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Vegas Golden Knights: Who will fill out the third-line?

By Andrew Steele-Davis

LAS VEGAS, NV - FEBRUARY 16: Brandon Pirri #73 of the Vegas Golden Knights celebrates after scoring a goal during the second period against the Nashville Predators at T-Mobile Arena on February 16, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/NHLI via Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - FEBRUARY 16: Brandon Pirri #73 of the Vegas Golden Knights celebrates after scoring a goal during the second period against the Nashville Predators at T-Mobile Arena on February 16, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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LAS VEGAS, NV – FEBRUARY 22: Tomas Nosek #92 and Brayden McNabb #3 of the Vegas Golden Knights talk during a stoppage in play during the second period against the Winnipeg Jets at T-Mobile Arena on February 22, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/NHLI via Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV – FEBRUARY 22: Tomas Nosek #92 and Brayden McNabb #3 of the Vegas Golden Knights talk during a stoppage in play during the second period against the Winnipeg Jets at T-Mobile Arena on February 22, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/NHLI via Getty Images) /

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.

SAN JOSE, CA – APRIL 23: Tomas Hertl #48 of the San Jose Sharks faces off with Tomas Nosek #92 of the Vegas Golden Knights during the second period in Game Seven of the Western Conference First Round during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs at SAP Center on April 23, 2019 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/NHLI via Getty Images)
SAN JOSE, CA – APRIL 23: Tomas Hertl #48 of the San Jose Sharks faces off with Tomas Nosek #92 of the Vegas Golden Knights during the second period in Game Seven of the Western Conference First Round during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs at SAP Center on April 23, 2019 in San Jose, California. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/NHLI via Getty Images) /

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.

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