We are now one preseason game away from the regular season and the return of proper Vegas Golden Knights hockey can’t come soon enough.
Following the 3-2 loss to the LA Kings earlier tonight at T-Mobile Arena, the Vegas Golden Knights have just one exhibition game left on Sunday against the San Jose Sharks before the proper fun and games can begin on Wednesday, also against the Sharks funnily enough.
Preseason in any major sport can get pretty tiresome quickly and after six exhibition games so far, we are more than ready for opening night and the start of a gruelling 82-game regular season schedule. Plus, we are keeping everything crossed for a deep postseason run too, of course.
Back to the present day, however, and we are now on full countdown mode until Wednesday night when results matter and every point counts in what is going to be an ultra competitive Pacific Division.
The San Jose Sharks, despite losing Joe Pavelski, still boast a ridiculously talented roster with obvious stars such as Erik Karlsson, Brent Burns, Logan Couture and Evander Kane on the roster, although the likes of Tomas Hertl and Timo Meier will both be huge impact players for their team.
After going through a gradual rebuild, the Vancouver Canucks now boast an exciting young core headlined by Brock Boeser and rookie phenom Elias Pettersson, while the Arizona Coyotes should be a much improved outfit after trading for elite scorer Phil Kessel during the off-season.
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The Calgary Flames are loaded with talent and they will be gunning for the Pacific Division crown once again, while the Anaheim Ducks, LA Kings and the Edmonton Oilers will all have points to prove under new Head Coaches behind the bench.
It is all shaping up to be a riveting and tantalizing 2019-20 campaign and the mandate going into the regular season for the Vegas Golden Knights will once again be to contend for a Stanley Cup and avenge their First Round exit to bitter rivals the San Jose Sharks last year.
They are stacked with talent and boast a top six unit that packs enough firepower to sink a small fleet of battleships, while the Knights have a future Hall of Famer in Marc-Andre Fleury who continues to play at an elite level even at 34-years-old.
It should be a hell of a fun year and everything is in place to ensure this roster succeeds, not only in 2019-20 but also for the foreseeable future given how the front office have managed contracts of their star assets.
We also can’t wait for preseason to be in the books because, unfortunately, injuries are a part and parcel of exhibition games and knocks can befall any player at any time during the course of the preseason.
Take the last few days alone; Pittsburgh Penguins star and Captain Sidney Crosby is a question mark for the season opener after taking a puck to the body during an exhibition game over the weekend, while Vancouver Canucks stud Brock Boeser is currently in concussion protocol after taking a big hit last week.
And the Vegas Golden Knights were dealt a couple of blows tonight after Alex Tuch left the game with an upper-body injury, as did veteran forward Cody Eakin. We don’t know as yet the extent of the damage to either player, but the last thing you want to do is start the regular season without two key pieces.
The mission for the Golden Knights tonight will be to allow their lineup of stars to get one last tune-up in and get their legs going ahead of the regular season, while avoiding any more injury headaches and getting everyone through the game unscathed and ready for Wednesday.
This preseason has been fun in terms of seeing some of the fascinating roster battles play out, but we are more than ready for the regular season to finally get underway now and we can’t wait for all the thrills and spills that a NHL regular season entails.
Bring it on!