3 unanswered Golden Knights questions if NHL season resumes

There’s only one question that matters to the Golden Knights right now: When will hockey be back?

The query dominates all NHL conversation with no firm answer in sight. Possible scenarios keep getting thrown around, but any sort of decision is at least almost a month away.

One thing, however, is clear: Everyone wants to finish the season. The league’s executives, players and coaches want pucks to be dropped, games to be played and the Stanley Cup to get lifted. Whether that’s realistic or not, it’s at least fun to think about.

With that in mind, here are three unanswered questions for the Knights if the season resumes:

1. Who’s No. 1 in net?

The trade deadline put the Knights in an enviable position with two quality goaltenders in Marc-Andre Fleury and Robin Lehner. It’s possibly the league’s best goalie tandem. But only one can start.

Fleury is the face of the franchise, but he was not having his best season. He ranks 48th in goals saved above average (minus-6.50).

Still, it would be an upset if the 35-year-old wasn’t still atop the pecking order. Lehner, who ranks seventh in goals saved above average (plus-12.67), has been impressive, no doubt. He just hasn’t had much time to win over the locker room.

Fleury has nine times as many playoff starts with the Knights (27) as Lehner has starts (three). It seems unlikely Fleury could be unseated so easily, but a tight playoff series could ignite debate.

2. What does a (possibly) healthy lineup look like?

Few teams roll out their ideal lineup after the war of attrition that is the 82-game NHL regular season. That could change this year.

The league’s pause could buy time for battered teams to heal, including the Knights. When play stopped, forwards Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, Alex Tuch and Chandler Stephenson were nursing injuries. They could be ready if the season resumes.

If Stone and Pacioretty are healthy, the top six seem set. Center William Karlsson would play between the two stud wings, with Paul Stastny centering Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith.

The defense — with Nate Schmidt and Brayden McNabb, Alec Martinez and Shea Theodore, and Nick Holden and Zach Whitecloud — also seems locked in. It’s the bottom six in which coach Pete DeBoer would face decisions.

Stephenson, Tuch, Nick Cousins, Nicolas Roy, William Carrier, Ryan Reaves and Tomas Nosek have contributed this season, but at least one would be scratched. Of Stephenson, Cousins, Roy and Nosek — all capable centers — only two could play in the middle.

These are welcome questions for DeBoer compared to the ones he’s faced in the postseason previously.

3. Can the PK improve?

The Knights’ penalty kill was, in a word, awful in March.

Opponents scored on five of eight power plays, with the Los Angeles Kings, Winnipeg Jets and Calgary Flames going a combined 5-for-5. It was a major red flag for a team that otherwise was rolling.

DeBoer probably would make the PK a massive point of emphasis in whatever practice time the Knights would get if play resumes. He’s not used to coaching weak units. The San Jose Sharks had the NHL’s fourth-best penalty kill during his tenure there. The New Jersey Devils, his job before that, had the third-best.

His systems haven’t clicked the same way with the Knights. The team ranks 29th (70.7 percent) since his arrival, which should make potential playoff opponents such as the Edmonton Oilers, St. Louis Blues and Vancouver Canucks — who all have top-four power plays — salivate.

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.