Vegas Golden Knights: Oscar Dansk Wins NHL’s Second Star Of The Week
The Vegas Golden Knights third-string goaltender just earned some big praise around the league.
In the opening week of the season, Marc-Andre Fleury earned the second star of the week. He posted a 2-0-0 record with a 0.98 GAA and a save percentage of .973. Pretty impressive coming from a team just winning their first two games in franchise history. The Vegas Golden Knights kept their hot streak going since.
However, as time passed on, injuries to goaltending occurred. Not only did Fleury suffer a concussion in the teams only loss in franchise history but they also lost Malcolm Subban for approximately four weeks. It’s a shame because both goaltenders were starting to find their groove.
That means Vegas had no choice but to put in third-string goaltender Oscar Dansk. The team didn’t know what to expect from the 23-year-old netminder because he has no NHL: experience and a subpar AHL career. But as it turned out, Dansk has performed better than anyone ever expected.
The Stockholm, Sweden native earned a 2-0-0 record, with a 1.00 GAA, a .968 save percentage and the teams first shutout in franchise history. Vegas Golden Knights general manager George McPhee signed Dansk for goaltending depth. Dansk was always a promising young prospect as the Columbus Blue Jackets drafted him in the second round of the 2012 NHL entry draft.
Dansk never posted gaudy numbers in his entire professional career. In 2014-15, he went 7-7-5 with an atrocious 3.57 GAA and a save percentage of .880 save percentage. In the two years following he combined only for a 13-37 record for the Rogle BK hockey club SweHL. And his only appearance with the Chicago Wolves this season, he played in just one game giving up six goals.
Dansk has made all the timely saves and has done an excellent job filling in for the top two goaltenders. You have to think once Subban comes back, there might be a goaltending controversy for the backup position to Fleury. If Dansk keeps this play up, sending him to the minors would be a bad look for the NHL’s newest franchise.
General Manager George McPhee will undoubtedly have his hands full making that decision. Keep in mind Dansk can be sent down to the minors without waivers while Subban still has to go through waivers. Either way, Marc-Andre Fleury is still the undisputed number one goaltender for this hockey club.
Next: Vegas Golden Knights Suspend Their Biggest Offseason Acquisition.
This could be just a flash in the pan moment for Dansk as he’s had very little success in his pro career until last week. However, if this is the start of something new for the young goaltender, then Vegas Golden Knights fans are in for a treat. McPhee once again will look like a genius after every NHL general manager passed on the opportunity to sign Dansk.