Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025 | 2 a.m.
Halfway through the regular season, the Vegas Golden Knights are atop the NHL standings.
Powered by a December in which they lost only two games, the Golden Knights have won 13 of their last 16 games. They are second in the league in goals with 99.
With 41 games under their belt and 41 remaining, here’s a midseason breakdown of the Golden Knights.
‘Surprises’ have helped Golden Knights’ offensive success
Coach Bruce Cassidy expected Brett Howden and Keegan Kolesar to have better statistical seasons after watching them in training camp. Still, that expectation likely didn’t include Howden leading the team in goals and Kolesar playing on the second line.
Coming into this season, the most goals Howden had in a season was nine. He now has 15 and is on pace for 31 goals. He’s tied with Ivan Barbashev for the team lead but will likely pass him as Barbashev has been placed on injured reserve.
He started the season at the center but switched to the wing, which amplified his game. Howden’s jump may have been unexpected, but it was critical, considering Vegas lost a handful of offensive pieces in free agency.
Similar to Howden, Kolesar has proven to be more than just a fourth-line aggressor. He’s already eclipsed his single-season career high in goals with nine and has tied his point total from the past two seasons with 18.
He’s projected for 37 points, surpassing his career high of 24. Cassidy said Kolesar’s speed and aggressiveness have allowed him to tap into his offense a bit more.
As of late, Kolesar has skated more with the Golden Knights’ second line than in the bottom six. He’s been a staple on the fourth line for years, but this season is proving he can be one of the Golden Knights’ key assets.
Howden and Kolesar have been rewarded for their improvement on the ice. In December, Kolesar signed a 3-year, $7.5 million contract extension with a cap hit of $2.5 million per season. In November, Howden signed a 5-year, $12.5 million contract extension with a cap hit of $2.5 million per season.
Jack Eichel, Mark Stone are a match made in heaven
It’s wild to think that Jack Eichel and Mark Stone weren’t skating on the same line together last season. However, with Jonathan Marchessault gone, Stone was the next man up to fill that wing spot on the first line.
As a pair, they’ve combined for 20 goals this season, meaning one scored and the other assisted or both assisted on a goal. As individuals, they’ve combined for 88 points.
Both those stats would have been higher if Stone hadn’t missed a month due to a lower-body injury. The new combination paid off for Eichel, who is on pace to have the best season of his career.
Halfway through the regular season, he has 42 assists, which ranks third in the league and 53 points, which is tied for seventh. Eichel also has the best plus/minus in the NHL at 27.
If Eichel stays at this pace, he is projected to have 86 assists, 109 points, and a plus/minus of 55. He has never eclipsed 100 points in a season, with his career-high being 82 during the 2018-19 season.
Eichel is also 12 assists off from passing his single-season career high of 54 assists, which was also set during the 2018-19 season.
Edmonton’s Leon Draisaitl and Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon are the current favorites to win the Hart Memorial Trophy at the end of the season. Still, Eichel should be included in that conversation.
There is no chaos in net
Through 41 games, the Golden Knights have played only two goalies for 96% of their games.
Akira Schmid played half of a game after Adin Hill was pulled in a 5-2 loss to the Carolina Hurricanes, but Hill and Ilya Samsonov have played in every Golden Knights game this season.
That’s an achievement in itself for the Golden Knights, as historically, by this time, they would’ve had three or four goalies. By the halfway point of last season, Vegas had played three goalies.
In 2023, while Vegas had played just two goalies, it’d go through five by the end of the regular season. This season has been different, however, as both Hill and Samsonov have been consistent and solid.
Hill is boasting a 17-6-2 record with a .904 save percentage and two shutouts. He also earned a selection for Team Canada’s 4 Nations Face-Off team.
As the backup, Samsonov has an 11-3-1 record with a .907 save percentage and has won six straight. It’s a redemption arc for Samsonov, as it was around this time last year that the Toronto Maple Leafs put him on waivers due to poor performance.
While it’s up for debate whether this tandem is more successful than Hill and Samsonov has not made goaltending a point of stress for Cassidy and the Golden Knights coaches.
Defense is finding ways to contribute on offense
One key component of Cassidy’s defensive system is having the defenseman be more involved in scoring the puck.
The Golden Knights’ defensemen have scored six times over the last seven games, showing how much the team can rely on the blue line to help the offense.
Shea Theodore has really embodied that effort this season. He’s known for his boldness with the puck, leaving his position at the point multiple times to skate the puck deep into the opponent’s zone.
That mentality has only benefited his stats this season. He has 33 points in 40 games, powered by 29 assists. Alex Pietrangelo has 18 assists, and Noah Hanifin has 15. Notably, all three of those defensemen have been selected to play in the 4 Nations Face-Off, with Hanifin representing Team USA and Theodore and Pietrangelo Team Canada.
Every Golden Knights defenseman who has played at least 30 games has scored at least twice, and only one of its defensemen has a negative plus/minus.
Vegas’ D-core has had so much success this season because it turns good play on its end of the ice into points on the scoreboard. Not many teams can be as offensively confident in its defense as the Golden Knights.