Golden Knights takeaways: Where does team stand after moves?

The longest summer of the Golden Knights’ existence was primarily spent clearing cap space.

The was the purpose of two of the team’s most significant offseason moves. The Knights gave themselves $5 million of spending power by trading right wing Evgenii Dadonov to Montreal for the contract of defenseman Shea Weber. They gained another $7.76 million by moving left wing Max Pacioretty and defenseman Dylan Coghlan to Carolina.

Opening up financial flexibility was necessary for the Knights to retain right wing Reilly Smith and center Brett Howden and give themselves enough room to re-sign restricted free agents Nicolas Roy, Nic Hague and Keegan Kolesar. Bringing back Roy, Hague and Kolesar was a priority for the organization, and general manager Kelly McCrimmon said he anticipates re-signing all three.

Hague said Monday before the “Battle for Vegas” charity softball game his contract status was “status quo” because he’s been occupied at home in Kitchener, Ontario, seeing friends and family since the season ended.

“I think those are really important players to a team that’s in a salary-cap world, that’s going to be at the salary cap,” McCrimmon said. “Those guys are going to be big contributors for our organization.”

What the Knights have not done this offseason is make many outside additions to a roster that missed the playoffs after an injury-riddled campaign. With that in mind, here are three takeaways from this summer:

1. Cassidy must work fast

The Knights’ roster machinations mean they will be banking on plenty of internal improvements to get them back to Stanley Cup contention.

One person who could have a huge hand in that is new coach Bruce Cassidy. The 57-year-old is coming off an impressive six-season run in Boston during which the Bruins’ defense and special teams were elite. The Knights’ power play (ranked 25th last season) and penalty kill (21st) could especially use his guiding hand.

The team will need Cassidy to make an impact quickly. Losing Pacioretty and Dadonov means the Knights’ five-on-five offense probably will suffer. Two ways they can make up for that is to score more on the power play and play better defensively. Cassidy must have the team ready to do both coming out of training camp.

“The group seems to be in a good place,” he said. “Wants to get going again. Not happy the way last year ended. The only way you can fix that is have a better year this year. That was the prevailing sentiment with pretty much everybody.”

2. Eichel must produce

Along with Pacioretty, Dadonov and Coghlan, the Knights have lost right wing Alex Tuch and left wings Mattias Janmark and Peyton Krebs since the start of last season.

But one player they didn’t have last summer is center Jack Eichel.

The 25-year-old was obtained to be the team’s first true No. 1 center, and he has that ability. He will have to show it to justify the financial dominoes created by adding him and his $10 million annual cap hit.

Eichel scored 14 goals in 34 games last season, a 34-goal pace over a full season. That was with him joining the team in February after undergoing a neck surgery that never had been performed on an NHL player and then fracturing his thumb March 17. He will now get a full offseason and training camp to integrate with the Knights, which could lead to better production.

Eichel connected with Cassidy this summer in Massachusetts and showed off his athleticism by doing a cartwheel after a home run in Monday’s softball game.

You grade the celly 🤔 pic.twitter.com/hDLb8voHPZ

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) July 19, 2022

3. Injuries haven’t gone away

A long summer won’t wash away the Knights’ season-changing injury woes from last season.

McCrimmon said goaltenders Robin Lehner (shoulder) and Laurent Brossoit (hip) might not be ready to start training camp or the regular season after undergoing offseason surgeries. That could put them behind in adjusting to Cassidy’s defensive system.

It also might mean the Knights will rely on goaltender Logan Thompson heavily during a difficult start to their schedule. Three of their first four games are on the road, and four of their first seven are against playoff teams Los Angeles, Calgary, Colorado and Toronto.

Also, defenseman Daniil Miromanov will be unavailable for camp after offseason surgery, and center Nolan Patrick remains out indefinitely. Captain Mark Stone is expected to be ready for camp after undergoing back surgery May 19. McCrimmon said his medical staff told him Stone is “doing really well.”

Still, it’s clear a team that had more than 500 man-games lost last season won’t enter this season with a clean bill of health.

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