Vegas Golden Knights Report Card: Shea Theodore

Shea Theodore continues to go from strength-to-strength for the Vegas Golden Knights and the stud defenseman enjoyed a career year in 2018-19.

Shea Theodore: Grade A

We crack on with our 2018-19 Report Cards today by focussing on Shea Theodore who is now arguably the Vegas Golden Knights’ most valuable blueliner following yet another dominant year.

His Season

Shea Theodore is an elite, two-way defenseman who, at 23-years-old, isn’t anywhere near his prime yet but is currently playing at the peak of his powers.

After being traded to the Golden Knights by the Anaheim Ducks during the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft, Theodore enjoyed a strong first year in Vegas.

He posted six goals and 23 assists for 29 points along with a plus/minus rating of +5, in addition to 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in 20 games as the Knights marched their way to the Stanley Cup Final.

Following a brief spell in the AHL with the Chicago Wolves that year, Theodore hasn’t looked back and has transformed himself into a consistent top four defenseman, who still has his best years ahead of him.

He entered 2018-19 as one of the Knights’ best and most reliable blueliners, a tag he lived up to throughout the season.

And the year got off to a superb start before it even started after Theodore was rewarded with a seven-year, $36.4 million extension.

That signifiant show of faith by the Golden Knights paid off as the left-shot embarked on his best season so far in the big leagues.

He finished the year with 12 goals and 25 assists for 37 points in 79 regular season games, including nine points (four goals, five assists) on the power play.

Theodore achieved career-highs in games (79), goals (12), assists (25) and points (37), while he rode a five-game point streak between October 30 – November 8, 2018.

In addition to his regular season exploits, Theodore also tallied eight points (one goal, seven assists) with a plus/minus rating of +1 in seven playoff contests.

And the impressive stats don’t stop there, either. The 6’2″, 194 lb blueliner posted four multi-point games as he showcased his prowess in the offensive zone.

Theodore is your modern-day NHL offensive-minded blueliner and his superb CF% of 57.1 and oZS% of 55.5 is a perfect illustration of that.

Every Vegas defenseman, apart from Jon Merrill, had a higher CF% when playing with Theodore 5-on-5 than without him, which just shows how important the 23-year-old has become to this franchise.

But Theodore also excelled in his own zone and he consistently showed that he’s much more than just a puck-moving, offensive juggernaut.

He blocked 91 shots, dished out 27 hits but, and most impressively, had 82 takeaways in 2018-19 which not only ranked first among Golden Knights skaters, but was also third best in the NHL regular season behind Brent Burns and Jacob Slavin of the San Jose Sharks and Carolina Hurricanes respectively.

There is one blemish on Theodore’s copybook, however, and that is the fact he’s prone to giving the puck away, which he did 59 times last year with only Jonathan Marchessault (68 giveaways) turning the puck over more on the Vegas roster.

However, Theodore is still very much in the infancy of his career and he will have plenty of time to iron out any wrinkles in his game and fine-tune his play in the defensive zone.

One thing that can’t be understated is Theodore’s importance to the Golden Knights and how much trust he’s earned from head coach Gerard Gallant, as shown by the 20:06 minutes of ice time he logged on average per night in 2018-19.

And Theodore thrived on that extra responsibility, consistently coming up big when the moment really called for it.

Just look at his heroics against the Chicago Blackhawks on Jan, 12, when he surged into the offensive zone in the second minute of overtime before cutting to the net and slipping it past Chicago goalie Collin Delia.

Theodore is maturing into a leader both on and off the ice for the Golden Knights and he showed in 2018-19 just how high his ceiling really is.

The Stanley Cup window is wide open for Vegas and Theodore will have a big role to play in any potential championship success.

Before we get into explaining why we gave Theodore the grade we did, the two-way defenseman also enjoyed success on the international stage.

He registered seven points (two goals, five assists) as Team Canada won a Silver Medal at the IIHF World Championships in Slovakia.

So, overall, it was a hell of a year for Shea Theodore who still has his best years of hockey ahead of him and that can only be a huge positive for the Vegas Golden Knights.