It’s not just the injuries. It’s the quality and value of the missing players as well as the length of time they’ve missed. This isn’t light and short hit. This has been heavy and long.
Vegas won the Stanley Cup last spring with Hill in net and Eichel, Karlsson, Amadio, Carrier and Theodore all playing large roles. Now they’re all out and so is aportion of the organization’s vaunted depth.
Cassidy and his staff, however, remain undeterred. The standard remains high and the results, after temporarily stalling, are among the best in the NHL. Vegas sits second in the Pacific Division, fifth in the Western Conference and sixth in the NHL.
“I liked our whole mentality. You need those wins every once in a while, it keeps the momentum rolling,” Cassidy said following Saturday night’s win which saw Vegas erase a two goal deficit in the third period with markers from Jonathan Marchessault, Pavel Dorofeyev and Brendan Brisson. “They could be the type of wins you look at later and realize it helped you springboard into the next game or next stretch. We’re going on the road now on a positive note with a lot of hockey in front of us. We should be feeling good about ourselves, and we’ll see what happens in Jersey on Monday.”
Cassidy is a no excuse guy. When his team receives a penalty and the general consensus is the referee messed up: “It doesn’t matter if you don’t like the call. It’s still a penalty and you have to kill it.”
Same goes for icing an injury depleted lineup.
“If we’re missing Jack Eichel, then we need Nic Roy to be a good version of Nic Roy. You’re not going to suddenly be able to take the puck coast-to-coast and back people off with your speed, but we do need the offensive part when we’re down low below the circles,” explained Cassidy. “I’m just using Nic as an example because Jack is out. Play your game. You’re going to get more minutes because guys are missing but stick to your game and play it really well. That is where the messaging comes from on my end. It’s always good when the guys are repeating the same message, because that means they believe in it and they’re aware of it. You can’t just replace a guy; it takes a long time to grow your game.”
Cassidy may be standing at the front of the boat but a lot of people in Vegas are pulling on the oars. Leaders like Alex Pietrangelo, Mark Stone and Alec Martinez have provided similar messaging. “Everyone has to be there best,” and “We have to sacrifice individual goals for the betterment of the team,” are sentiments echoing around the VGK dressing room these days.
Goaltender Logan Thompson is playing some of his best hockey of the season right now and his teammates have committed to limiting high danger chances against him. The result is just four goals against over the last three games. That’s a winning formula.
Saturday’s win featured five players who have played for the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights this season and 11 players developed by the Golden Knights – seven of which are VGK draft picks.
For the organization’s scouts, who either drafted the players or recommended they be acquired, it had to be an extremely gratifying win.
Much has been made about Vegas trading draft capital in order to win now. While that’s true to an extent, the organization hasn’t waved a white towel on development. Instead, they’ve been challenged to do well with the picks they do use while also looking for alternative ways to bolster the organization.
Finds like Brett Howden, Keegan Kolesar, Zach Whitecloud, Thompson, Hutton, Chandler Stephenson, Nic Roy and Amadio have flourished in Vegas at minimal cost in terms of personnel or picks going the other way.
Draft picks such as Dorofeyev, Paul Cotter, Brisson, Kaedan Korczak, Jonas Rondbjerg, Isaiah Saville and Nic Hague are all having an impact right now.
Winning the Stanley Cup is without question the proudest moment in this franchise’s history. But the pursuit of a second Cup began the day after the organization’s longest and most glorious night. It takes work and vision and commitment. The group has all that and more. What we saw last week is clear evidence.
