Takeaways From Ben Jones’ Vegas Golden Knights Debut
By Evan Mead
The Vegas Golden Knights are in complete disarray this season. After losing arguably their two best players in only the second game this season, it’s set the precedent that they have the injury bug going around.
The Vegas Golden Knights are currently 18 games into the season and hold a record of 11-7. Given where how the Knights started their season to where they are now, it’s almost like they are a different team. Even while losing multiple people, the Knights are finding way’s to win.
So far this season the Vegas Golden Knights have lost: Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, Alec Martinez, Zach Whitecloud, William Karlsson, Nolan Patrick, Jonathan Marchessault, Mattias Janmark, and Shea Theodore. The thing that sucks about that list is the fact that it’s almost every top line player the Knights have. However, there is some upside when it comes down to it.
Despite the fact that the Vegas Golden Knights have had to deal with injury after injury after injury, there is an upside to all this. When it comes to building a future, you need to have young players who can compete. Yesterday night, Ben Jones got his chance to show what he can do in front of the coaches.
Ben Jones just got his first taste of NHL action against the Columbus Blue Jackets. He is the fourth rookie to get his chance in the NHL this season, and he had one of the better debut’s out of the rookies.
Jones, although he didn’t actually record a point for the Vegas Golden Knights, did hold a presence on the ice. He showed solid traits to be a good reliable player for the Knights within his game. He showed good skating, impactful along the boards, and is a very good defensive player.
He didn’t really create much offense for the Knights, but he showed signs to potentially be a strong fourth-line(Checking line) player. Seeing where he goes from here will be interesting, but he showed the coaches what he can do for them without any production. Hopefully he can grow on yesterday’s performance.