Golden Knights McCrimmon Addresses Injuries, ‘Wasted Season’

On Saturday, Vegas Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon sat down for his year-end media availability. 

“It’s disappointing to have our season end,” began McCrimmon. “I think that our team genuinely believed we had what it takes to win. I think when you build a team, you want to build a team that has a chance to win a Stanley Cup, and I think this team did… From that standpoint, it’s disappointing because we fell short of what we anticipated we would.

“A lot of things have to go right for your team to win,” finished McCrimmon. “You have to be playing well at the right time; you have to have good health or be able to work your way through that… These aren’t excuses; these are just the realities of that fine line or that thin margin that sometimes separates winning from losing.”

McCrimmon acknowledged that the Golden Knights lost in the postseason because they couldn’t score enough. However, he mainly attributed that to Edmonton’s defense.

“I don’t know that I would overreact to the fact that we didn’t score enough goals,” he said. “That’s obviously an important part of the game, but we were a good offensive team all year. We were fifth in the NHL in goals scored. So, I don’t think that it was a chronic issue that you would’ve expected would lead to our demise in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.”

Because defenseman Nic Hague is an RFA, McCrimmon addressed the hot topic of offer sheets. 

“The one thing that gets overlooked is St. Louis successfully acquired Philip Broberg and Dylan Holloway only because Edmonton chose not to match… Historically, [offer sheets] rarely work. But because the last two did, it’s gained a lot of momentum in terms of the conversation.”

Read More: Golden Knights Exit Interview: Cassidy Praises Eichel, Rips Depth

Following the Golden Knights’ Game 5 loss to the Edmonton Oilers, forward William Karlsson called their campaign a ‘wasted season.’ McCrimmon addressed Karlsson’s comment.

“I think [Karlsson calling the year a ‘wasted season’] is somewhat of a raw emotion answer,” said McCrimmon. “Clearly, it’s not a wasted year in any sense of the word, but it’s a disappointment that we didn’t get to where we wanted to get to… To me, it was a missed opportunity because I felt our team was good enough to win.”

McCrimmon acknowledged the Golden Knights’ free agents and the upcoming July 1st Free Agency.

“We’ve got Tanner Pearson, Victor Olofsson, Reilly Smith, Brandon Saad, and Ilya Samsonov with expiring contracts on June 30th,” said McCrimmon. “I think there’s a really good case to be made for a lot of those players. I think they played well here for us. So we’ll make those decisions, and then depending on how that goes, that can dictate to some extent what you do on July 1st with Free Agency. But we’re going to do everything we can to make our team better in these next six, seven weeks.”

McCrimmon addressed player injuries but didn’t offer specifics.

“We have no surgeries,” said McCrimmon. “Saad would have been a guy that would have missed the most time. Stone could have gotten back in the series potentially. McNabb was probably the guy most injured of anybody, but that’s the type of warrior and player he is. 

“We had a couple of guys that played hurt and are going to continue to get treatment here after the season,” he finished. “But that’s not unexpected at this time of year.”

McCrimmon confirmed that William Karlsson will join Team Sweden in the IIHF World Championships. Jonas Røndbjerg will join Denmark.

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