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Vegas Golden Knights: Predictions For The 2017-18 Season

By Michael Joubran

LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 21: (L-R) Marc-Andre Fleury, Deryk Engelland, Brayden McNabb and Jason Garrison speak onstage during the Vegas Golden Knights Round Table Rally after the 2017 NHL Awards
LAS VEGAS, NV - JUNE 21: (L-R) Marc-Andre Fleury, Deryk Engelland, Brayden McNabb and Jason Garrison speak onstage during the Vegas Golden Knights Round Table Rally after the 2017 NHL Awards /
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The Vegas Golden Knights will begin their season on October 6th against the Dallas Stars.

In their first season, the Vegas Golden Knights will have a lot of fans watching them to see how they do. In today’s article I will be discussing some predictions that I have for the Knights this season.

Standings

The Knights will finish in 28th this season. They will finish the season with 31 wins and 68 points. While this is not good, Vegas is an expansion team so they should be one of the worst teams in the league. If the Knights finish anywhere in the top 20 I would be pretty surprised. They should be aiming for a top pick in the draft to keep improving their prospect pool.

Players

I believe that the Knights will have three 20+ goal scorers. I think that James Neal will lead the team with 28 goals with Jonathan Marchessault not far behind at 26. Reilly Smith will have a bounce back season and score 23 goals for the Knights. Their defence will be lead by Colin Miller who will have 31 points this season. Neal will lead Vegas with 51 points and Shipachyov will lead the team with 32 assists.

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Marc-Andre Fleury will start 64 games with Calvin Pickard as his backup. Fleury will win 24 games for the Knights, with Pickard winning 7 for the team. Obviously, all of these predictions will only happen if Vegas’ players stay healthy. If they do not then most likely these results will be far off from the truth.

Roster Moves

I do not believe that the Knights will make a lot of roster moves. I can see them making a few small trades, trading a pending free agent for picks and/or prospects. One player who I think will be traded by the trade deadline is Clayton Stoner. While his contract is horrible, if Vegas retains some cap, they could move him for a late pick. Besides that, I believe that Vegas will not be making many more moves.

Conclusion

The Knights do not have high expectations for the season. They are a new team in the NHL, meaning that their roster will most likely not be very competitive with the bigger teams in the league like the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Washington Capitals. They could have three 20+ goal scorers in Neal, Marchessault and Smith. And they could have a 30+ point defenceman in Miller.

Next: Expansion Draft Colorado Avalanche (8/30)

Just remember that this is all hypothetical. I believe that all of these predictions are achievable but I am not a fortune-teller.

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