Vegas Golden Knights: Takeaways from Paul Cotter’s NHL Debut
By Evan Mead
The Vegas Golden Knights officially gave forward, Paul Cotter, the call. When I say “the call”, I mean the call that changed his life forever. The call that would keep him up all night in joy. The call that made everything he’s worked for in his life worth it. Can you guess it? That’s right. Cotter is a NHL pro as of yesterday night.
The feeling when you get the call that everything you’ve been working towards since you could walk, has now paid off. I’m sure it has to be a great feeling. But just because you get the call doesn’t mean that you’ll stay up there. In order to stay at the NHL level, you have to play and perform at the NHL level. Paul Cotter, although he didn’t do anything too special, definitely showed a lot more promise in his first game than some of the other guys they’ve tried out.
The Vegas Golden Knights gave rookie, Paul Cotter, the start against the Seattle Kraken. That start that head coach, Pete DeBoer, gave Cotter, was the opportunity of a lifetime. He has now completed his first NHL game, but how did he fare? We’ll let’s talk about it.
Paul Cotter was able to get his first taste of the NHL after getting the call from the Vegas Golden Knights coaching staff ahead of Sunday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. Now, I know you’re probably thinking “Hey, isn’t this article written about his NHL debut? You know, against the Seattle Kraken?” Yes. Yes it is.
Paul Cotter was inactive for the Vegas Golden Knights game against the Detroit Red Wings but, took forward, Michael Amadio’s place in the lineup against the Kraken. Which makes yesterday’s game his NHL debut.
In that game he actually showed me a lot of promise regardless if he was able to get on the stat sheet or not. When it comes to playing in the NHL, everyone has different roles that are set meticulously by head coach, Pete DeBoer.
Without really knowing what Pete DeBoer asked of Cotter, it’s hard to really say he didn’t do his job. However, while watching the game I got a feel of what he was asked to do and it’s something I think he did pretty well: Burn the defense with speed and play a strong forechecking game.
The way that Cotter was playing throughout the game reminded me a lot of what William Karlsson does for the Vegas Golden Knights. Well, you know, before he got hurt that is.
Cotter showed a lot of potential that he can definitely grow off of. I expect him to be the replacement for Karlsson if my thoughts stand true. If Cotter can learn to get some touches on the puck and get some shots off, he could definitely compete to keep a spot up at the NHL level.