Vegas Golden Knights 2017 Season Preview: Draft Utopia

Vegas Golden Knights 2017 Season Preview

Marc-Andre Fleury won three Stanley Cups with the Pittsburgh Penguins despite being a backup on the last two teams. His leadership is invaluable.

Chris Ransom follow @DraftUtopia Posted on 8/23/2017.

Vegas Golden Knights Line 1 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Jonathan Marchessault	Left Wing	75	5-foot-9-inches	174-pounds	30	21	51
Vadim Shipachyov	Center	50	6-foot-1-inches	190-pounds	25	50	75
James Neal	Right Wing	70	6-foot-2-inches	221-pounds	23	18	41

Vegas Golden Knights Line 2 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
David Perron	Left Wing	82	6-foot-0-inches	200-pounds	18	28	46
Cody Eakin	Center	60	6-foot-0-inches	190-pounds	3	9	12
Reilly Smith	Right Wing	80	6-foot-0-inches	185-pounds	15	22	37

Vegas Golden Knights Line 3 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Erik Haula	Left Wing	72	6-foot-0-inches	193-pounds	15	11	26
William Karlsson	Center	81	6-foot-1-inches	189-pounds	6	19	25
Oscar Lindberg	Right Wing	65	6-foot-1-inches	202-pounds	8	12	20

Vegas Golden Knights Line 4 Forwards

Player	Position	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
William Carrier	Left Wing	41	6-foot-2-inches	212-pounds	5	3	8
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare	Center	82	6-foot-0-inches	198-pounds	4	4	8
Teemu Pulkkinen	Right Wing	13	5-foot-10-inches	185-pounds	2	0	2

Vegas Golden Knights Forwards Review: The Vegas Golden Knights have one good line of forwards and two good lines if Cody Eakin reverts to the play he brought Dallas two seasons ago when they got the top seed in the Western Conference. One thing about Eakin that makes him an asset is he wins 50 percent of the face offs he takes. The third line will be the x-factor. If this third line can step up, Vegas has a chance to do some damage. Their fourth line is horrible. Vegas has nothing to lose by bringing Cody Glass up to make some plays even if its in a minimal role, but I also understand that Vegas probably wants to develop Glass while his WHL contract in the juniors plays out.

Vegas Golden Knights Defensive Lines

Player	Line	Games Played	Height	Weight	Goals	Assists	Points
Shea Theodore	Line 1	34	6-foot-2-inches	195-pounds	2	7	9
Brayden McNabb	Line 1	49	6-foot-4-inches	212-pounds	2	2	4
Colin Miller	Line 2	0	6-foot-1-inches	196-pounds	0	0	0
Nate Schmidt	Line 2	60	6-foot-1-inches	194-pounds	3	14	17
Jason Garrison	Line 3	70	6-foot-1-inches	218-pounds	1	8	9
Luke Scibsa	Line 3	51	6-foot-2-inches	209-pounds	2	11	13

Vegas Golden Knights Defensemen Review: Vegas has a terrible defense. There is no quarterback on the power play or anyone specific that can boost their penalty killing unit. It is going to be impossible for Fleury to play like he did during the 2017 Stanley Cup Playoffs when he was on the Pittsburgh Penguins with a defense this terrible. Vegas needs Rasmus Dahlin in the worst way possible.

Draft Utopia Between The Pipes Goalie Tracker

Starting Goalie

Player	Team	Games Played	Record	Shutouts	Save Percentage	Goals Against Average
Marc-Andre Fleury	Vegas Golden Knights	34	18-10-7	1 Shutout	.909	3.02 GAA

Backup Goalie

Player	Team	Games Played	Record	Shutouts	Save Percentage	Goals Against Average
Calvin Pickard	Vegas Golden Knights	48	15-31-2	2 Shutouts	.904	2.98 GAA

Vegas Golden Knights Goaltender Review: Marc-Andre Fleury is the goalie of the present for the Vegas Golden Knights. Calvin Pickard is the goalie of the future after a pedestrian season with the Colorado Avalanche. Pickard showed he was just good enough for Colorado, and he has a chance to be a future starting goalie in the NHL if he can learn under Fleury and apply himself down the road.

Vegas Golden Knights Prospect Pool: Cody Glass and Nick Suzuki are both prospects for this team at center. This team will be really deep at center in a few years once those guys are on the Vegas Golden Knights.

Vegas Golden Knights 2017-2018 Prediction

Vegas is going to be one of the worst NHL teams this season due to a lack of pieces on the blue line. This team will only go as far as Marc-Andre Fleury takes them.

I love the centers they have and their depth at left wing and right wing on the first two lines is good. The third line is solid. This team has no forwards that can play on the fourth line or any defense for that matter so its hard to see them making the playoffs this season. I honestly see a bottom 5 team in the NHL until Glass and Suzuki arrive along with some players on the blue line to take the Golden Knights to the next level.