A champion team almost intact
A year after missing the playoffs, the Vegas Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup. Their gamble to give up a first-round pick, a solid forward, Alex Tuch, and a top prospect, Peyton Krebs, to get Jack Eichel paid off.
Eichel, whose leadership and defensive play were questioned in Buffalo, relaunched his career in Vegas, after serious neck surgery, and he was an essential element in this conquest with 26 points in 22 games and a time usage of 19 minutes per meeting.
The return to play of Mark Stone, absent around forty games during the season, came at the right time. We probably waited for the series in order to comply with the ceiling.
Despite their success and their salary constraints, the Golden Knights did not suffer any heavy losses during the off-season, except for Reilly Smith, traded to the Pittsburgh Penguins for a third-round pick in 2024. He had still amassed 56 points in the season, but his annual salary of 5 million this season and the next was too much for Vegas.
We were thus able to keep Ivan Barbashev, one of the revelations in the series, at the same price. Barbashev is five years younger than Smith and is more productive offensively.
Goaltender Adin Hill, the unlikely hero of the playoffs, agreed to a two-year contract for 4.9 million per season.
THE UNDERESTIMATED PLAYER
For a player ignored in the draft, Jonathan Marchessault delivered the ultimate performance: 25 points, including 13 goals, in 22 playoff games.
THE RECRUIT TO FOLLOW
2020 late first-round pick Brendan Brisson, son of famed player agent Pat, is arguably the closest to the NHL of the club’s few prospects, but he will begin the season in the American League.
WHO SHOULD GIVE MORE
Defenseman Alec Martinez has had three career seasons of 30-plus points and six 20-plus points, but had just 14 in 77 games last year. He still remains an important player, but it was necessary to identify one within a champion team.
SHEET IN 2022-2023
51-22-9, 111 points
RANKING IN SEASON
1ers of division
SERIES COURSE
Stanley Cup
MAIN DEPARTURES
Reilly Smith, Laurent Brossoit, Jonathan Quick, Phil Kessel
MAIN ARRIVALS
Nothing notable