Summer stinks. It’s hot, all the fun holidays are still a lifetime away and, of course, there’s no hockey. That said, though, we’re less than a month away from the Golden Knights’ first preseason game, and that’s certainly something to get excited about.
Projected lines after all-star break.
— Paul Williams (@PWillUNLV) August 20, 2018
It’s hard to project what the Golden Knights’ lineup will look like so far into the future, but here’s a basic rundown of what I think (!) things will look like:
Forwards
Jonathan Marchessault — William Karlsson — Reilly Smith
Erik Haula — Paul Stastny — Alex Tuch
Tomas Tatar — Cody Eakin — Ryan Carpenter
Tomas Nosek — Pierre-Edouard Bellemare — Ryan Reaves
Defense
Nate Schmidt — Brayden McNabb
Shea Theodore — Deryk Engelland
Nick Holden — Colin Miller
Goalies
Marc-Andre Fleury
Malcolm Subban
I don’t see there being many surprises in the lineup. It wouldn’t be at all shocking if the Knights made some tweaks here and there (such as Nic Hague earning a call-up at some point during the season), but this is what I see the lineup looking like for the majority of the year, barring injury, of course. For those hoping to see Cody Glass or Nick Suzuki in the lineup, you’ll likely need to wait another year.
What’s happening with Shea Theodore? And what if he doesn’t sign his qualifying offer?
— tyler burdett (@thatdudeTB) August 19, 2018
This was touched upon in last week’s mailbag, but here’s a quick rundown; Shea Theodore is a restricted free agent who was not eligible for salary arbitration this summer. This gives the Golden Knights a heavy advantage in contract negotiations, which is why the two sides are having such a hard time agreeing to a deal. If Theodore doesn’t sign by December, he will be ineligible to play for the rest of the season. However, that very rarely happens, and it wouldn’t be all that surprising if Theodore is under contract by the start of training camp.
WILL THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP IN YEAR TWO OR CONTINUE TO FALL SHORT? THANKS. FIRST TIME ASKER.
— William Chase (@WillChase_) August 19, 2018
The Golden Knights are going to win every Stanley Cup for the rest of time.
(DISCLAIMER: This is Will Chase from The Cannon. Go follow him on Twitter and destroy his mentions.)