Golden Knights Shouldn’t Ditch Eichel-Marner Experiment Just Yet

When a team acquires one of the best wingers in the league, you’d generally expect said star winger to play with said team’s star center. So, when the Vegas Golden Knights acquired Mitch Marner from the Toronto Maple Leafs, the generalconsensus was that he’d play on the top line with Jack Eichel.

However, in this specific situation, there were some early reservations. 

Eichel and Marner are two of the best playmakers in the league, but they’re also pass-first to a fault. They both want to be the primary puck carrier, and they both like their zone entries. 

As expected, there have been some growing pains. After three games with little 5-on-5 offense to show for it, Bruce Cassidy separated the duo en route to a 2-1 overtime loss to the Seattle Kraken. Mark Stone returned to his old spot on the top line next to Eichel and Ivan Barbashev; Marner dropped down next to Tomáš Hertl and Pavel Dorofeyev.

On paper, Marner is certainly a better fit with Hertl and Dorofeyev. His strong defensive game helps offset their weakness in that area. And, most importantly, neither Hertl nor Dorofeyev shies away from shooting the puck.

I’m just not sure they’ll be together very long.

Yes, Cassidy split up Eichel and Marner three games into the season because the Golden Knights are struggling to generate offense. He’s never shied away from putting the lines in a blender, and he never will. 

But if I had to guess, this separation will probably be short-lived. The Golden Knights have to make this duo work.

Marner & Eichel give the Golden Knights a true top line

Not all playoff teams have an elite goaltender. They don’t all have a lethal power play, and they don’t always have the best penalty kill. 

There’s one thing they all have in common: a true top line. 

Colorado has Artturi Lehkonen, Nathan MacKinnon, and Mikko Rantanen Martin Nečas. Tampa Bay has Jake Guentzel, Brayden Point, and Nikita Kucherov. Florida has Carter Verhaeghe, Aleksander Barkov, and Sam Reinhart, and so on and so forth. 

The Golden Knights are in the same division as the team with the most nuclear top line option the league has seen in years— decades, even. The Edmonton Oilers don’t always load up their top line with Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl, but when they do, it’s pretty damn hard to counter. 

But it can be done. 

Look at what the Florida Panthers have done against the Oilers in the Stanley Cup Finals last season. They didn’t completely shut down the McDavid-Draisaitl super line, because that’s impossible. What the Panthers did, however, was manage to neutralize them. 

In the finals, Corey Perry joined Draisaitl and McDavid on the Oilers’ top line. They played 45:58 together at 5-on-5 and outshot their opponents 28-18. And yet, they were outscored 5-1.

Until someone knocks them off, the Western Conference runs through the Oilers. And for as long as McDavid and Draisaitl stick together, the Oilers will always have the better top line. But Mitch Marner bridges that gap more than Mark Stone does. 

Last season, the Golden Knights didn’t have an answer for that line. In the series against the Oilers, Jack Eichel played 22:28 with Mark Stone and Ivan Barbashev at 5-on-5. They were outscored 2-0. It didn’t work then– trying it again and expecting a different result would be the definition of insanity.

The Barbashev-Eichel-Stone line has no playoff success 

The top line of Barbashev-Eichel-Stone wasn’t good enough last season. It wasn’t just that they fell short against the Oilers— they didn’t cut it against the Minnesota Wild, either.

That line played 28:58 at 5-on-5 against the Wild in the first round. They generated 14 scoring chances against Minnesota’s 21, and were outscored 1-0. Finally, when the Golden Knights were down 2-1 in the series, Bruce Cassidy swapped Barbashev for William Karlsson. That line played 16:16 at 5-on-5 and outscored their opponents 3-0.

William Karlsson can move up in the lineup– but it can’t be to the wing. That nixes the Golden Knights’ center depth, which is their biggest strength.

The last time that the Golden Knights had a truly successful top line was 2023. In 2023, Jonathan Marchessault was in Stone’s place on the first line. At 5-on-5, they outscored the Edmonton Oilers 7-1. They outscored the Dallas Stars 5-2 and the Florida Panthers 4-2. 

For the most part, that line stayed intact against the Stars in 2024, and they outscored their opponents 4-2 at 5-on-5. The Golden Knights fell short, but there was only one other line with a positive goal share. Having a dominant top line wasn’t the issue. 

Mark Stone is a good hockey player. But at this point in his career, he can’t be the second-best player on a contending team’s top line, and the past two years are proof of that very fact.

Marner & Eichel are the present and future

There’s one more reason why the Golden Knights need to make Marner and Eichelk work: that’s their present, but it’s also their future. Marner and Eichel are both signed long-term. On a team with a history of quick roster turnaround, they’re guaranteed at least eight more years together.

They’re also the two forwards who figure to be on this team for the longest time by a country mile.

Mark Stone and William Karlsson’s contracts expire in 2027. Tomáš Hertl’s deal runs through 2030, but with his injury history, there’s no guarantee that he’ll still be playing. Marner and Eichel are the present, but as of now, they’re also the future. 

Here’s the thing: the Golden Knights don’t have any blue-chip prospects in their system. They have Trevor Connelly, who seems to have trouble staying healthy. They have Jakob Ihs-Wozniak, who probably won’t be anything close to a point-per-game player. And then they have… actually, that’s kind of it.

The Golden Knights won a Stanley Cup by mortgaging their future. Now, their lack of prospects is manifesting in a veteran-heavy AHL team that finished last season at the bottom of the league. There is no cavalry, and there are no reinforcements.

Sure, another superstar center could fall into their lap at a diminished value because of an injury. Or, maybe they’ll land another elite winger by trading for his signing rights. But probably not. Because, even in Vegas– especially in Vegas– all luck runs out.