Golden Knights prospects get valuable AHL playoff experience

The Golden Knights arrived at training camp last year after a short offseason, though no one was complaining after a run to the Stanley Cup Final.

Four players at the team’s rookie camp this week have a similar feeling. Defensemen Nicolas Hague, Zach Whitecloud and Dylan Coghlan and center Cody Glass had less time off this summer after leading the Knights’ American Hockey League affiliate, the Chicago Wolves, to the league’s championship round, the Calder Cup Final. That gave them 22 extra games to develop, and the hope is they can use that experience to push for a spot on the NHL roster.

“I thought I went through situations in that deep playoff run that you just don’t come across in any other situation,” Hague said. “Not in the regular season, not in training camp. Everything’s heightened, expectations are higher, the nerves are higher. That’s what happens in the playoffs, and you don’t get that anywhere else.”

The Wolves, in their second season as a Knights affiliate, won three playoff series before falling to the Charlotte Checkers (Carolina Hurricanes affiliate) in five games. All four got to prove their mettle, as Glass scored 15 points, Whitecloud 15 to lead all defensemen in the playoffs, and Hague and Coghlan, who played in only seven games because of a broken jaw, 11 and two, respectively.

Of course, that didn’t lessen the disappointment after the Checkers hoisted the Calder Cup.

“Obviously, it’s a sour taste in your mouth,” Whitecloud said. “For the rest of my life, it’s always going to be. But it made me a better person and a better hockey player.”

Experiencing that playoff pressure should help all four as they prepare for the Anaheim Rookie Faceoff tournament, followed by training camp, where they will try to prove that they are ready for the next level. The Knights open against the Colorado Avalanche at 1 p.m. Saturday at Great Park Ice & FivePoint Arena in Irvine, California.

“The teams we were playing against throughout the entire playoffs, most of those teams were filled with NHL-rostered players,” said Wolves coach Rocky Thompson, who is leading the rookie camp. “It was a great experience for them. We were almost there. But very valuable lessons along the way that were learned and really helped some of the development with the players.”

Odds and ends

* Hague and Whitecloud, who were partnered last season in the AHL, skated together at practice Friday. Defenseman Jimmy Schuldt, who signed a one-year, $850,000 contract Thursday, played with Coghlan.

* Center Ben Jones, a 2017 seventh-round pick, practiced despite nursing an undisclosed injury. Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon said Thursday that Jones will not play in the Anaheim Rookie Faceoff.

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