Vegas Golden Knights 2017-18 Goaltending Tandem
The Vegas Golden Knights crease should be a strength in 2017-18.
The countdown is on for the Vegas Golden Knights inaugural season to officially get underway. As we draw near, we’ll preview all you need to know about the first professional sports team in Las Vegas. Today we’ll talk about the goaltending duo that will run the crease at T-Mobile Arena.
The Golden Knights acquired both goalies via the expansion draft back in June. One goaltender has experience and three Stanley Cup championships under his belt while the other still has something to prove. However, both netminders had sub par seasons for their respective teams.
Let’s start with the Golden Knights number one goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury. The Sorel, Quebec native had the worst season of his Pittsburgh Penguins career since his first full year in the NHL back in 2005-06 where he accumulated a 13-27-6 record, a 3.25 GAA and a .898 save percentage. Last years campaign was not much better despite having the most talented team in the NHL around him.
Fleury compiled a record of 18-10-7, a GAA of 3.02 and a save percentage of .909. Golden Knights fans aren’t going to be too crazy about those numbers, but Fleury quickly rebounded in the playoffs and was a key contributor early on for the Penguins. In the 2017 playoffs, Fleury had rock solid stats. He went 9-6, with a 2.56 GAA, a save percentage of .924 and recorded two shutouts.
While it was an up and down season for Fleury, he certainly ended on an excellent note by winning Lords Stanley for the third time. I expect a bounce back regular season for Fleury even if he doesn’t have the same talented Pittsburgh squad he had last year. He’ll get the bulk of the starts, and he gives Vegas the best chance to win.
He not only brings the skill and ability to the Golden Knights, but he also brings that much-needed experience that’s required for a winning formula. Not to mention, he’ll also use his teaching ability that he used on Matt Murray and groom the next man in line for Vegas, and that’s Calvin Pickard.
Pickard finished his first full year in league with the NHL’s worst team, the Colorado Avalanche. And that only means bad news for his stat sheet in 2016-17. He finished the campaign with a record of 15-31-2, a GAA of 2.98 and a save percentage of .904. Let’s be real, it was a miserable year for Pickard, but there are positives to look forward to in 2017-18.
Pickard is 25 years old and has a ton of time to develop into a solid starting netminder one day. And when the man ahead of him is a three-time Stanley Cup champion, he can be a fantastic mentor and motivator. Even if the Golden Knights struggle this year, they still won’t be as bad as the Avalanche last year. I expect an uptick in production from Pickard despite losing a lot of starts to his teacher. The Moncton, New Brunswick native will be playing in front of a defense that has much more depth than Colorado.
Next: Vegas Golden Knights Possible Line Combinations
With all that said, one of the Golden Knights strengths will come in goal. Offensively this group is going to struggle to score goals, and they have 10 NHL defenseman on their roster, so the coaching staff will have some tough decisions to make on a nightly basis. With the steady tandem of Fleury and Pickard, these two could be a force to reckon with if everything goes in the right direction. Goaltending will be one of the major factors if the Vegas Golden Knights make the playoffs in their first year of existence. What a story that would be.