The Vegas Golden Knights leaped into the NHL season and caught everyone’s attention almost instantly. This season, too, the Knights have consistently dominated the Pacific Division scoreboard, but a certain regressive trend has nonetheless been evident. For general manager Kelly McCrimmon, the team’s goaltending situation has missed the mark by quite a lot.
Vegas Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon Sounds Off on Goaltending Struggles
While it has not even been a decade since the Golden Knights were founded, the team has been a worthy contender over all these years. Since its inception in 2017, the Knights have won a Stanley Cup and two conference championships, including one in their debut season in 2017–18.
The Knights have missed the playoffs just once, and despite the many ups and downs this season, Vegas is third in the standings, behind the Anaheim Ducks and the Edmonton Oilers, with 82 points. However, the team has been evidently sloppy at various points in the season, and goaltending is one of the Knights’ major problem areas. McCrimmon is painfully aware of that.
“I don’t love our goaltending, but I like our goaltenders. I think they need to be better,” the Golden Knights general manager said in a recent episode of “OverDrive”.
McCrimmon also expressed his confidence in Adin Hill, who has registered a sub-.900 save percentage in each of his last five games. “Aiden’s won a Stanley Cup. He’s a proven NHL player. You know, I know I know that he can do it because I’ve seen him do it.”
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The Golden Knights’ desperate attempt to straighten things out by bringing in head coach John Tortorella behind the bench and parting ways with former head coach Bruce Cassidy midseason suggests that things have gotten more tense inside the locker room.
While Cassidy played an instrumental role in leading the team to a Stanley Cup, his efforts this season have fallen woefully short: the Knights are in the process of finishing with the lowest point percentage in the history of the franchise.
Even though Vegas sits third in the Pacific Division with 82 points, it is faring much worse than other teams at the same position in different divisions. For perspective, the Montreal Canadiens have 96 points, the New York Islanders have 89 points, and the Minnesota Wild have 94 points. The Knights are obviously struggling, and a bigger part of their problems stems from underwhelming goaltending.
The Golden Knights are tied with the St. Louis Blues for the most blown starts this season in the league, with 10. The goaltenders of the team are, statistically, some of the most underperforming goalies in the league. Taken together, the four (Carter Hart, Adin Hill, Carl Lindbom, and Akira Schmid) have the lowest number of quality starts in the league, with 35 in 72 games.
Clearly, Tortorella has enough work cut out for him for the Golden Knights to channel their most lethal and competitive form again.
