LAS VEGAS — The Zambonis have been working overtime this week at the Golden Knights practice facility, City National Arena.
The club held six practice sessions per day during the first three days of training camp, with the 63 players split into three separate groups, as coach Bruce Cassidy and his staff began to whittle down the roster.
The team won its preseason debut, 4-2, Sunday night in San Jose. There’s still plenty of time for the lineup to change based on how the players perform in the five remaining preseason games, but Cassidy has already given us hints as to what the forward lines and defensive pairs could look like on the opening night of the regular season. Here’s how we project Vegas to look when it takes the ice versus Colorado on October 9.
These lines and pairs are based on how the players have been deployed in camp practices thus far. Let’s dig into Cassidy’s thought process on each, and what changes could happen between now and the opener.
“I’ve always said I like to work in pairs,” Cassidy said. “Find pairs that complement one another and work really well together, and then find the complementary piece at the end of the day.”
Cassidy’s overall philosophy on constructing forward lines is to first find two forwards who fit together, whether that be through past experience playing together or a stylistic fit in his eyes. From there, he finds a third forward who can add something to the line that the initial pair lacks. In the case of this training camp, many of the third forwards will be newcomers, as that’s where Vegas had the most roster turnover this summer.
Line 1 (Barbashev-Eichel-Olofsson)
The obvious pair that should anchor the Golden Knights’ top line is Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev. The two have played together almost exclusively since Barbashev was acquired at the 2023 trade deadline. Including the playoffs, they’ve played 1,184 minutes of even-strength ice time together, outscoring the opposition by an impressive 72-40 during that span.
The biggest hole in the lineup is on the right wing of that line, left by the franchise’s all-time leading scorer, Jonathan Marchessault. We will likely see multiple players get a chance to play there by the end of the preseason, but the winger getting the first crack is Eichel’s former linemate in Buffalo: Victor Olofsson.
“Olofsson has played with Jack, so there’s a relationship,” Cassidy said. “Let’s see how that works. … He’s got a great release and a great shot. The puck seems to find him. We’ll see how it plays out, but that’s where he is now.”
Eichel and Olofsson shared the ice in Buffalo for nearly 900 minutes over three seasons with the Sabres (2018-21).
“He’s a very skilled player with a great shot, thinks the game well, and he’s easy to read off of, too,” Eichel said of Olofsson. “Obviously, Victor and I have played together for a bit, and it’s been a few years, but I don’t think tendencies change a ton, so it should be easy to pick up pretty easily.”
“I felt great chemistry right away,” Oloffsson said following Thursday’s practice. “It’s nice to get that first practice out of the way, but we had some good plays, and I felt some chemistry with Barbashev as well.”
Line 2 (Dorofeyev-Karlsson-Stone)
One of Cassidy’s go-to pairs over the last two seasons has been captain Mark Stone alongside Chandler Stephenson. With Stephenson leaving for Seattle in free agency, one of the most important pieces of the lineup puzzle is finding the right center to play with Stone.
Karlsson makes a lot of sense for multiple reasons. Perhaps the biggest reason Stephenson worked so well with Stone is that his speed through the middle of the ice backed defenders off and opened space for Stone to find passing lanes. Karlsson is one of the fastest players on the team, not just in skating speed but how he processes the game.
“I think I do well when I have big time speed in the middle and he has big-time speed,” Stone said of Karlsson. “(He’s a) real responsible guy, knows how to play the game. I think coaches love the way he plays, his linemates love the way he plays and especially the defensemen love the way he plays because he doesn’t cheat for offense, but is damn good when he gets his chances.”
Karlsson and Stone are probably the two best defensive forwards on the team, so pairing them together would create an excellent shutdown line to match up with the opponent’s top scoring line. Another one of Karlsson’s biggest strengths is transitioning to offense quickly following a turnover. It’s why he has the fifth-most short-handed points in the NHL over the last seven seasons. With Stone’s pickpocketing ability, he could spring Karlsson for transition opportunities with regularity.
