4. Calgary Flames – Oct, 12
The Vegas Golden Knights will round off an extremely tough opening two week slate by hosting the Calgary Flames, who finished 1st in both the Pacific Division and in the Western Conference in 2018-19.
When you can boast a high-end talent in Johnny “Hockey” Gaudreau on your roster, then you are always going to have a chance to contend and the Flames have done a good job of surrounding their superstar forward with other potent weapons in recent years.
Matthew Tkachuk today signed a new deal and he enjoyed a breakout year in 2018-19 with 34 goals and 43 assists for 77 points, while he can also hit like an absolute train and provide a spark for his team with his physical play.
Sean Monahan tallied 82 points (34 goals, 48 assists), Elias Lindholm had 27 goals and 51 assists 78 points and defenseman Mark Giordano absolutely exploded offensively 17 goals and 57 assists for 74 points.
In addition, the Flames added a significant physical presence to their roster this off-season by trading James Neal for Milan Lucic in a straight swap and the latter will certainly help to protect the likes of Gaudreau and Lindholm.
This team has lots of depth, even more talent and they should be considered contenders for the Pacific Division again. They could arguably be Vegas’ biggest competitor for the Division crown and this will be an intriguing early divisional matchup between these two franchises.
Overall, the Vegas Golden Knights couldn’t have asked for a tougher start to the 2019-20 regular season but, if they can navigate those opening two weeks, then that will tell us a lot about the makeup of this roster as it is currently constituted.