NBC analysts say Golden Knights look ready to avoid letdown

It really isn’t a trip to Las Vegas unless one experiences at least one of those brutal mornings where the room is spinning and nothing feels quite right.

The Golden Knights are hoping to avoid the kind of hangover many teams go through after making extended playoff runs the previous season.

NHL on NBC analysts Pierre McGuire and Eddie Olczyk believe the Knights are well-positioned to avoid such a fate.

“They’ve already addressed that a little bit by changing up a little bit of the chemistry in the room,” McGuire said. “You bring in a Max Pacioretty, you bring in a Paul Stastny, you’re bringing in new people. You’re bringing excited people. You’re bringing in a captive audience, and once you bring that into a room that’s already energized. I think that’s positive.”

The Knights didn’t just make those changes for the sake of change.

Pacioretty and Stastny are proven commodities in the league that have not only proven to be productive on the offensive end, but should help address the defensive vulnerabilities shown by the Knights’ second line last season.

Olczyk thinks just the act of going after such big fish in the offseason lets players know the franchise is committed to winning.

“The moves that George McPhee has made, I think it sends an incredible message to the guys inside that room,” Olczyk said. “I just really believe that it brings the players inside that room together and the coaches and tells them, ‘Look, yeah, maybe we’re way ahead of where we thought we would be, but now the door is open and absolutely we can win and we’re going to show everybody.’ There’s no better feeling than being inside the locker room when your manager says ‘OK, let’s go. We think we can win, we’re going to spend money.’”

Still, it’s difficult to win in the NHL and even harder to do it consistently.

“Yeah, it’s hard,” Olczyk said. “It is incredibly hard to win. You need a little luck. But guess what? There’s no better place to look for a little luck than in Las Vegas.”

Both analysts pointed to the consistency of goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury as a stabilizing force that could lead to another deep run in the playoffs.

They have to get there first.

Mike “Doc” Emrick, the longtime play-by-play voice on NBC, believes the start of the season will be vital for the Knights in their second year.

“It will be interesting in that the team had all of its home games at the very start of last season and really capitalized on their home-ice advantage and leapfrogged right to the top of the division,” he said. “This year they go on the road five (after opening at home) before they come back home for five. That will be an interesting start for them. It will be fascinating, and of course the pressure is on the theatrical crew to see what they can do to make sure they can make those pregame shows interesting for all of us again, too.”

That atmosphere at T-Mobile Arena is something that captured the imagination of viewers throughout the country, according to the broadcast team.

The Knights success there was a springboard to their success and McGuire believes it will have to continue for the team to approach a repeat of its accomplishments.

“The one thing they established last year that has to hold true this year, and I truly believe this, is their home ice advantage,” he said. “It’s a tremendous advantage for the home team when they’re playing the way they do. They cause a lot of problems for the opposition.”

The Knights will be featured on NBC or NBC Sports Network a total of nine times this season, beginning with Thursday night’s home game against the Flyers.

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Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-277-8028. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.