5 Things The Golden Knights Should Be Thankful For

Thanksgiving is such a weird holiday for me. I understand the concept of being thankful for everything in our lives, but what the holiday boils down to is usually just a big meal and football watching.

For my family back home in Pennsylvania, that’s just a typical Sunday.

Given that the Vegas Golden Knights are an American-based professional sports team, they are off today for American Thanksgiving.

The Golden Knights only have four players on their roster who are American. The others consist of 19 Canadians, who celebrated their Thanksgiving before the start of the season, and Swedes William Karlsson and Robin Lehner, who celebrate “Chokladbiskviens dag” on Nov. 11.

I digress; here are five things the Vegas Golden Knights should be thankful for this Thanksgiving season.

The Bounceback

After missing the playoffs last season, the Golden Knights are back atop the Pacific Division standings and look like Stanley Cup Contenders once more. They are ahead not only in their division but first in the Western Conference Standings with 33 points.

Big bounce-back seasons for nearly everyone on the team have propelled the Golden Knights to where they are now.

A trainwreck of injuries last season doomed the team’s playoff hopes and altered the seasons of Mark Stone, William Karlsson, Alec Martinez, Reilly Smith, Brett Howden, and Jack Eichel. At the quarter mark of the season, they have all been healthy this season and producing for the VGK.

All good teams go through a rough year or two. But with the way things currently stand, the Golden Knights are poised to bounce back and make the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Health

After over 500-man games lost to injury last season doomed the team’s playoff hopes, the Golden Knights have only had a handful of minor injuries this season. Will Carrier missed the first game of the regular season with a minor injury, and Keegan Kolesar two with illness.

Most recently, forward Nicolas Roy has missed the last three games with a lower-body injury.

But asides from this, the Golden Knights have been extraordinarily healthy in 2022-23. Near-perfect health will help any team, but for the Golden Knights, who battled injuries all last season, this is a welcomed factor. A long offseason may have been a blessing in disguise for the VGK.

Guys like Stone, Karlsson, Martinez, Smith, Howden, and Eichel, all nursed injuries back to 100% in the offseason. The Golden Knights also made some tough injury-related decisions on the futures of Robin Lehner, Max Pacioretty, and Nolan Patrick.

Jack Eichel

By far, the most impressive player to watch this season for the Golden Knights has been Eichel. With the neck surgery, trade from Buffalo, and first season on a new team behind him, Eichel has settled in tremendously with the VGK and is playing with tons of confidence.

He has 11 goals and 15 assists for 26 points in 22 games played, leads the team in scoring, and is on pace to smash his career-high of 78 points with the Sabres in 2019-20.

The Golden Knights finally have their franchise centermen, and now it is a matter of what Eichel can do in his first trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Bruce Cassidy

Arguably the biggest offseason acquisition by the Golden Knights was their hiring of head coach Bruce Cassidy. After six years with the Boston Bruins, Cassidy established himself as one of the better coaches in the NHL and is once again having success, this time in the Western Conference.

He’s getting the most out of his players as the Golden Knight’s defense is playing a structured game that has made things much easier on goaltenders Logan Thompson and Adin Hill. His forward lines, for the most part, have been working, and he is undoubtedly a huge part of the Golden Knight’s success.

Overall Franchise Success

Looking big picture to the Golden Knights, not just this season but overall as a franchise, they have a lot to be thankful for. I know they have never done the thing, but they have overachieved in six seasons as an expansion franchise.

Five trips to the Stanley Cup Playoffs, seven series wins, four division wins, one Clarence Campbell Trophy, and the home for potential Hockey Hall of Famers- Marc-Andre Fleury, Phil Kessel, Alex Pietrangelo, and Jack Eichel.