LAS VEGAS — The NHL’s regular season is nearly here. The Golden Knights will open their eighth campaign on Wednesday night against the Colorado Avalanche at T-Mobile Arena, and with the roster turnover this offseason, it feels like there’s more uncertainty surrounding the team than in the past few years.
The staunch defense remains, and the Golden Knights will lean on it heavily after losing a lot of offensive production to free agency. With those changes come opportunities for new players to step into bigger roles, which makes predicting how this season will go more challenging — and a little more fun.
It’s the time of year for bold predictions, so I’ll try to go extra bold. My thinking: These will almost certainly be wrong by the time the end of the season rolls around anyways, so why not have some fun?
So here we go, 10 bold predictions for the Golden Knights’ 2024-25 season.
Eichel will set a new career-high for goals
Jack Eichel is usually looking to pass first, especially during his time with the Golden Knights, but with the loss of the main beneficiary of those passes (Jonathan Marchessault), I expect Vegas to lean more on his goal-scoring prowess this season.
As of now, Eichel is slated to play between Ivan Barbashev and Victor Olofsson, and while there’s the potential for either of those two to have a career year, I think the more likely outcome is Eichel looking for his own shot more than he did over the last two seasons in Vegas.
Eichel only scored 11 power-play goals last season. I expect that number to go up, and for his total to soar above his previous career high of 36 goals (2019-20 in Buffalo).
Dorofeyev will finish second on the team in goals
Pavel Dorofeyev scored 13 goals in 47 games last year for the Golden Knights – an 82-game pace of roughly 23 goals. That’s not bad for his first full year in the NHL, and he’s in a perfect position for an offensive breakout in year two.
Coach Bruce Cassidy put William Karlsson and Mark Stone together on the second line, and has tried out several wingers in the third spot throughout camp. Dorofeyev has looked the most impressive of the group, and is a good stylistic fit for the line.
If he plays the majority of the season as the net-front presence on a line with two of the best passers on the team, Dorofeyev will have plenty of scoring chances. He’s certainly not the favorite to finish second on the team in goals, but it’s within his range of outcomes and that’s why these are called bold predictions.
For the first time ever, the Golden Knights will finish in the bottom half of the NHL in goal scoring
The last prediction was partially a result of my confidence in Dorofeyev’s development and opportunity, but it’s also a product of my concern about goal scoring across the lineup. Over their seven-year history, the Golden Knights have never finished lower than 14th in the league in goals scored, but I think that changes this year.
| Season | Goals For Rank |
|---|---|
|
2017-18 |
5th |
|
2018-19 |
14th |
|
2019-20 |
10th |
|
2020-21 |
3rd |
|
2021-22 |
13th |
|
2022-23 |
14th |
|
2023-24 |
14th |
With less goal-scoring talent on the roster, I think Vegas will lean further into its strength on defense and play in a lot more tighter-checking, low-scoring games this season.
Vegas will finish tied for the league lead in shutouts
This prediction continues the theme of expecting more of a defensive mentality for the Golden Knights. Vegas had only three shutouts last season — 24th in the league — but I expect them to grind more than a few out this year.
Adin Hill hasn’t been the most consistent goalie in the league, largely due to injuries, but when he’s on, he’s incredibly tough to beat. He should cruise past his career high of two (which he’s done three separate times), and I expect one or two shutouts from Ilya Samsonov as the 1B.
Vegas will lead the NHL in blocked shots
This prediction is admittedly not as bold as the rest, because the Golden Knights have been among the leaders in blocks every season for years. I think they’re due for even more this season, even with the loss of blocking-extraordinaire Alec Martinez.
Not only does Cassidy’s zone defense keep defensemen closer to the net, it also allows them to watch the puck a little more often, making it easier to get into shooting lanes. Add in the fact that I expect Vegas to have fewer shot attempts than its opponent on most nights, and the result is a bunch of blocked shots.
Hanifin will set a new career-high for assists
Since coming over at the trade deadline last season, Noah Hanifin’s fit on the Golden Knights has been seamless. His smooth skating and his quick passing style have meshed perfectly, and I expect that to only get better in his first full season in Vegas.
Hanifin’s career-high 38 assists came during the 2021-22 season in Calgary, and I think he passes that mark with ease. Last season, he had 10 helpers in 19 games with Vegas (an 82-game pace of 43). That was without a full offseason and camp to build chemistry. This should be the best season of Hanifin’s career to this point.
Hertl will score fewer than 24.5 goals
No, I didn’t pull this number out of thin air. Bet MGM offers goal total betting lines for 66 different players this season, and Tomas Hertl’s number comes in at 24.5. Hertl has reached that mark only twice in his 11-year NHL career, and hasn’t done it since 2021-22 (when he played 82 games).
He’s currently playing on the third line with Brett Howden and Alexander Holtz, so I’ll side with history on this one.
Vegas will tip more shots on goal than in any other season in franchise history
If there’s one noticeable shift in playing style for the Golden Knights throughout camp and preseason, it’s the emphasis on tipping shots in front of opposing goalies. They’ve worked on it a lot in practice, and are visibly looking for those plays in preseason games. Cassidy said the hope is to score playoff-style goals in the regular season to prepare for the postseason.
The Golden Knights have never really used that strategy much in the past. Their most tipped shots in a single season was 160 in 2021-22 (10th in the NHL). I expect them to surpass that number considerably this year.
| Season | Tipped shots (NHL rank) | Tipped goals (NHL rank) |
|---|---|---|
|
2017-18 |
63 (31st) |
13 (30th) |
|
2018-19 |
97 (28th) |
16 (27th) |
|
2019-20 |
145 (7th) |
15 (25th) |
|
2020-21 |
98 (10th) |
13 (18th) |
|
2021-22 |
160 (10th) |
27 (13th) |
|
2022-23 |
133 (28th) |
18 (29th) |
|
2023-24 |
145 (27th) |
22 (23rd) |
Laczynski will quadruple his career point total
For my money, no Golden Knight has had a better training camp and preseason than Tanner Laczynski. The 27-year-old center wasn’t able to stick in the NHL in his four seasons with the Flyers organization. He has only two goals and two assists in 38 career NHL games, but his raw offensive talent has been evident from the moment he stepped on the ice in Vegas.
Laczynski has an excellent wrist shot with a deceptive release, and has shown the ability to play with high-end offensive players in limited preseason action. He’s stuck behind a traffic jam of talented centermen in Vegas, so will almost certainly start the year in the AHL, but should be one of the first call-ups when needed.
I’ll go out on a limb and say Laczynski quadruples his career points total to 16 by season’s end.
Vegas will finish second in the Pacific Division
There are plenty of questions surrounding the Golden Knights entering this season, but the same can be said for many of their divisional foes. The defending Pacific champs in Vancouver are now facing uncertainty in net with Thatcher Demko’s absence. The Kings will be without Drew Doughty for quite some time, and are leaning on Darcy Kuemper in net, coming off a season in Washington with a .890 save percentage.
The truth is, the Oilers should probably run away with this division, and I believe in Vegas’ defense and goaltending enough to rank them second in what should be a competitive Pacific race.
(Photo of Jack Eichel: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)
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