Who’s to blame for the underachieving Golden Knights … again

[ad_1]

(Photo credit: Brandon Andreasen, photographer at SinBin.vegas)

It’s a sad moment for fans when a hockey season ends abruptly like last Thursday. Reality sets in when a Cup race is over and the 31st franchise will have to wait another year for a chance at the ultimate prize. Sadly, the truth is, it was another lost season for the Golden Knights. For the second year in a row, Vegas faced an inferior opponent and couldn’t find a way to force a seventh game. Their leaders, coaches and coaches have failed again and almost in the same way in consecutive years.

Against Montreal, the Golden Knights outscored the Canadiens 193-165, but scored two fewer goals in the semifinals. Keep in mind that the Canadiens were the 15th team with the fewest goals in the regular season and Vegas was the 3rd best. The Golden Knights fell to the same hole in the playoffs against the Dallas Stars. Like Montreal, Dallas was another low-scoring team that found a way to beat the Golden Knights in the conference final. It was inexcusable in 2020, and even more so in 2021 after the organization was retooled in the offseason.

So who is to blame?

Players

Let’s start with the leadership group. Captain Mark Stone has built quite a portfolio in Vegas, however, his stock continues to drop in the playoffs. For three seasons in a row, Stone did little to offend the Golden Knights when they needed him late in the series. Going without a single point in the semifinals overall was the lowest for Stone. His failure to produce in the backend of a playoff series was again evident against Minnesota, Colorado and Montreal.

In fairness to the captain, he recognized it.

I can congratulate (the Canadiens) whatever I want, but at the end of the day it comes down to myself and the best players on this team. We had guys producing night after night. Personally, I got skunked on this streak. It can’t happen. I’m the captain of this team, the leader of this team, I take a lot of responsibility for what just happened.-Mark Stone

Another concern was the continued slow starts for Vegas. In six semifinal games, the Golden Knights have allowed the first goal four times and have been slow early in the first period in several other playoff games. In the last 12 playoff games, the Golden Knights have lagged at one point in 11 of them.

Could it be that the Vegas team managers did not motivate their teammates enough to get the game started on time? It’s hard to understand why, but it’s fair to point fingers at men with letters; Stone, Reilly Smith and Alex Pietrangelo.

framing

It’s unfair to blame just the players for the team’s slow starts in the playoffs. Much should go to head coach Pete DeBoer. How come the Vegas bench general couldn’t get his club to wake up earlier in the playoffs? Wasn’t his message strong enough, strong enough, or just ignored? When a contending club like Vegas stumbles out of the gate so many times in the playoffs, you have to watch the coach.

Plus, DeBoer didn’t do enough to correct one of the worst playoff power plays in history. It has failed time and time again and yet there have been no major adjustments, fixes or massive revisions. Assistant coach Steve Spott was in charge of a listless man, and DeBoer stuck with his ineffective plan throughout the playoffs (and the regular season before). At one point, the head coach should have taken on the power play duties himself. There was no guarantee of success, but allowing the status quo seriously affected the Golden Knights’ chances of moving forward.

Finally, the coaches should take some heat for the late return of the goalkeeper rotation in the semi-finals. The Golden Knights were three wins away from the Stanley Cup Final when DeBoer decided to tip Marc-André Fleury and Robin Lehner. Instead of sticking to Fleury’s success, the Vegas coach decided to use the two as if the team were in the middle of a regular season streak with the Arizona Coyotes. It’s hard to believe that Lehner’s departure in Game 4 against Montreal was on DeBoers’ plans before the series began. It’s easy to read between the lines, the decision was made because of Fleury’s expensive giveaway in Game 3. For a second straight series, DeBoer mismanaged the situation in goal. And for the record, no responsibility falls on Fleury or Lehner. No, the department that shares the blame with DeBoer for the goalie wheel is the front office.

Management

The Golden Knights front office has built a well-rounded and prototypical Stanley Cup contender. Size, skill and experience. The roster had plenty of firepower forward and a new Cup-winning Norris-caliber defenseman but ignored the money wasted in the net. While many believe the two-goalie system worked, the truth is it didn’t work when games mattered. Sure, Fleury and Lehner won the Jennings Trophy for Best NHL Goalie Pair, but it was a regular season award. Frankly speaking, the Jennings Trophy is an oversized cereal bowl compared to a Conn Smyth award.

“I think it worked really well. The Jenning’s Trophy is a pretty good indicator of how well this has worked out. I think it helped us in the playoffs as well. We were really lucky to have two goalies as good as this year. “-Kelly McCrimmon on the goalie duo

– SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) June 26, 2021

In the playoffs, having two goalies again seriously injured the Golden Knights. While one keeper played, the other sat on the bench, unable to contribute. Before the start of the season, the front office agreed that they would be forced to waste $ 5 million or $ 7 million of their salary cap per game in order to keep the two goalkeepers. In the long run, Vegas didn’t have any issues in goal in the playoffs, they struggled to score. Do you know how much one or more reliable goal scorers would have cost? Yes, between 5 and 7 million dollars.

The front office added two incredibly valuable Stanley Cup winners, Alec Martinez and Alex Pietrangelo, who were two of the most trusted playoff players for Vegas. Management ignored the possibility of an offensive drought in the playoffs. The club they built failed to score against Dallas in last season’s Western Conference Finals, but felt the team needed a defense and goalkeeper upgrade. goal. It was a confusing decision at the time and it is even more so in retrospect. It was clear then and it is clear now that the Golden Knights were missing another scoring option. With more ceiling space, a player or players could have been purchased before the season or at the deadline. If the team hadn’t been grappling with $ 12 million in goaltenders, the Vegas front office could have used that financial wiggle room for more offensive help. And let’s face it, scoring goals is what they desperately needed.

It’s disappointing how the season ended, but it’s even more so when the club have set such high expectations. Fans have been told this is the best Golden Knights team they’ve rooted for since the team’s inaugural season. However, they reached exactly the same place as a year ago and bowed in exactly the same way. Similar to VGK teams in the past, of course, but there is no evidence that they were indeed better.

Most teams would feel good about reaching the semi-finals, but not this club. Vegas is one of a handful of teams designed to win now. The championship window is wide open for the Golden Knights, but if the franchise cannot break out of cap purgatory and fail to meet the scoring needs of clubs, there could be more playoff outings out there. ‘to come up.

They clearly didn’t get it the first time, let’s hope they got it with this second chance.

[ad_2]