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Vegas Golden Knights Report Card: William Karlsson

By Andrew Steele-Davis

LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 08: William Karlsson #71 of the Vegas Golden Knights waits for a faceoff against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on December 8, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA - DECEMBER 08: William Karlsson #71 of the Vegas Golden Knights waits for a faceoff against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on December 8, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /
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LOS ANGELES, CA – DECEMBER 08: William Karlsson #71 of the Vegas Golden Knights waits for a faceoff against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on December 8, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – DECEMBER 08: William Karlsson #71 of the Vegas Golden Knights waits for a faceoff against the Los Angeles Kings at Staples Center on December 8, 2018 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images) /

William Karlsson had a down year for the Vegas Golden Knights in terms of production in 2018-19, although he was still hugely effective for his team in other areas.

William Karlsson: Grade A-

We continue with our 2018-19 Vegas Golden Knights Report Cards today as we focus on William Karlsson who was brought back to earth a little bit following a stunning debut year in Sin City, but he was still a high-end performer on a night-to-night basis in the NHL.

His Season

After producing career numbers in 2017-18 in his inaugural year in Vegas with 43 goals and 35 assists for 78 points, William Karlsson set the bar extremely high for himself in terms of his ability and potential. The Golden Knights had unearthed a franchise center out of nowhere and they had a two-way forward on their roster who could dominate and excel in both zones.

Hopes were for Karlsson heading into 2018-19 that he could once again spearhead a run towards the Stanley Cup and, although his offensive numbers tailed off compared to the previous year, he still played a stellar 200-foot game and came up clutch for his team when they really needed him.

Such is the nature of playing for an expansion team, milestones can come thick and fast and Karlsson certainly racked up a few of them throughout 2018-19. He scored the fastest goal in franchise history after potting one against the San Jose Sharks just 14 seconds in on Nov, 24, which surpassed his own mark set against the LA Kings a year before.

He also became the first player in franchise history to accumulate 100 points with an assist against the Chicago Blackhawks on Dec, 6, 2018, before accumulating his 150th game in a Golden Knights jersey on Mar, 6, 2019 against the Calgary Flames.

Milestones aside, Karlsson was hugely productive for the Golden Knights even if his numbers did pale in comparison to the ones he put up the year before. The 26-year-old finished 2018-19 with 24 goals and 32 assists for 56 points, including seven power play goals and 14 points in total on the man advantage.

His shooting percentage came in at 14.2, which was considerably low compared to his percentage of 23.4 in 2017-18, and he had a 54.1 CF% and a 51.7 oZS%. However, as previously stated, the offensive numbers don’t tell the whole story and it wouldn’t do Karlsson justice to just focus on the fact that they were not the numbers he recorded the year before.

WINNIPEG, MB – JANUARY 15: William Karlsson #71 and Paul Stastny #26 of the Vegas Golden Knights discuss strategy during a third period stoppage in play against the Winnipeg Jets at the Bell MTS Place on January 15, 2019 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Photo by Darcy Finley/NHLI via Getty Images)
WINNIPEG, MB – JANUARY 15: William Karlsson #71 and Paul Stastny #26 of the Vegas Golden Knights discuss strategy during a third period stoppage in play against the Winnipeg Jets at the Bell MTS Place on January 15, 2019 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. (Photo by Darcy Finley/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Instead, let’s focus on the fact that Karlsson has achieved back-to-back seasons of playing all 82 regular season games for the Golden Knights, while he led the franchise in both faceoff wins (588) and power play goals (7). He also achieved career-highs in blocked shots (55) and hits (51), while tallying 73 takeaways which further underlines his status as an elite two-way pivot in the NHL.

Not only that but Karlsson also had a faceoff winning percentage of 47.6 and he was one of five players to record 20 goals, 50 blocked shots and 70 takeaways, while logging an average of 18:51 minutes of ice time per night.

Karlsson was also at the peak of his powers in the postseason, tallying five points (two goals, three assists) in seven games with two power play points, one shorthanded goal and a plus/minus rating of +1. He was relied upon heavily in the First Round matchup against the San Jose Sharks, eating an average of 20:25 minutes of ice time per game with a win percentage of 46.4 in the faceoff circle in addition to 14 blocked shots, nine hits and 13 takeaways.

It was another vintage year for Karlsson who has found a home in Vegas and, at 26-years-old, he’s just about to hit his peak and the Golden Knights were quick to react to that, locking their franchise center down to an eight-year, $47,200,000 contract with an average annual value of $5,250,000.

A down year in terms of offensive production was to be expected for a slew of Golden Knights players but, having proved his excellence in both zones having received votes for the Selke Trophy for the second consecutive year, Karlsson is a pivotal figure for this franchise and with another potent line made up of Max Pacioretty, Paul Stastny and Mark Stone on the roster, that should ease the pressure on Karlsson’s shoulders heading into 2019-20, which could see a surge in his stats for the much-loved Swede.

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