Perfect is an almost unattainable standard. In fact Winston Churchill called it the enemy of progress. But the Vegas Golden Knights look across the dressing room at teammate William Karlsson and perfection is what they see.
With arguably the best hair in the NHL, an infamous Stanley Cup parade speech and the greatest goal scoring season in Golden Knights history, Karlsson is certainly an iconic figure around these parts.
Teammate Keegan Kolesar, however, says Wild Bill is different than all those around him in one major way. Karlsson, says Kolesar, is the perfect hockey player.
“I’m sure you’ve heard other guys on our team say it. (William Karlsson) Karl is just the perfect player. It’s really hard not to play well when you play with him,” said Kolesar.
It is true that when Karlsson is at his best so too are the Golden Knights. He led them to the Stanley Cup Final in Year 1 of the franchise scoring 43 goals. In Year 6 when the Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup, he raised his game down the stretch and into the playoffs putting up 11 goals and 17 points in 22 tournament games.
“(Kolesar) is just being annoying. Yeah. He's a pot stirrer but that's what he is. He said it on the radio the other night. And today he was telling me all morning, ‘how does it feel to be the perfect player?’ All, sarcastically. He's a good actor, I guess, if he sounded sincere during the interview. What do you want me to say? You know, I'm the best there ever was. Give me the Hart Trophy right now,” laughed Karlsson in his own very sarcastic manner. “I always try to play a two-way game. Try to be good in our end and try to produce points on the other end.
Head coach Bruce Cassidy has a great appreciation for what Karlsson brings to the team.
“Well, what I'm sure Keegan means is if you look at every facet of Williams Karlsson’s game he’s impressive. Forecheck, he's got a good stick and has good pace. Offensively, he can make plays. He's got a great shot and can finish. He plays on the penalty kill. He plays on the power play. We can put him in the bumper. We can put him on the elbow. It's a luxury for us to be able to move a guy in like Pavel Dorofeyev and move Karlsson to the second power play unit,” said Cassidy. “You have a guy like him with a great team-first mentality. He plays with whoever we put him with and there have been so many different wingers, and he’ll make them better, because of his accountability, his 200-foot game. When you look at his game, there's no area where you think that you must be careful here. There isn't. He's shown it here for years. You don't win without guys like that. He might be a little underrated throughout the league.”
Kolesar is known for being a jokester in the dressing room and he and Karlsson are very close friends. So maybe there was some mirth in his praise of Karlsson. But also some truth say his teammates.
“Yeah, Karly definitely makes it a lot easier. Keegan is definitely right. William is just an all-around player. He's just great at everything. Right? We see him score a lot of points. He always has good numbers. He is also so good defensively,” said McNabb, who along with Karlsson is an original member of the Golden Misfits. “When he is in the D zone he is just so reliable. Even recovering pucks and puck battles. He’s usually on the right side of that.”
For VGK captain Mark Stone, it’s Karlsson’s ability to make it easy on his linemates which makes him so special.
“I think he just does all the little things you want in a player. Obviously, there's no perfect player in the NHL, but what (Kolesar) means by that is (Karlsson) kind of touches the game in all aspects. He kills penalties. He takes faceoffs. He scores goals. He makes plays. He's on the power play. He’s out there 5 on 6, out there 6 on 5, out there 3 on 3. He just touches every part of the game, which is probably what he meant by that,” said Stone. “When you have a center that you can rely on being the first guy up the ice, first guy back down the ice, it can make some of your shifts pretty easy. So, it's what I appreciated about him while playing with him. I really only ever played right wing. You know, I never had to really fill in for any low assignments. He's up and down the ice as good as anyone. He was a 60 point guy last year and had a million different linemates. So, he can just play with anybody.”
