Vegas Golden Knights: Who will fill out the third-line?
It may be the offseason but we aren’t short on talking points and storylines when it comes to the Vegas Golden Knights.
We are now one month away from the start of training camp and there is already a plethora of questions to answer when it comes to analysing what lies ahead for the Vegas Golden Knights in 2019-20. Will they be a Stanley Cup contender again? What rookie will win a roster spot on the blueline? Who, if anyone, will wear the “C” on their jersey next year? And will the top-six forward unit be as deadly and as potent as they look on paper?
We will try and answer all of those questions in the coming weeks but there is one decision the Golden Knights face that we want to focus on right now, and that is who will fill out the third-line now Nikita Gusev is gone?
Unless you were enjoying a deep sleep in the past week, you will be aware by now that Vegas took the gamble of trading Gusev to the New Jersey Devils in exchange for a third round pick in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft and a second round selection in the 2021 NHL Entry Draft.
That move ensures the Knights are $1,025,001 under the salary cap ceiling of $80,474,999 for 2019-20 and, as a result, the roster as it is currently constituted is likely to be the one that steps out onto the ice on opening night on Oct, 2, when the San Jose Sharks visit Sin City.
However, Gusev’s departure leaves a rather sizeable void to fill on the third-line with Erik Haula having also been traded to the Caroline Hurricanes earlier in the offseason. It seems almost certain that Alex Tuch, who recorded 52 points (20 goals, 32 assists) in 74 regular season games last year, will be a lock on the right wing with Cody Eakin acting as the pivot, so who will slot in on the left wing?
We’ve taken a look at the couple of options the Golden Knights have at their disposal with one an obvious choice, while we have also gone for a slightly out-of-the box contender to fill that left wing berth on the third-line. Let us begin…
Brandon Pirri – The Favorite
It was somewhat of a surprise that Brandon Pirri agreed terms on a two-year, $1.55 million deal with an average annual value of $775,000 on the opening day of free agency, given that the forward has failed to stick in the NHL on a consistent basis with the Vegas Golden Knights.
However, maybe President of Hockey Operations George McPhee knew all along that Nikita Gusev wasn’t going to be on the 2019-20 roster and, as a result, Pirri now seems the most logical choice to take the Russian’s place on the left side of the third-line.
Since being signed by Vegas as a free agent on Oct, 4, 2017, Pirri has recorded 94 points (47 goals, 47 assists) in 86 games for the Chicago Wolves in the AHL, compared to 21 points (15 goals, six assists) in 33 games for the Golden Knights in the NHL.
That has been the story of the 28-year-old’s career so far, prolific in the minors but he’s never been quite able to translate that to the majors, although he did tally 24 points in back-to-back seasons for the Florida Panthers between 2014-16, where Gerard Gallant just happened to be his Head Coach, so the two share a working relationship going back a few years now which could stand Pirri in good stead this summer.
And the evidence is there to suggest that Pirri can be a potent and dangerous scorer on a consistent basis at the NHL level. During their 173 minutes together at even strength last year, Pirri and Alex Tuch helped the Golden Knights outscore their opponents 11-1 (info per Jesse Granger of The Athletic). With Cody Eakin, who achieved career-highs in goals (22) and points (41) in 2018-19, between those two, there could be potential for fireworks on the ice from that trio.
After all, they did outscore the opposition 3-0 last year and they had one of the best goal-share totals of any line on the team last season, which is hugely encouraging for the year ahead even if it is a tiny sample size.
It seems likely that the job is Pirri’s to lose and it will be up to him to cement that spot during training camp. He can blow hot and cold, as perfectly illustrated by 13 points (eight goals, five assists) in his first 11 games where the Knights went 7-2-2 during that stretch, before going through an almighty slump in the final throes of the season which resulted in a seat in the press box for six of Vegas’ seven postseason contests.
If Pirri can add some consistency to his game then there is no doubting his quality and the firepower he can bring to the table. The Golden Knights have struggled to get regular secondary scoring from their bottom-six and they will be hoping that a third-line of Pirri-Eakin-Tuch could be the spark to provide consistent offense from lower down the line-up.
Tomas Nosek – The Fallback
If I was a betting man I would put money on Tomas Nosek starting 2019-20 as the fourth-line pivot between William Carrier and Ryan Reaves for the Golden Knights, although that could all change during training camp and that’s what makes this discussion so interesting.
