Pete DeBoer to meet with Golden Knights brass about future

The Golden Knights’ frustration and regret still lingered Tuesday.

Four days after their final game of the season and six since they were eliminated from playoff contention, the pain was still there when they held their final media availability before splitting up for the summer.

The season started with sky-high expectations and ended with a crash. The preseason Stanley Cup co-favorites never fully jelled because of injuries, goaltending inconsistency and special-teams woes.

That leaves players, coaches and management searching for answers. Some will come soon. Some will come in the offseason. Some won’t be answered until the team reconvenes and proves the season was a fluke.

“It stings a lot, obviously,” defenseman Zach Whitecloud said. “For me, it’s probably going to last until game one starts next year.”

The Knights had exit meetings with players Monday after taking time to decompress. Another important summit will take place this week when coach Pete DeBoer meets with general manager Kelly McCrimmon and president of hockey operations George McPhee to discuss his future.

DeBoer, 98-50-12 since being hired Jan. 15, 2020, has another year on his contract and hopes to return.

“I want to coach this team again,” DeBoer said. “I’m at the point in my career where I’m 14 years in. I don’t worry about contracts. I worry about coaching with the opportunity to win a Stanley Cup, and I think we have that here.”

Injuries — 500 man-games lost — played a major role in the Knights missing the playoffs for the first time in the five-year franchise history. McCrimmon called them “the overarching issue that dominated our season.”

Key players such as captain Mark Stone (45 games), left wing Max Pacioretty (43), right wing Reilly Smith (26), center William Karlsson (15) and defensemen Alec Martinez (56), Whitecloud (23) and Brayden McNabb (13) missed significant time.

“If we were healthy or half as healthy as we were this year, it’d be a different story,” McNabb said. “It is an excuse, but it’s reality, too.”

There were other issues. The Knights fell from second in team save percentage a season ago to 20th. Their power play and penalty kill were ranked 25th and 21st.

The Knights controlled their playoff fate with four games remaining and lost three straight shootouts. They were 0-2-3 against the final five nonplayoff teams they faced. They were 23-13-4 against nonplayoff teams overall, compared with 27-5 last season.

“I’m very disappointed we did not make the playoffs,” McCrimmon said. “I believe strongly that we could have and should have. As much as I’m being realistic about the impact injuries had on our season, I do think we had in our control to become a playoff team. We lost some games to teams that we shouldn’t lose to.”

Those defeats will stick in the minds of everyone as they watch the playoffs. The long summer will give them an opportunity to rest and heal after previous long playoff runs.

But the team didn’t take much solace in that.

“We’re still sitting here, and it’s May 3 and we’re not playing,” Martinez said. “Especially for this group, that’s unacceptable.”

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