Krepps: The Necessary Improvement for Golden Knights to Become Elite

Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy shuffled up his lines seven games into the 2022-23 season. Moving Phil Kessel to the third line, Chandler Stephenson to the wing, and reuniting the Misfits were among the highlights.

Give or take, Michael Amadio and Paul Cotter swapping; these lines have been the same ever since.

The top six fittingly features the Golden Knight’s six best offensive forwards. The hockey IQ between Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, and Chandler Stephenson has been a treat to watch. And we all know the success that the Misfits of Jonathan Marchessault, Reilly Smith, and William Karlsson have had together.

On Monday, we wrote a full piece detailing the strong play of the team’s fourth line, with Keegan Kolesar, Nicolas Roy, and Will Carrier wearing out opposing defenses and scoring big goals.

Third Line Analysis

So that leaves us with the Golden Knight’s third line of Brett Howden, Phil Kessel, and Paul Cotter for us to highlight today. This line hasn’t been bad, but they have easily been the weakest on the team.

The Pacific Division-leading Golden Knights are off to a great start this season. But good teams always want to improve on their weaker areas. For the Golden Knights, one of these areas is the third line.

As the season continues, depth scoring will only become more important, especially if injuries arise.

Phil Kessel

Let’s start with the easiest player to analyze.

For Kessel, he’s not going anywhere anytime soon. The Golden Knights brought him in to be a depth scorer, and after an experiment on the first line, he’s found a home on the third.

The Ironman streak, his role on the second powerplay unit, and just the fact that he has been the best player on the line solidify his spot here. He has three goals and seven assists for ten points this season.

He’s not the same player he once was, but still a nice complimentary scorer for the Golden Knights.

Paul Cotter/Michael Amadio

Paul Cotter, like the other two players on his line, should be in the Golden Knight’s lineup. The problem is where to put him. He’s a dynamic player who can score goals and throw some big hits. Things have been working well for him in the bottom six thus far, as he has four points in eight games.

But inconsistency and essentially playing like a rookie booked Cotter a spot in the press box for a couple of games while Michael Amadio took his place on the third line.

“It was a different perspective. When you are looking from up there, you can kind of see that you have a little bit more time than you think and it is cool watching some of the older guys do their things and you pick up on things walking from a calmer perspective,” said Cotter on being a healthy scratch.

In eleven games, Amadio has two points and may re-enter the lineup with Nicolas Roy’s new injury. But his overall play, in my opinion, has been outclassed by Cotter.

Brett Howden

This is really the player I wanted to talk about the most.

Pucks have simply not been going in for Brett Howden. But it is not because of a lack of effort. The 24-year-old forward has a goal and an assist for two points in 18 games. He signed a one-year “prove yourself deal” worth $1.5 million with the Golden Knights this summer.

“I think soon; soon they’re gonna start going in with the more chances we get. But for me, I want to consider myself a player that can be counted on in the D-zone and then also chip in offensively. So wherever that takes me for where I play in the lineup, so be it. I’m just ready to play,” said Howden.

Howen is a fascinating player to me. As a former first-round pick, the talent is there for him to emerge as an extraordinary depth forward. I see him in the same vane as someone like Jared McCann, who was passed around by teams before he became the Seattle Kraken’s leading scorer in their inaugural season.

He’s a true Misfit in my books and just needs to work on the other areas of his game. Right now, I don’t see him as a solid third-line center on a Stanley Cup team. The defensive game is not there, and right now, neither is the offense.

But as a player who can play all three forward positions, Howden could get a shot almost anywhere else in the lineup. However, harken back to what we said earlier with the Golden Knight’s current lineup; every line, outside of the third, has been working. So why change things up just to get Howen going?

“I mean, for me, no matter where I play, I want to be a reliable player and two-way player. Pucks haven’t been finding the back then that so much, but I feel like our lines been getting chances, and we have had a few posts here and there and some good looks,” said Howden.

We’ll see if Howden can dig himself out of this slump with more hard work and effort. Here’s head coach Bruce Cassidy on Howden. The two have frequently been seen talking in Golden Knight’s practices.

“There is good pace to his game; he just hasn’t finished well, right? The offensive part of it is still a work in progress. So we’re willing to work with him on that and try to build his confidence up. But we need some secondary scoring. But that’s not the primary reason he’s here. He’s here to contribute in a lot of different ways; that would be one of them for sure,” said Cassidy.

Ideal Third Line

So while Cotter, Kessel, and Howden have been far from bad, they are also miles off what an ideal Stanley Cup Contending the third line should be.

Compare this line to Andre Burakovsky and JT Compher in Colorado, Blake Coleman, Yanni Gourde, and Barclay Goodrow in Tampa Bay, or even Kessel, Nick Bonino, and Carl Hagelin in Pittsburgh.

With Max Pacioretty, Evgenii Dadonov, and Mattias Janamark all leaving in the offseason, the Golden Knights lost a lot of depth at forward. Stay tuned for essentially part two of this series, where we look at potential trade candidates for the Golden Knights if they want to bolster their third line.