As it stands, I’m against putting Cody Glass on the bottom-line due to his upside and the fact that I think limited minutes on a line that effectively serves the purpose of shutting down the opposition’s top lines won’t be beneficial for a rookie in his first year in the big leagues.
However, if the Knights do decide to go down that road then that could change things considerably, but we’ll get onto Glass and the domino effect of him being on the roster on opening night shortly.
Switching our attention back to Nosek and the 26-year-old is coming off career-highs in goals (8), assists (9) and points (17) in 2018-19, as well as hits (75), faceoff wins (62.1 percent) and average total ice time (12:28). In other words, he was lights out for the Knights last year and combined offensive production with grit and tenacity to devastating effect.
He has developed into a nice role player for the Golden Knights and he brings a dollop of physicality to the table with his 6’3″, 209 lb frame. His offensive output from last year suggests that he could slot in on the third-line and provide secondary scoring, and he could even better his numbers given that he will be playing with more potent weapons in Cody Eakin and Alex Tuch.
But, given that he is used to playing on a line with Ryan Reaves after the two played together for 18.89 percent of last year, it would be interesting to see Nosek replace the now-departed Pierre-Edouard Bellemare as Vegas’ fourth-line pivot and take over as the team’s faceoff and penalty kill specialist. Although, if Brandon Pirri can’t produce secondary scoring consistently on the third-line, Nosek isn’t a bad fallback option at all.
Cody Glass – The Darkhorse
Now, this is where it gets real interesting. As already mentioned in the previous slide, I am not a fan of Cody Glass starting 2019-20 as the fourth-line center for the Vegas Golden Knights. I would love to see the rookie on the opening night roster, I think he’s a stud in the making but I just worry that sticking him on the bottom-line between Ryan Reaves and possibly William Carrier may not be the best for his development.
However, there could be another potential route into the big leagues for the prospect, who is projected to be a top-six NHL forward and you can see why given that he has absolutely dominated at every level he’s played at, including for the Chicago Wolves in the AHL after he totalled seven goals and eight assists for 15 points on their run to the Calder Cup Finals.
Is it possible that Glass could be slotted in on the third-line as a left wing in order to get him on the opening night roster? It wouldn’t be ideal given that the 20-year-old is a natural center and that’s clearly where his future lies, but it would give the coaching staff and front office a chance to have an extended look at their asset in the heat of the battle in the NHL.
Glass has enormous upside and he looks destined to absolutely take the big leagues by storm, and his offensive prowess is there for all to see after accumulating a staggering 292 points (94 goals, 198 assists) in 239 games for the Portland Winterhawks in the WHL. Now, of course, that is junior hockey but it still takes a special kind of player to produce that level of scoring and Glass is certainly a remarkable talent.
It would be interesting and, to be perfectly honest, downright entertaining to see Glass and Alex Tuch on a line together because, in all likelihood, the two would feed off each other’s playmaking abilities and both would also benefit from having a two-way forward in Eakin alongside them, who could do the heavy lifting in the defensive zone.
This is the option least likely to happen out of the three candidates we have mentioned, although you could slide Glass into the third-line center spot, bump Eakin down to the fourth-line pivot and move Nosek or Pirri across to the wing on the third-line should Glass hit the ground running in the NHL.
Even if he doesn’t begin the year in the majors and carries on where he left off in the AHL, then it wouldn’t be surprising to see the center promoted to the big leagues later on in 2019-20 should that third-line need a spark in order to get some offense going.
Valentin Zykov – The True Underdog
Here’s a bonus option to fill in the third-line for you. Could Valentin Zykov be a contender for the left wing spot on the third-line? At the moment, it would seem that he’s at the bottom of the pack of the contenders.
And you can see why. Firstly, he’s almost become the forgotten man when it comes to evaluating the Golden Knights roster given his lack of impact in Sin City so far. He produced just two goals for two points in 10 games for Vegas last year, posting a plus/minus rating of -3 and was a healthy scratch for the postseason.
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He hasn’t been able to showcase his abilities on the big stage on a consistent basis and you would think that he’s currently in last-chance saloon territory when it comes to proving whether he’s good enough to cut it in the NHL. He’s certainly shown flashes of quality but he appears to be more comfortable in the AHL and he could well begin 2019-20 there with the Chicago Wolves.
At this stage, it would appear extremely unlikely that Zykov would even be an immediate contender for a role on the third-line given his body of work in the NHL, and that would only change if injuries struck in training camp or if the forward all of a sudden put it all together and went on an absolute tear.