We are on the cusp of preseason and the long-awaited return of Vegas Golden Knights hockey to our lives. Rejoice!
After a long and busy off-season that revolved around the Vegas Golden Knights’ daily battle with the salary cap, we are edging ever closer to having actual games to dissect, albeit contests that won’t hold too much meaning.
But, beggars can’t be choosers and it will be a relief to have some proper hockey action to watch, evaluate and then discuss with you lovely lot. After spending the majority of the summer talking about Nikita Gusev’s future, the slog to get salary cap compliant and minor roster tweaks, September and preseason hockey will be a welcome sight.
And it is set to be a busy few weeks for the Vegas Golden Knights who will have training camp, Rookie Camp and a full slate of seven preseason contests to contend with. There will be a few final roster decisions to make and it should be an intriguing month leading up to the bread and butter of the regular season.
Because there is so much going on over the course of the next few weeks, we at Vegas Hockey Knight decided to be nice by rounding up some of the key dates you need to be aware of as we prepare for training camp and preseason.
Rookie Camp
The action will begin with the 2019 Vegas Golden Knights Rookie Camp which will open at City National Arena. It will be a crucial camp for a number of rookies, including the likes of high-end talent in Cody Glass and Nic Hague, who will be given an early opportunity to impress the coaching staff prior to training camp opening.
The crop of rookies will take to the ice for their first session on Friday, Sept, 6, before heading to southern California for the Anaheim Rookie Faceoff from Sept, 7-10 where they will go toe-to-toe against other rookies from the the Ducks, Los Angeles Kings, San Jose Sharks, Arizona Coyotes and Colorado Avalanche.
- Thur, Sep, 5 – Rookie Camp opens – City National Arena
- Fri, Sep, 6 – Rookie Practice, 10:15 a.m. PT – City National Arena
- Sat, Sep, 7 – VGK vs. Colorado Avalanche, 1 p.m. PT (Rink 4) – Great Park Ice & FivePoint Arena, Anaheim, California
- Sun, Sep, 8 – VGK vs. Arizona Coyotes, 3 p.m. PT (Rink 3) – Great Park Ice & FivePoint Arena
- Mon, Sep, 9 – VGK Rookie Practice, 10:30 a.m. PT (Rink 4) – Great Park Ice & FivePoint Arena
- Tue, Sep, 10 – VGK vs. Anaheim Ducks, 3:00 p.m. PT (Rink 4) – Great Park Ice & FivePoint Arena
- Thur, Sep, 12 – VGK Rookie Practice, 3:00 p.m. PT (Rink 4) – Great Park Ice & FivePoint Arena
You can view the entire 2019 Vegas Golden Knights Rookie Camp Roster here.
Training Camp
The Vegas Golden Knights will officially return for Training Camp on Sep, 12, with the players taking to the ice for the first time the following day on Fri, Sept, 13.
Training Camp will allow Vegas fans an early opportunity to see their team in action before the regular season gets underway, and it will also give them the chance to see young studs in the ilk of Cody Glass and Nic Hague to strut their stuff and prove why they should be on the opening night roster for the Knights.
Although preseason hockey can become tedious very quickly, at this point we are craving some actual game action and, just in case you have forgotten, we have listed below the Golden Knights’ full slate of preseason games:
- Thur, Sep, 12 – Training Camp opens
- Fri, Sep, 13 – First on-ice session
- Sun, Sep, 15 – VGK vs. Arizona Coyotes (T-Mobile Arena) – 1:30 p.m. PT
- Tues, Sep, 17 – VGK at Colorado Avalanche (Pepsi Center) – 6:00 p.m. PT
- Thur, Sep, 19 – VGK at Los Angeles Kings (Staples Center) – 7:30 p.m. PT
- Sat, Sep, 21 – VGK at San Jose Sharks (SAP Center) – 5:00 p.m. PT
- Wed, Sep, 25 – VGK vs. Colorado Avalanche (T-Mobile Arena) – 7:00 p.m. PT
- Fri, Sep, 27 – VGK vs. Los Angeles Kings (T-Mobile Arena) – 7:00 p.m. PT
- Sun, Sep, 29 – VGK vs. San Jose Sharks (T-Mobile Arena) – 5:00 p.m. PT
All seven preseason contests will air locally on KTNV Channel 13 in Las Vegas, while fans attending any of the four home preseason games will receive a pretty cool collective bobblehead!
- Sun, Sep, 15 – Mark Stone Bobblehead Night
- Wed, Sep, 25 – Nate Schmidt Bobblehead Night
- Fri, Sep, 27 – Jonathan Marchessault Bobblehead Night
- Sun, Sep, 29 – William Karlsson Bobblehead Night
The regular season will of course commence on Oct, 2 at T-Mobile Arena against the San Jose Sharks but, and we don’t know about you, we are just thankful that preseason hockey is nearly upon us and we for one can’t wait for all the fun to start.
Expectations are sky-high for the Vegas Golden Knights heading into 2019-20 and preseason will give us an early opportunity to see how this roster as it is currently constituted is looking ahead of the regular season. Bring on the fun and games!