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Vegas Golden Knights: An interview with The Athletic’s Jesse Granger

By Andrew Steele-Davis

LAS VEGAS, NV - APRIL 16: The Vegas Golden Knights stand at attention for the national anthem prior to Game Four of the Western Conference First Round against the San Jose Sharks during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at T-Mobile Arena on April 16, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/NHLI via Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - APRIL 16: The Vegas Golden Knights stand at attention for the national anthem prior to Game Four of the Western Conference First Round against the San Jose Sharks during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at T-Mobile Arena on April 16, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 18: Jonathan Marchessault #81 of the Vegas Golden Knights reacts after scoring a goal against the San Jose Sharks in the third period in Game Five of the Western Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at SAP Center on April 18, 2019 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA – APRIL 18: Jonathan Marchessault #81 of the Vegas Golden Knights reacts after scoring a goal against the San Jose Sharks in the third period in Game Five of the Western Conference First Round during the 2019 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at SAP Center on April 18, 2019 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

VGK: This team as it is currently constituted is loaded and is a Stanley Cup contender for sure. What are your thoughts on the roster and the expectations for the Vegas Golden Knights heading into 2019-20?

JG: “I think the Golden Knights are one of the best five, six, seven teams in the NHL and once you get to the playoffs obviously anything can happen, we saw that last year when it was more true than it ever has been.

“The Knights should be competing to win the Stanley Cup. They should be first or second in the Division along with San Jose or Calgary, they should be a top seed in the playoffs and their goal should be to go far.

“This top six is really, really good, they’ve got some of the best wings in the NHL and if they are able to find a way to keep Nikita Gusev, then you’ve got Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, Reilly Smith, Jonathan Marchessault, Alex Tuch and Nikita Gusev – that is a disgusting amount of talent.

“If you put that with the solid center depth we’ve just talked about with William Karlsson, Paul Stastny, Cody Eakin, Tomas Nosek, Nicolas Roy and then you have their defence, which although it doesn’t have any individual stars, it ranked in the top five of basically every defensive statistical category last year.

“They were really good from Corsi to shot attempts to high danger chances allowed to scoring chances allowed and then you’ve got a Hall of Fame goaltender behind all of that in Marc-Andre Fleury, so this team has every piece that you would ask for from a contending team.

“Obviously this is hockey and things don’t always work out like the way they look on paper, but this team should be really good.”

Next. Reilly Smith Report Card. dark

VGK: Finally, you cover the Vegas Golden Knights extensively for The Athletic and this team has been a massive success story so far, so how much of a blast has it been to cover this franchise from the very beginning through to now?

JG: “It has been a blast. I was one of the more optimistic people just because I’ve played hockey all my life, I still play hockey and I love this sport and I thought Vegas would love it too, but even my optimistic view was still not positive enough.

“It has blown past my expectations and this city loves its team, it loves hockey now and it has been awesome.

“Obviously the first season was a miracle ride and getting to cover that all the way through to the Stanley Cup Final was amazing, so it has been a lot of fun.

‘And in my opinion this is the best locker room in hockey. They’ve got a lot of really good characters on this team, from Marc-Andre Fleury to Nate Schmidt to Ryan Reaves to Alex Tuch and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, who has just signed with Colorado, was one of my favorite guys in the locker room to talk to.

“It is just a really, really good group of guys and it is easy to see why they have a lot of success on the ice.

“It has been a lot of fun, this is my dream job and I’m pumped about it.”

Thank you once again to Jesse Granger who very kindly took the time to talk to us and give his expert opinion on all things Vegas Golden Knights – we are sure you will agree it was a great interview and we hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

You can read Jesse Granger’s full coverage of the Vegas Golden Knights on The Athletic. Get high quality local and national sports coverage for 40 percent off by using this discount link.

You can also follow Jesse Granger on Twitter on his personal account and on The Athletic Vegas account. 

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