LAS VEGAS – The sounds of Jonathan Marchessault screaming and laughing once again echoed through City National Arena on Thursday.
It’s the unofficial signal that hockey season has returned in Las Vegas.
The Golden Knights opened training camp with practices through the morning and afternoon, with more than 60 players taking the ice in total. The players were split into three groups, each running two practices with a film session in between.
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With the new season comes plenty of news, even with a team as solidified as the defending Stanley Cup champions. From new coaches on the ice to camp position battles, pending UFA negotiations and injury updates, there was a lot to take away from the first official practices of the 2023-24 season.
Here’s what I’m hearing and seeing at Golden Knights camp:
A familiar lineup
When a team cruises through the playoffs without facing a single elimination game, then wins the Stanley Cup in a 9-3 blowout, there isn’t much of a reason to change. For the first day of camp, coach Bruce Cassidy rolled out the exact same forward lines and defensive pairs from the last time we saw the Golden Knights (with the exception of Reilly Smith, who was traded to Pittsburgh this summer).
“We thought we’ll do something simple at first, get guys back to the comfort level that they left with,” Cassidy said. “Then, as training camp goes on, we’ll move some pieces around, and yet still get them playing together because those most likely will be the lines to start the year. Why? Because of the way they finished last year.”
Cassidy mentioned that at some point during the preseason they’ll want to get looks at how a younger player such as Brendan Brisson fits with the top-line players, but that the only real spot up for grabs in this camp and preseason is the one vacated by Smith.
Cotter gets the first shot at Smith’s spot
The competition for the spot on Karlsson’s left wing could go all the way until the end of the preseason. Paul Cotter, Pavel Dorofeyev, Brisson and Max Comtois (who is attending camp on a PTO) are all vying for the position, and Cotter had the first opportunity to skate on that line on Thursday.
“Paul deserves that,” Cassidy said. “He was the most veteran of the guys. Then we’ll see. There’s a bit of internal competition. They’ll have to determine who’s ahead of who, and I can’t tell you right now who’s going to play on William Karlsson’s left wing. That will sort itself out in the next 17 days.”
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Cotter scored 13 goals in 55 games as a rookie last season. He has the speed, physicality and finishing ability to complement nearly every style of line. As with most young players, he still needs to improve consistency in the details of his game, but the potential is there.
Even on the first day of camp, Cotter looked like a good fit with Karlsson and Michael Amadio. The trio dominated drill after drill, filling the net with pucks.
“We had a lot of goals today, me, Amo and Karly,” Cotter said with a grin. “It was good. We were laughing, having fun out there. You have to have fun with it. It was a good fit for Day 1.”
We’re likely to see Dorofeyev, Brisson and Comtois in that spot at some point during the preseason, but it’s telling that after weeks of planning for the initial lineup, Cassidy opted to give Cotter the first opportunity.
“It’s exciting,” Cotter said. “It’s obviously playing between two good players, and I think I proved last year that I’m a pretty versatile player, so I can play up and down. It looks like I’m getting the shot there first, so I have to find a way to stick it.”
Injury updates
The most notable absence from the first day of camp was goaltender Robin Lehner, who hasn’t been on the ice with the team in more than 17 months. Lehner underwent surgery on both hips in the summer of 2022, and general manager Kelly McCrimmon announced he is still out indefinitely and will begin the season on long-term injured reserve.
Lehner still has two seasons left on his contract at $5 million per year, but doesn’t count against the salary cap while on LTIR.
Defenseman Daniil Miromanov is out “long term,” according to McCrimmon, still recovering from a lower-body injury he suffered last season.
Defensive prospect Layton Ahac is considered day-to-day with an injury he suffered in the Rookie Faceoff Tournament last week. McCrimmon said Ahac should be able to join the team shortly, which is good news. Ahac played extremely well in the rookie tournament, especially on the penalty kill. If he returns in time for preseason action, he’ll try to make his case as one of the first call-ups in case of injury on the blue line.
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Coaching changes
While there weren’t many new players on the ice, there were a few new faces among the coaching staff.
Cassidy was joined by Joel Ward, who was promoted from the Silver Knights’ staff to fill Ryan Craig’s assistant coaching role in Vegas, and former Canadiens head coach Dominique Ducharme, who took an assistant coaching job with Vegas this summer.
Sean Ferrell also joined the Golden Knights as a skills development coach, coming over after several years on the St. Louis Blues staff. The plan is for him to work with both the NHL and AHL players this season.
Comtois chose Vegas because of the fit
The Golden Knights haven’t used player tryouts often through six years, but Max Comtois is an intriguing player. He’s only 24 years old, and scored 16 goals in 55 games just two seasons ago. Anaheim opted not to submit a qualifying offer for the restricted free agent, allowing him to hit the open market.
There wasn’t enough interest in Comtois around the league for a contract offer, but he said there were five or six teams offering a PTO that he had to choose from. He felt Vegas was the best fit.
“Midway through the summer, I started talking with Vegas and it just seemed right, right from the start,” Comtois said. “I had some other options, but to me it was the best team. Obviously they won the Cup last year, but just as a play style, I felt this was the right place.
“It’s a team that plays in a straight line, north-south hockey. Obviously, they have some guys with talent, but they play the game the right way. They play heavy and fast, and that’s the kind of game that I like as well, and the kind of game that I’m good at.”
Comtois is a big, strong forward who likes to battle in front of the net, which is something Cassidy is always looking for. And while Comtois hasn’t played to his potential the last two seasons, the Golden Knights have plenty of experience with what Comtois’ game looks like when he’s on. The 2020-21 season, when he led Anaheim in scoring, was the shortened season in which teams only played within their division. Vegas faced the Ducks eight times that year, and Comtois scored five times.
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“We saw him a lot and I thought he played well against us,” McCrimmon said. “It’s just one of those situations that happens from year to year. You look around the league and there’s a guy there that you kind of wonder why he would be. We thought he was a player worthy to bring in and give a look, so that’s what we’re doing.”
Future UFAs are already top of mind, but may need to wait
The Golden Knights didn’t have many unrestricted free agents to worry about this past offseason, but that won’t be the case for the 2024 class. Marchessault, Chandler Stephenson, William Carrier, Alec Martinez, Michael Amadio and Ben Hutton are all entering the final year of their contracts, and all are eligible for an extension.
“We are hopeful with a bump in the salary cap that we’ll be able to keep this core together,” McCrimmon said. “We like our team a lot.”
McCrimmon wouldn’t comment on details of any of the potential negotiations, but the fact that he mentioned a salary-cap bump next season could mean these extensions could take some time. The NHL is currently expecting a larger raise in the cap than in the previous three years, but that figure won’t be clear until much later in the season. The size of that increase will obviously play a factor in Vegas’ strategy.
It’s certainly possible that Vegas works out deals with some of these pending UFAs before getting a clearer view of the 2024-25 salary cap, but if it takes longer than expected, that uncertainty could be a big reason why.
(Photo: Stephen R. Sylvanie / USA Today)
