluery stay healthy?
If it wasn’t for a careless play by Red Wings forward Anthony Mantha that sidelined Marc-Andre Fluery in the beginning of the season, he would have been in talks to be a Vezina finalist, if not win it. His historic performance in the first three rounds of the playoffs got the Golden Knights to the Cup Final, and was arguably the most influential player on the Knights.
However, Fleury has struggled with his fair share of injuries in the past. He has had multiple concussions, in addition to other musculoskeletal injuries, and is in his mid-thirties. Nobody could be faulted for simply asking can he carry the full workload of being a number one goaltender while staying healthy. “The Flower” clearly wants to stay in Vegas after signing a three-year contract extension this summer. Hopefully, we will be seeing plenty of more saves like this in the 2018-19 season.
Does GM George McPhee make a big trade to put the Knights over the top?
Golden Knights general manager George McPhee lost some serious fire power from his second line from last season, losing James Neal to the Flames and David Perron to the Blues. However, he did grab the second-most intriguing center on the market in Paul Statsny. The big question now: Is he done?
McPhee has never been the type of GM to make big flashy trades. In his time with the Capitals before coming over to the Knights, he was known for building his team up through the system, and by drafting. With his luxury salary cap space he now has with the Golden Knights, he does have the prospects and the cap space to make the trade for someone like star defenseman Erik Karlsson, who has been reportedly traded countless times this offseason but never actually moved.
As amazing as the Golden Knights were last season, they came up three wins short of their ultimate goal. Is it a lack of true center depth? Maybe. A lack of a superstar defensemen (like how the Capitals had in John Carlson)? Maybe. Whatever that “piece” may be for the Knights, it will be interesting to see if McPhee makes the move is the opportunity presents itself, especially if the team starts out like how they did last season.
Can the Golden Knights create a new “chip” to have on their shoulder, like they had last season?
Coined as the “Golden Misfits,” the players (and even coaching staff) thought off themselves as outcasts. The players were not protected by their former team, and left out to dry in the expansion draft. They carried the chip into the season as a collective unit did not go unnoticed. They played with heart, passion, determination, and grit every night they stepped out onto the ice. When healthy, they were rarely outplayed.
The question now is can they recreate that chip they had on their shoulders all season in 2018-19. They are no longer the underdog. They are the defending Western Conference champions. Everyone is going to be gunning for them. This is something that cannot be really statistically measured, but can Gallant instill into these players to go out and compete hard every night. Can the leaders of the team like Fleury, Engelland, Bellemare, maybe even newly added veteran Paul Statsny, maintain the leadership roles that were established last season, even with the departures of Neal and Perron?
Can T-Mobile Arena stay rockin’ as the best arenas in the league?
Anyone who went to the Fortress last season was probably blown away by the atmosphere. It was electric. The players noticed it, too. Almost after every game, some Golden Knights player would make comments about how they have never really played in atmosphere like Vegas night in and night out. Even opposing players noticed how crazy the building gets, and that makes a huge difference. The question now is, what if things for the Knights start off not as good as last season?
There are bandwagon fans for every team, and every sport. To an extent, bandwagon fans are good because they grow the sport to new audiences. It is easy to cheer for a team who’s kicking everyone’s butt left and right. How about if the Knights have a losing record in October? Will away-team fans become more noticeable at the Fortress?
For the record, I don’t believe there will be a drop in support for the Knights because of how the city galvanized around the Knights last season. The Knight are OUR team. They weren’t a transfer, and they are now embedded into our city’s history. So even if things do go south for the Knights, I don’t believe fans will jump ship, at least not yet. The arena, the players, the sport, all mean too much to this city now.
