Can The Knights Avoid Falling Short Again?

The Vegas Knights have had a phenomenal start to their organization’s career. After their first season as an organization, they were already considered a powerhouse. So, going into this season, how can the Vegas Knights avoid falling short?

Not to sound like a broken record, but it’s time for the backstory. The Vegas Golden Knights were an expansion team granted by the NHL in 2017. After selecting their team, and making multiple transactions after the fact, they have become one of the top teams in hockey. However, since coming into the league, they have yet to win the Stanley Cup. Every season they seem to make strides towards finally winning it all, but year after year, they always seem to come up short. So how can the Knights avoid falling short yet again?

There are multiple reasons why they lost, but that’s no excuse-only motivation. After finding out that their wing, Alex Tuch, is going to miss a multiple months due to shoulder surgery, they took much needed precautions.

This off-season the Knights went out and brought in wing, Evgenii Dadonov. To go along with the addition of Dadonov, they also brought in forward, Nolan Patrick. After a great run last season but falling short to the Montreal Canadiens, they went out and made some multiple moves. Although the Knights are not lacking offensive talent, they lacked scoring in the playoffs. Dadonov has been a reliable 20 goal scorer for multiple years with the Panthers, and is a very good veteran to have on your team. To go along with Dadonov, they also brought in former second-overall pick, Nolan Patrick. After completing his rookie contract, the Flyers let him go and the Knights capitalized off his free agency. Looking into this season, how significant are those signing’s to finally bringing the cup back to Vegas? Well let’s take a closer look at the signing’s and their role’s on the team.

Alex Tuch is going to be out until late January, early February, according to recent reports. That alone will ensure Dadonov minutes on the ice. However, if you take a look at what his veteran status means for his potential line, not to mention the production, he could be a great fit with the organization.

Dadonov has been a part of the Senators, and the Florida Panthers organization. Until now, he wasn’t in a near as good situations as he will be now the Knights. Even with him having played in just a okay situation, he was still able to produce in a high manner. With him being apart of a high motor offense, he could hit 30 goals for the first time in his career.

The season is close to officially starting and that means the depth chart is getting closer and closer to being finalized. The way that DoBoer has constructed his roster thus far, Dadonov will likely be on a line with Patrick, and Janmark based upon projection. Dadonov being able to play alongside Janmark and Patrick would not only take pressure off Dadonov, but also give Patrick some veteran players alongside him.

Patrick’s career hasn’t been near as impressive as he thought it was going to be, or the Flyers thought he was going to be. His disappointing start at the NHL level has left a lot of people questioning what he actually offers an organization. However, people seem to forget that he is still only 23 years old and still can grow into the player that he was projected to be. If Patrick can grow and learn from players like Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, and Jonathan Marchessault, he could become a top tier player like he was originally projected to be.

Looking at the things that will stay the same; there is only one thing they need to do: Play with consistency. They have a fantastic team with a lot of great scorers. But, when it counted, they came up short. The Knights are in a position to win it all, and quite frankly, it comes down to simply wanting it bad enough. They have to want it bad enough that they are going to fight and play until the very last second.

Last season they pushed the Canadiens to game seven before falling just short yet again. The Canadiens wanted it more, and they had a level of consistency that the Knights lacked. Going into this season, the players know that they have to give it everything if they finally want to walk away with the Stanley Cup. I’d imagine that right out of the gate, that is the message DoBoer has been giving his players. He’s been at work trying to build a locker room that is going to fight until they can’t fight no more, and then continue fighting.

In Conclusion, the Knights made a couple off-season moves in order to try and fix some of the problems they faced last season. Is it going to be enough? I can say I think so, but we’ll have to wait to find out. The main concern with them is going to be consistency for if, and when, they get to the playoffs.