By Sean Gentille, Shayna Goldman and Dom Luszczyszyn The Vegas Golden Knights are not safe this season. Not as safe as usual, anyway. After losing Jonathan Marchessault and Chandler Stephenson in free agency, Vegas’s forward depth looks extremely thin on the flanks.
That makes them vulnerable. The Golden Knights are still a strong team thanks to their core and blue line, but compared to past seasons, they enter the season with more questions than answers. The projection On the surface, a 96-point projection might feel light for a team of Vegas’s pedigree.
The Golden Knights are annually treated as one of the preseason Cup favorites and this forecast has them closer to the wild-card race. A 2 percent chance at winning it all that ranks 13th doesn’t scream Cup contender. Advertisement Given the talent they’ve lost this offseason, the lack of talent they added and the 98-point season they just had, however, a 96-point projection shouldn’t be too controversial.
What it suggests is a team with a potentially volatile trajectory in front of them, to where it’s not difficult to see Vegas reaching a very high ceiling — or crashing down to a shockingly low floor. Everything rides on the bets the team is making on their wingers, a group of inexperienced players with some potential led by an oft-injured star captain. If that group looks better than expected, the strength Vegas has elsewhere will be enough to make the team a contender again.
If not...
a 96-point forecast may.
