By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The Vegas Golden Knights’ final media chat for Season 5 included lots of talk about Season 1 — namely, the Year 5 VGK team missed the Original Misfits’ speed, fast skating and take-no-prisoners approach that began as soon as the puck was dropped to start every game in 2017-18.
Oh yes, that thing called, “chemistry,” was mentioned a few times, too.
There’s a strangeness to it all. In Season 1, nobody expected the Vegas Golden Knights to make the playoffs and get within three games of winning the Stanley Cup. Yet, they did. And after three consecutive postseason appearances in Seasons 2, 3 and 4, everyone anticipated the VGK to not only play postseason hockey in Season 5 but contend for the NHL championship. But the Knights are on the outside looking in, as the NHL’s 16-team tournament began Monday night without the Vegas team.
The body language of the players who stepped to the mic to answer questions was one of sadness, disappointment and missed opportunity.
As defenseman Zach Whitecloud put it, “Sitting around the couch, it’s not fun watching the playoffs. It stings.”
Fellow defenseman Alec Martinez put it even more bluntly: “This sucks. You don’t want to be watching.”
Meanwhile, coach Pete DeBoer — hired to replace original Misfits coach Gerard Gallant in January 2020 — said he was happy to answer everyone’s questions even after the VGK PR staff said the questioning was over. “I’m not in a rush, I have four months off,” DeBoer cracked. Gallant is coaching the New York Rangers in the playoffs, with the Rangers playing Game 1 in the first round tonight against the Pittsburgh Penguins.
“We worked our asses off as a coaching staff to cope with the adversity,” DeBoer said of all the injured players. DeBoer, a 14-year head coach veteran with stops at the Florida Panthers, New Jersey Devils and San Jose Sharks, said he has one more year left on his contract and “I want to come back.” He plans to chat about his future with General Manager Kelly McCrimmon later this week.
McCrimmon sounded the VGK party line that injuries caused Knights players to miss more than 500 man games and, as a result, the team could not play with winning continuity throughout a disappointing season that still boasted 94 points — a point total that would buy a ticket to the NHL playoffs for many teams in past seasons. (The Golden Knights made the playoffs in Season 2 in 2018-19 with 93 total points, for example.)
“It’s a humbling experience,” McCrimmon said of not making the NHL postseason.
Even McCrimmon mentioned VGK Season 1, noting the performance of reaching the Stanley Cup Finals in 2018 “would not be sustainable over time” and said the Washington Capitals were a championship team. That’s why he said he needed to get better players like Max Pacioretty, Mark Stone, Alex Pietrangelo and Jack Eichel.
It was a weird media session because there was a “I don’t want to blame not making the playoffs on injuries, but we had so many injuries to key players and leaders” theme.
Indeed, veterans Stone, Pacioretty, Reilly Smith and Martinez all missed big chunks of the season. Goalie Robin Lehner and regulars like Brayden McNabb, Nic Hague and Whitecloud all missed games to injury, too.
Several players referred to the team lacking an identity, pointing out that it was missing the Year 1 Misfits’ “hard-working, resilient, never-out-of-the-fight” mentality as forward and original Misfit Jonathan Marchessault put it.
“No excuse. We had the chance,” said Marchessault, who finished with 30 goals. “We didn’t earn the right to be” in the playoffs.
Martinez said when he played with the Los Angeles Kings and visited T-Mobile Arena to play the Year 1 Golden Knights, the VGK was known as a hard-skating, hard-hitting, aggressive, in-your-face team. The Season 5 team needed more of that quality, Martinez said.
He talked about bringing back that “high-speed element” for next season.
Pacioretty, who noted, “You have to look in the mirror and say you underperformed,” also added that the team was known for rolling out four lines including a hard-hitting fourth line that started many games.
After offering a season summary and noting all the injuries, McCrimmon was a little testy and defensive about reports that the team was plagued with disharmony issues.
McCrimmon also said the team did not mislead the media about Lehner’s injury status at the end of the season. After national media reported that Lehner’s season was being shut down because of shoulder surgery, DeBoer said that was news to him and asserted that DeBoer would be in uniform to play if necessary in the VGK’s next home game against the San Jose Sharks on April 24, a Sunday. McCrimmon said the team found out on Saturday, April 24, that Lehner needed to have surgery and that his season was over.
Lehner will undergo shoulder surgery Wednesday, McCrimmon said.
Stone, noting he played only 37 of the 82 regular season games, said he is still researching medical advice regarding his back injury. It was evident that Stone was not skating pain-free during the games down the stretch.
Jack Eichel said there were no neck issues when playing for the VGK after he underwent artificial disk replacement surgery for a herniated disk problem.
And Smith, who was a $5 million cap hit for 2021-22 and is an unrestricted free agent, does not need surgery and should be fully recovered, McCrimmon said.
McNabb also talked with the media. In all, four Misfits — William Karlsson, Shea Theodore, Marchessault and McNabb — met the press. It’s an odd feeling for the foursome to not play postseason hockey for the first time in their Golden Knights careers.
“We didn’t execute toward the end,” McNabb said of the Golden Knights’ weak finish to the season. He said of not playing postseason hockey, “It’s going to be weird and motivating. It’s (the playoffs) where you want to be.”
Karlsson spoke softly and could be hardly heard, though he uttered a few keeper quotes, especially about why many NHL fans across the continent do not like the Golden Knights. “Us against the whole MF world,” Karlsson told the media. “I love to embrace that. I don’t care if everyone hates us.”
It was an uneven season for the Golden Knights. At home, the team sometimes played well and defeated playoff teams like the Rangers, Panthers and Predators. But with their season hanging in the balance, the Knights also lost to weak teams like the New Jersey Devils and to the Sharks in a shootout. It was maddening.
“We lost to teams we shouldn’t have,” McCrimmon said. “That’s on us.”
The general manager ended the season’s final media session by bellowing out, “Have a good off-season.”
PSA