Vegas managed to claw back a massive series win against Edmonton last night as original Knight Reilly Smith netted one home with 0.4 seconds on the clock to bring the Knights within one. However despite securing the 4-3 win, it is clear age is becoming a problem for Vegas, and the speed and fluidity the team once had is slowly fading.
As the Knights managed to keep their cup hopes alive last night at the hands of Reilly Smith, it is becoming clear that Vegas as a team are aging quickly, and the spring in their skates they all once had as a unit, isn't as strong as it used to be. With the core slowly creeping highly into their 30s, and the ability to keep up with the rapidly changing game may become a massive falter for Bruce Cassidy’s Knights, and the first slump in Knights franchise history may be on the horizon.
With captain Mark Stone, Alex Pietrangelo, William Karlsson, Rielly Smith, and Brayden McNabb just some of the players who are losing their speed and electricity, the team’s biggest issue that they need to tackle is bringing some fresh faces, and some young talent to balance out the team. As seen so far in the playoffs, the Knights defense, especially Pietrangelo, have often found themselves two steps behind at all times, and are starting to lose the reaction time and awareness they once had. It is common for players to falter as they progress in their careers, but especially against the Oilers, McDavid and Draisaitl are making them look silly, and are showing why the Knights are struggling with the current pace of the game.
Vegas have often been a team who have not kept hold of their prospects, and have managed to fuel their recent success through trades and free agency, but could definitely prove to be a bad short term investment. Had the Knights decided to maintain their push for the cup next year, their constant removal of young talent could have damaged their momentum for the future, and with only a handful of talented prospects in the system, their sacrifice for success may have been too much. The Golden Knights currently have no homegrown first round picks on the roster, or in the system, trading away all of them since 2017. Including some big names like Nick Suzuki and Peyton Krebs, the Golden Knights have been notorious for handling draft picks and prospects terribly, and could come back to bite them in the future.
Although some of their first rounders have turned out to be failures including Cody Glass, and Erik Brannstrom, the Knights will have to keep hold of some prospects as their team continues to age, and the lack of talent in their prospect pool may be a massive factor in their downfall in some years to come. While the team continues to have constant success in the regular season and in the playoffs, a bit of youthful desire may be what the Knights have needed to jump back up to that next level.
Comments