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The Knights Watch: September 24 to October 8

Posted on by Mike Hannah

Welcome back to The Knights Watch, the Knights On Ice series that acts as your one-stop shop for all of the updates and stats you may have missed over the course of the week (or more) from Vegas Golden Knights prospects. Though during a long and difficult season it may often feel as though the night is dark and full of terrors, we’re here to remind you that something better is coming.

Granted, the team is presently undefeated so perhaps we should be planning the parade. What do I know?

Last time we covered Sept. 1 through the 23rd so today we will catch up with Sept. 24 through to Oct. 8, then from there onward we will hopefully be updating you weekly.

There is a lot of information to get through so let’s get started with the Canadian Hockey League!

Note: Keep in mind we do not cover the AHL roster players in this series. For that look for Shepard Price’s AHL Three Stars series that should be debuting in the coming weeks.

CHL

Cody Glass, C (Portland Winterhawks, WHL)
Since Last Update: (5 Games Played) 3 Goals-7 Assists–10 Points
Overall: (6 GP) 4G-9A—13P

Averaging two points per game over the last five games is exactly the level of production you want from your top selection in the draft.

Nick Suzuki, C (Owen Sound Attack, OHL)
Since Last Update: (4GP) 3G-5A—8P
Overall: (5 GP) 4G-6A–10P

Not to be outdone…

Nic Hague, D (Mississauga Steelheads, OHL)
Since Last Update: (3 GP) 0G-2A—2P
Overall: (5 GP) 0G-3A—3P

Two points in three games for the giant defenseman is more than one could reasonably hope for from the defensive defenseman. Still looking for his first goal of the year he is a negative-six so far in the young campaign, though being on the 1-4 Steelheads makes it a little difficult to fault him much.

Dylan Coghlan, D (Tri-City Americans, WHL)
Since Last Update: (5GP) 1G-1A—2P
Overall: (6GP) 1G-1A—2P

Dylan Ferguson, G (Kamloops Blazers, WHL)
Last Update: 0-2 Record, 6.60 Goals Against Average, .841 Save Percentage
Overall: 0-6, 6.04 GAA, .827 SV%

We’re going to have to track the goalies a bit differently due to how their statistics are calculated. Last week I described Ferguson’s season as being a mixed bag. I think we can now downgrade that status to borderline disastrous. It’s still early, but this is not the kind of season we were expecting from Ferguson.

INTERNATIONAL

Nikita Gusev, W (SKA St. Petersburg, KHL)
Since Last Update: (5 GP) 5G-3A—8P
Overall: (19 GP) 12G-16A—28P

Gusev continues to lead the KHL in scoring over his former-NHL teammates Ilya Kovalchuk (26 points) and Pavel Datsyuk (22 points) and SKA is undefeated through their first 19 games. I mean, Vegas is undefeated, too. Fewer games, but it’s basically the same thing, right?

Erik Brännström, D (HV71, SHL)
Since Last Update: (5 GP) 0G-1A—1P
Overall: (8 GP) 0G-1A—1P

NON-CONTRACT PROSPECTS

Last time we forgot to update some of the prospects who are in the Golden Knights’ system but are not under contract with the team. Today we rectify that mistake.

Jonas Røndbjerg, RW/LW (Växjö Lakers HC, SHL)
Overall: (7 GP) 1G-2A—3P

Jake Leschyshyn, C (Regina Pats, WHL)
Overall: (2 GP) 1G-1A—2P

After a lengthy rehab following knee surgery in January, Leschyshyn made his return to live game action in the last days of September helpings his Regina Pats to a win over the Swift Current Broncos.

Lukas Elvenes, C (IK Oskarshamn, Allsvenskan)
Overall: (6 GP) 1G-4A—5P

I’ll be honest, I don’t know this league. I’m not sure of the quality of competition. All I know is Elvenes, having struggled last season at the SHL level producing no points in 12 games, was sent on loan to IK Oskarshamn of the Allsvenskan league. If it affords Elvenes more playing time than he would have gotten on Rogle BK then who am I to complain?

Jack Dugan, LW (Chicago Steel, USHL)
Overall: (2 GP) 2G-1A—3P

Nick Campoli, C (North York Rangers, OJHL)
Overall: (12 GP) 8G-3A—11P

Ben Jones, C (Niagara IceDogs, OHL)
Overall: (7GP) 5G-4A—9P

Maksim Zhukov and Jiri Patera are meant to be on this list. However, none of the sites I use for statistics have their save percentages listed as of when I am writing this. As wins, losses, and goals against average gives us no real insight into their play, I’ve opted instead to omit them until next week when I expect those numbers to be available.

That said, this is important:

Talking Points