We’re almost there! Yes, opening night is less than a day away now and the Vegas Golden Knights have set their roster for 2019-20.
Hockey is finally back and the Vegas Golden Knights will get the new season underway against bitter rivals the San Jose Sharks in their home opener at T-Mobile Arena on Wednesday (7:30 p.m. PT) in the first of a tantalizing double-header between the two foes this week.
And the Knights have now confirmed their opening night roster with the obvious headline being the inclusion of young phenom Cody Glass, who looks set to begin his NHL career against the Sharks tomorrow night.
Jimmy Schuldt won the battle of the five rookie defensemen after Nic Hague was reassigned to the Chicago Wolves in the AHL, as was bottom nine forward Nicolas Roy.
However, there is a caveat at play here. The Golden Knights had to trim their roster down to the 23-man limit before the 2:00 p.m. PT deadline today, although their opening night roster currently stands at 22.
That is because forward Alex Tuch will begin the year on the IR with an upper-body injury, while Zach Whitecloud is also on the IR although he will head to Chicago once he recovers from his upper-body injury.
Cody Eakin, who is currently day-to-day with a upper-body injury, is on the opening night roster although it is unlikely that he will play against the Sharks on Wednesday, so expect either one of Hague or Roy to get called back up to the NHL at some point tomorrow.
Those are the finer details of the roster process and we will go over some headlines in a minute but, first, let’s go over the Vegas Golden Knights’ 2019-20 Opening Night roster in full:
Forwards
Jonathan Marchessault
Cody Glass
Cody Eakin
Defensemen
Jimmy Schuldt
Jon Merrill
Goalies
So, to break the roster down in numerical terms, the Vegas Golden Knights will carry 13 forwards, seven defensemen and two goalies into 2019-20. That is likely to change, of course, with either one of Nicolas Roy or Nic Hague in line for a call-up to the majors on Wednesday depending on Cody Eakin’s status for Game 1 of the new season.
Now, if you go by the Knights’ official Twitter account, they do have Alex Tuch listed on the opening night roster, but it is expected he will be officially placed on LTIR at some point on Wednesday.
Let’s now go over some brief headlines from the Golden Knights’ Opening Night Roster…
Glass makes the grade
We’ll go over this in more depth in a story we are planning for tomorrow, but after weeks of hope we have been rewarded after rookie phenom Cody Glass was named on the opening night roster to start 2019-20.
Granted, injuries to Alex Tuch and Cody Eakin helped Glass’ cause in the end but, make no doubt about it, he deserves this. He was outstanding for the most part throughout Training Camp and the preseason, recording three assists and displaying his sublime playmaking abilities.
Glass skated on a second line between Max Pacioretty and Mark Stone during the preseason finale against the San Jose Sharks on Sunday, and that looks set to be the second line when the proper stuff gets underway tomorrow night.
It has potential to be an explosive line given Glass’ ability to read the ice and make a play, coupled with the fact that both Pacioretty and Stone have a history when it comes to putting the puck in the goal throughout their careers. Plus, Glass and Pacioretty forged instant chemistry throughout the preseason with two of Pacioretty’s four goals being assisted on by Glass.
Paul Stastny will center a third line with Valentin Zykov and Brandon Pirri as his wings and, until Cody Eakin and Alex Tuch are back at least, the revamped second and third lines add some intriguing scoring balance to the lineup.
Schuldt comes out on top
The battle for the final roster spot on the blueline has been raging all Training Camp and Jimmy Schuldt proved to be the man after beating out Nic Hague, Jake Bischoff, Dylan Coghlan and Zach Whitecloud for the right to crack the opening night roster.
It was a close-fought affair with both Hague and Coghlan equally impressive in the preseason, but Schuldt was the bright young thing to come out of college last year and he now has the chance to prove he belongs in the NHL.
However, although he will begin the year with the majors, there is no guarantee that Schuldt will make the opening night lineup with Nick Holden also in the running to partner Deryk Engelland on the third defensive pairing after enjoying a solid preseason of his own.
Personally, we think a bottom defensive pairing of Engelland-Schuldt would be a more balanced combination and having younger legs alongside him would allow Engelland to focus on being responsible in his own zone, while saving his legs for the penalty kill where he is most effective.
Guess The Lines
Most of these are pretty obvious but, heck, let’s guess the opening night lineup card for the Vegas Golden Knights anyway:
Marchessault-Karlsson-Smith
Pacioretty-Glass-Stone
Zykov-Stastny-Pirri
Carrier-Nosek-Reaves
Merrill-Theodore
McNabb-Schmidt
Holden-Engelland
Fleury
So, there you have it. The 2019-20 Opening Night Roster is set, the players are ready and we’re ready. Bring on the return of the regular season and Vegas Golden Knights hockey!