After winning their inaugural Stanley Cup at the conclusion of the 2023 postseason, the Vegas Golden Knights entered a new campaign with no hangover whatsoever, roaring out to an insane 11-0-1 record out of the gate. But the wheels have begun to fall off on the strip for a Knights team that was once a fixture at No. 1 in ClutchPoints' weekly NHL Power Rankings and are now barely in the top half of the league.
The Knights have lost eight of their last 10 games, falling to third-place in the Pacific Division and looking nowhere near a Stanley Cup contender approaching another playoff season. The mighty have fallen both literally and figuratively, with the roster being decimated by injuries throughout the campaign.
Shea Theodore and Jack Eichel have missed big chunks of the season, and although both are now healthy — Eichel returned on Monday night — the damage has been done. And it continues to be done, with Vegas losing 6-3 to the lowly Columbus Blue Jackets, on the heels of brutal 7-2 and 5-4 defeats at the hands of the Buffalo Sabres and Boston Bruins, respectively.
Something is broken with this roster, and the latest string of losses only exacerbates the problems this team is facing right now. And worst of all, the captain and leader of this squad is back on the shelf.
Mark Stone injury is another brutal blow to the Golden Knights
Mark Stone is without a doubt the most important forward on the Golden Knights, and he's probably the most critical single piece on the roster. But the 31-year-old sustained an upper-body injury late in the second period of a loss to the Nashville Predators on Feb. 20, and he hasn't played since.
Stone was placed on the long-term injured reserve on Monday, a corresponding move to activating Eichel ahead of Monday's game in Columbus. After general manager Kelly McCrimmon said late in February that Stone would be out “for a while,” it was later confirmed that the captain was diagnosed with a lacerated spleen and was labelled week-to-week.
With Stone hitting LTIR, it means he won't be back in the Knights lineup anytime soon. TSN hockey insider Darren Dreger reported that the Canadian is expected to miss the rest of the regular-season, and there's no guarantee he will return for Round 1. Obviously another brutal blow for the team, and a terrible update for a player who has battled injuries throughout his career.
Stone ends the regular-season with a fantastic 16 goals and 53 points in 56 games, and he'll be nearly impossible to replace. He joins forwards Brett Howden and William Carrier on the shelf, and the team continues to be decimated by injuries in 2023-24. Without a doubt, the Golden Knights' fatal flaw approaching the Mar. 8 NHL Trade Deadline is a lack of offensive weapons.
Knights' fatal flaw is lack of offensive depth
It's going to take Eichel some time to get back to speed after a lengthy recovery, and William Karlsson also recently returned from injury. And with Mark Stone now not an option, the team's offensive depth is being challenged down the stretch. Although Adin Hill and Logan Thompson are both struggling mightily after phenomenal stretches of the campaign, there's no way McCrimmon will trade for a goalie after a few bad games. That is certainly an area the team must improve over the last month and a half of the season, but it isn't a fatal flaw.
The lack of offensive depth is, though. Three call-ups are currently playing for the team, with Grigori Denisenko, Byron Froese and Mason Morelli all in the lineup. That's great for the youngsters, but ideally, none of those three will be on the bench come playoff time. A lot of that will depend on the progression of the injured forwards, but the Knights should be looking to add another forward or two at the deadline.
Vegas is no stranger to making a splash — just look at how Mark Stone, Alex Pietrangelo, Jack Eichel and Ivan Barbashev joined the team — and it's been rumored that they're one of the favorites to acquire Pittsburgh Penguins star forward Jake Guentzel. He would be a perfect addition at LW, although the cost would obviously be astronomical.
Whether it is Guentzel or one of the more affordable forwards — like Adam Henrique, Frank Vatrano or Vladimir Tarasenko — expect that McCrimmon will make another splash on or before Friday.
“Sources say the ever-aggressive Vegas Golden Knights, who love chasing the shiny toy in their quest for a second straight Stanley Cup, are active in seeking an impact winger for their roster,” Daily Faceoff's Frank Seravalli reported recently. “In fact, they were on that trail before captain Mark Stone went down with another injury – which the club says will keep him out ‘for a while.' Reading between the lines, that means the GM Kelly McCrimmon could have Stone’s $9.5 million to play with on LTIR.”
Look for the Golden Knights to be extremely involved at the deadline as they look to right the ship ahead of the quest for a second consecutive championship in 2024.
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