Vegas Golden Knights: Winners / Losers of the NHL Stoppage
The sports world is currently on hiatus due to the ongoing coronavirus crisis, and there are some clear winners and losers for the Vegas Golden Knights because of the stoppage.
We are entering week three of no sports and the Vegas Golden Knights are on lockdown with the rest of the NHL.
At the time of the pause button being hit on the 2019-20 regular season, the Golden Knights were sitting pretty at the top of the Pacific Division with 11 games remaining before the playoffs.
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Hitting their stride at just the right time, it appeared as though the Knights would dominate down the stretch, building some vital momentum before getting ready to do battle in the heat of the postseason.
On the flip side of that, though, Vegas was also pretty banged up with a slew of key players nursing various ailments.
As a result, and as frustrating as this current sporting hiatus it is, there are some winners to emerge from this whole mess as well as losers.
We decided to take a look at the Vegas Golden Knights players who have actually gained something from this lockdown, in addition to the ones who could lose out big time.
Let’s delve in…
Winner #1 – Injured Players
Before the NHL hit the pause button on the 2019-20 regular season, the Vegas Golden Knights were getting ready to take on the Minnesota Wild without a bevy of key players.
Mark Stone (lower-body) and Alex Tuch (lower-body) were already missing for the Knights, while Cody Glass saw his rookie year come to a premature end after undergoing knee surgery.
But then the Golden Knights were dealt two more body blows after Chandler Stephenson went down with a wrist injury, before Max Pacioretty was rated as week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
The Pacioretty injury was a cruel body blow in particular given the year the veteran was carving out, recording 66 points (32 goals, 34 assists) in 71 games.
However, if hockey does return this year then the above players will be big winners in the wake of this current hiatus.
After all, Stephenson was a game-time decision for the Wild game while Stone was expected to be back before the end of the regular season.
The current stoppage will allow all of the walking wounded the chance to get back fit and raring to go, which will be good news for the Golden Knights come playoff time.
Loser #1 – Shea Theodore
Although the season may not be over yet, it will be a crying shame for Shea Theodore if he can’t finish what he started.
After missing some of Training Camp following a scary battle with Cancer, Theodore has taken the next step this year towards morphing into one of the best two-way defensemen in the entire NHL.
Emerging as one of the Golden Knights’ most consistent players all year, the 24-year-old was busy carving out a career-year prior to the hiatus.
Achieving career-highs in goals (13), assists (33), points (46) and power play points (16), Theodore was on track to pad out those numbers even more before the postseason got underway.
As such, Theodore may have to settle for the points he put up prior to the hiatus even if hockey does return, with a jump straight into the playoffs looking the most feasible option at the moment.
But, if the season doesn’t return at all, it will be a travesty that Shea Theodore didn’t get the opportunity to put the icing on top of the cake of what was a coming-out year.
Winner #2 – Marc-Andre Fleury
This has been a tough year for the future Hall of Famer who lost his Dad before Christmas, while he has suffered a regression in his game on the ice too.
While he began to settle into a groove prior to the hiatus, this current stoppage will allow Fleury the opportunity to recharge the batteries and get ready for the postseason should hockey return.
After all, you can’t win championships without elite goaltending and the Vegas Golden Knights will need a sharp and refreshed Fleury in order to embark on a deep postseason run.
Loser #2 – The Fans
Life sucks without hockey, right?!
Now, before we go on, of course we understand that there are bigger and more scarier things going on in the world right now that are far more important than sports.
That isn’t lost on us.
But, given that our job is to cover sports, we are allowed to admit that not having hockey in our lives during these uncertain times is tough.
And fans throughout the NHL are suffering right now without being able to see their favorite teams in action.
Plus, the thought of not having the Stanley Cup Playoffs this year is a thought we would prefer to ignore right now.
Winner #3 – Cody Glass
We touched on this in the first slide but Cody Glass is currently recovering after undergoing surgery on his knee.
It was an injury-ravaged rookie year for the forward, a season that started with so much promise with a goal on his NHL debut against the San Jose Sharks.
However, a concussion and two knee injuries really derailed Glass’ rookie year, in which he recorded five goals and seven assists for 12 points in 39 games with a -7 rating.
After landing hard on his right knee in a game for the Chicago Wolves in the AHL on Feb. 20, Glass underwent surgery and is now going through the rehab process.
But, there is a silver lining here.
Due to the season being on hiatus, Glass has more time to go through his recovery and, due to be ready for training camp, he could be available for a chunk of the playoffs should hockey be played deep into the summer.
It would give Glass a valuable first taste of the wild ride that is the postseason, while it would provide the Golden Knights with an extra offensive weapon which could prove crucial.
Loser #3 – Pending Free Agents
We covered this in an article on Saturday, but if the 2019-20 season doesn’t return then a handful of players could have played their last game for the Vegas Golden Knights.
With five pending UFA’s and three pending RFA’s on the books, the Golden Knights will have some tough decisions to make in the off-season.
And, with the salary cap likely to remain at $81.5 million in the wake of the coronavirus crisis, the Golden Knights will only have $11 million in cap space in which to deal with those eight players while make other improvements to the roster.
Next. Revisiting the curious case of Vadim Shipachyov. dark
Therefore, don’t be surprised if hockey doesn’t return this year that we may have seen the likes of Deryk Engelland, Robin Lehner and Ryan Reaves in a Vegas Golden Knights jersey for the very last time.