Vegas Golden Knights: Cause for concern but don’t panic yet

Things change quickly in sports and the Vegas Golden Knights are certainly finding that out to their cost right now.

After starting the 2019-20 NHL regular season with a plethora of optimism, the Vegas Golden Knights have been brought back to earth with an almighty crash.

Following what was a solid October, a tough slate in November has started in the worst possible way with the Knights currently 9-7-3 on the year after a string of ugly losses.

In total, the Knights have lost six games in their last eight and they have just returned from a disastrous road trip, where they went 1-2-1 with the lowlight being a shocking loss to the worst team in the NHL in the Detroit Red Wings.

It hasn’t been pretty at times and the natives are starting to get restless with what was thought to be a Stanley Cup contending team nowhere near playing at the peak of their powers.

Now, it is important to note that we are only a month and a bit into the regular season, although we are rapidly approaching Thanksgiving which is when many experts draw a line in the sand when it comes to assessing where teams are at.

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As it stands, the Golden Knights are performing way below their potential and this roster is starting to show more flaws than we had feared were there in the first place.

For starters, this blueline is the team’s achilles heel and it is a huge, huge weakness in every way possible.

Whether it be costly turnovers, of which there has been many, an ability to get out of their own zone and a severe lack of production, this defense is in need of a radical makeover.

It lacks an absolute horse who can help with the transition zone, log big minutes, play solid defense and contribute some offense.

Shea Theodore and Nate Schmidt, the Knights’ best two defensemen, haven’t taken the necessary steps forward and the duo have just nine points between them this year.

There isn’t nearly enough balance to the defensive pairings, either, and rookies in the ilk of Nic Hague and Jake Bischoff have benefitted from not playing alongside veteran Deryk Engelland of late, who has completely fallen off a cliff this year.

Another ugly flaw, that was flagged during the off-season, is secondary scoring and that has been almost non-existent through the first month and a bit of the season.

The fourth line is what it is and they contribute in other ways but the likes of Brandon Pirri, who has just one point in 11 games, and Cody Eakin haven’t gotten the job done so far.

Alex Tuch‘s season has been ravaged by injury which hasn’t helped, while deploying rookie phenom Cody Glass on the woeful third line isn’t fair on the player, who should be playing top six minutes.

And even Mark Stone, who leads the team in points with 18 (eight goals, 10 assists) has found himself in a recent slump having not recorded a point in four straight games.

The only real saving grace has been the play of Marc-Andre Fleury who has been on a different level, and the outlook could have looked a lot worse for the Knights were it not for the considerable effort of their future Hall of Famer.

Through 15 games, Fleury has a 9-4-1 record with a 2.51 Goals Against Average along with a .920 Save Percentage, and he has been the biggest bright spot of the year for the Golden Knights so far.

Other than that, the picture is a bleak one for Vegas at the moment with the team unable to get out of their own way.

However, while all of the above is cause for concern, it isn’t time to push the panic button and lose your minds just yet.

After all, there is a lot of hockey still to be played and this team has shown in flashes what it is capable of when everyone is pulling in the same direction.

Plus, when you have an elite goaltender in Fleury, you are going to have a chance to win every single night, and it won’t be long before the likes of Stone, Paul Stastny and William Karlsson break out of their respective slumps.

It is also worth bearing in mind that the Golden Knights will have around $9 million of cap space available at the Trade Deadline and, as they have shown over the past three years, the front office won’t be afraid to go out and make a huge addition if they feel it will help to get the team over the finishing line.

Every team will go through slumps and ruts through the course of the regular season, after all, and the Golden Knights are currently trying to find that perfect formula to get through it and get back on track.

And, another factor at play here is the Pacific Division itself, which is currently led by the Edmonton Oilers with the Calgary Flames, Arizona Coyotes and Vancouver Canucks all above the Knights.

However, as good as the Oilers have been to start the year, have they got the depth to sustain this run? The same can be said of the Coyotes and the Canucks.

So, given the abundance of high-end talent on this roster, there is no doubt that the Vegas Golden Knights have enough to steady the ship and start to rise up the Pacific Division.

Don’t panic just yet.