Cassidy opened camp with Pavel Dorofeyev on the left wing, providing that line with a net-front presence. Dorofeyev has experience playing with both Karlsson and Stone on separate lines, but never as a trio. In 384 minutes of ice time with Dorofeyev and Karlsson together, Vegas has outscored opponents 24-14. In 110 minutes with Dorofeyev and Stone Vegas holds a 7-2 scoring edge.
“He’s really close to kind of becoming that everyday goal scorer,” Stone said of Dorofeyev. “He’s obviously an everyday NHLer now. Now, I think he’s gonna take that next step to become an every-day producer. He’s not afraid to take pucks to the net. He’s not afraid to get into areas that are uncomfortable to get to, to score goals. Yeah, he has a great shot when he gets a chance in the slot, he’s gonna more often than not score, but he also is willing to get to the areas where the goals are not the easiest to get, to find those little extra goals. For him I think it could be the difference (between) being a 15-goal scorer or a 30-goal scorer.”
Line 3 (Holtz-Hertl-Roy)
This is one of the few line combinations with no prior experience, so Cassidy is looking for a stylistic matchup. On paper, the trio of Tomas Hertl, Nicolas Roy and Alexander Holtz makes sense, but seeing it work on the ice in preseason will be key.
“Hertl is a horse with the puck down low, so you want guys who can complement and then someone who is a shooter,” Cassidy said. “That’s what you’re thinking in your mind.”
Roy has thrived playing below the faceoff dots in the offensive zone because he’s big, rangy and tough to move off the puck. The difference is, he was previously playing that style of offense with linemate William Carrier, who doesn’t have the high-end offensive skills that Hertl possesses.
In the past, Roy has struggled when moved out to the wing, so that’s still a major question mark, but he’s also never had a linemate of Hertl’s style, so there’s reason to believe the two can have success together.
With two big, strong puck possession forwards on that line, the missing ingredient is someone to put the puck in the net to capitalize on that possession. That’s what Cassidy is hoping Holtz – who was acquired in a trade from New Jersey this summer – can be.
Holtz was the No. 7 overall pick in the 2020 draft largely because of his impressive shot. He’s already shown that quick release off in the first few days of camp, regularly sniping goalies when he gets looks from dangerous areas of the ice. The rest of his game wasn’t good enough over his first full year in New Jersey, but with a fresh start, Vegas is hoping to unlock that scoring potential that made him a high draft pick.
“I hope I can fill an offensive role here and find my game a little bit,” Holtz said. “I’m very excited for this opportunity.”
Line 4 (Kolesar-Howden-Aston-Reese)
One of the biggest constants for Vegas over the last seven years has been Carrier’s bruising presence on the fourth line. Now that he’s gone, Cassidy hopes that line can maintain its identity, even with a slight change in personnel.
“I’m looking for someone who can wear teams down,” Cassidy said. “That type of mentality. We’re going to play behind (teams), we’re going to puck-possess, we’re going to make it hard on their D. We’re going to be really good defensively, and accountable so they can start in their own end. (Brett) Howden has always done a good job at that, he’s just a different player than Will (Carrier).”
One offseason addition who fits all of those needs is veteran Zach Aston-Reese. He spent most of last season in the AHL, but was a defensive stalwart for the Penguins from 2017 to 2022. Aston-Reese has never had an offensive-zone start percentage higher than 37.3 percent in his career, and is very comfortable playing tough, defensive minutes in his own end. The fact that he signed a two-way contract this summer suggests he could be destined for the AHL once again, but if he can find his game, he’s exactly what Cassidy is looking for on the fourth line.
The other option is veteran winger Tanner Pearson, who is attending camp on a professional tryout contract (PTO). Pearson has struggled with injuries lately, but has 644 NHL games under his belt over 11 seasons.
