Yeah, it looks like the Vegas Golden Knights will be in quite the battle to see who will rule the Western Conference. They currently have a solid lead in the Pacific Division, but ideally, you’d like to see home-ice advantage a few short months from now. And yeah, it’s kind of scary to think April 2025 will be here before we all know it.
Despite the positive returns so far this year, a few players still aren’t performing up to scratch, and that needs to change as the Knights charge toward midseason. So, who hasn’t pulled their weight to the same extent as others, and what has been going wrong for them?
Ilya Samsonov
While Adin Hill is collecting Star of the Week awards, Samsonov’s perpetual struggles in the net continue. If there’s any solace here, it’s that Samsonov isn’t the Knights No. 1 goaltender. But given Adin Hill’s injury history, there’s always an increased chance that Samsonov may find himself seeing more action in the net should the injury bug bite Hill.
So far, Samsonov has had a 0.500 quality starts percentage, which isn’t bad. Yet, with an 0.896 save percentage and a 3.16 GAA, playing for an outstanding team in the Vegas Golden Knights just isn’t cutting it.
Is Samsonov a capable backup/No. 2 goaltender? I’d like to think so, but I’d also like to see more admirable performances from the former Toronto Maple Leaf.
Noah Hanifin
I was excited to see Noah Hanifin play a full season in a Golden Knights uniform this year, but so far, it’s been one of those ‘be careful what you wish for’ scenarios. Hanifin has played well, don’t get me wrong, with three goals and 12 points. But I was expecting something over a half-point-per-game now that we’re well past the quarter-way mark.
We all have different opinions about the plus-minus stat, but in case you’re wondering, Hanifin is currently rolling with a minus-6, which isn’t a great sign considering the team he’s playing for.
To make matters even worse, he’s on pace for over 100 giveaways this season. I’m not as much of a stickler with the later category for defenseman, but it’s a major red flag when you see someone so careless with the puck that they could end up threatening the century mark in turnovers.
That said, Shea Theodore has also turned the puck over often so far with 42 giveaways. But the difference is, Theodore has been more consistent from a productivity standpoint. If Hanifin had 22 points, few would bat an eye at the giveaways, but it’s a more painful stat when you don’t have the productivity to back it up.
Alexander Holtz
Man, if there was a second player I was excited about seeing on the ice in Vegas, it was Alexander Holtz. Following a 16-goal campaign with the New Jersey Devils last year, part of me thought Holtz would roll into Vegas as a sound depth scorer, but that hasn’t been the case.
He’s not one who will rack up the points, averaging 12:21 of ice time per game, but I would like to have seen him find the net more than just twice this season, which has led to a 5.0 shooting percentage. I don’t know. Maybe we’ll see that trend change as he gets more acclimated in Vegas, but it’s nonetheless been a disappointing start on the productivity front.