“I’ve always felt more comfortable in a more Western-style of play, so I think it fits better than maybe when I was out in the East,” Pearson said. “(I want to) play my game, be strong on the walls, be responsible in the defensive zone, and hopefully the offense can show up, too.”
Scratch (Jonas Røndbjerg)
Røndbjerg has been a consistent call-up option for the Golden Knights over the last few seasons, but is no longer waiver-exempt and could find his way into being an every-day NHL player unless Vegas is willing to risk losing him to waivers. If Pearson ends up making the team, Vegas would have to decide between waiving Røndbjerg or Aston-Reece.
Defensive pair 1 (Theodore-Pietrangelo)
Despite being amongst Vegas’ leaders in ice time over the last four years, Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore have only shared the ice for 417 minutes at even strength. They’ve typically anchored the first and second defensive pairs, but Cassidy opened camp with the two skating together.
“They’re elite defensemen in the league,” Cassidy said. “Some of it developed out of the Hague-Hanifin pair last year that we really liked. Nic played a lot on the right in juniors.”
More on that pair in a minute. When it comes to the top pairing, Cassidy has no hesitation playing two of his top offensively-inclined defensemen together because of the incredible depth he has on the blue line.
“I think having two drivers on the same pair is not a risk for us, because our third pair is (Zach) Whitecloud and (Brayden) McNabb,” he said. “That’s two good players in the league, so it’s not like we’re deficient on our third pair.”
More than anything, playing these two puck-moving defenders together should help Vegas create offense. After losing several key scorers this offseason, that will be one of the biggest emphases early in the season.
Defensive pair 2 (Hanifin-Hague)
Last year, Hague and Hanifin played 14 games together, and the results were good. They allowed only 2.12 expected goals and 9.79 high danger chances per 60 minutes, both of which were well below the team’s averages.
It does force Hague to play on his off side, but that’s something he did regularly while playing junior hockey. An interesting wrinkle to watch with this switch is whether or not it generates more shot attempts for Hague. He was an offensive powerhouse at Mississauga, and while Vegas certainly doesn’t expect that at the NHL level, this switch could unlock some more offense from the big-shot defenseman.
“We’d like to coach more out of him, and help him with that part of his game,” Cassidy said. “Moving to the right might be part of that. Hopefully it does come for him a little easier. We’d like to get more offense out of our back end, and he’d be one of the guys. We’ll see where it goes.”
Defensive pair 3 (McNabb-Whitecloud)
With Kaedan Korczak making the move to being a full-time NHL player this season, the competition for these bottom pair spots is as strong as it’s been in a while for Vegas. Having said that, Cassidy is giving the two incumbents, McNabb and Whitecloud, the first shot.
“I think Hutton and Korczak are looking at seven and eight right now, but that’s what training camp is for,” Cassidy said. “If they can push their way up, I don’t want to put a ceiling on them. If they can take a job, then we’ll deal with that, but the other guys have proven they’re the top-six guys here.”
Defensive scratches (Hutton and Korczak)
After splitting his time between the NHL and AHL last season, Korczak is now waivers-exempt and will remain on the main roster for the entirety of the upcoming season. He is excited to be a part of the competition for playing time that will last into the regular season.
“I think it brings out the best in everyone, so I’m looking forward to it,” he said. “It’s a little different, for sure. I’m a little more comfortable with all of the guys. Obviously, playing a little more games last year, and being around the guys more. I think the biggest thing for me is not being scared with the puck. Make plays. When I first started, I was quick to make plays, so now I can just do my thing.”
Goalies (Adin Hill and Ilya Samsonov)
For all of the competition for spots up front and on the blue line, things are fairly settled in net for the Golden Knights. Adin Hill is the clear starter and Ilya Samsonov is the clear No. 2.
Akira Schmid, whom Vegas acquired from New Jersey this summer, will be the top goalie for the Henderson Silver Knights, and has plenty of NHL experience. He’ll be an excellent third option in the event Hill or Samsonov misses time.
(Photo of Ivan Barbashev: Ethan Miller / Getty Images)
