2022-23 NHL team preview: Vegas Golden Knights

The Vegas Golden Knights finished the 2021-22 season tied for the league lead in points with the Colorado Avalanche and edged out the Avs in the second round of the playoffs. They lost to the Montreal Canadiens in semi-final. In November, the Golden Knight's acquired Jack Eichel from the Buffalo Sabres. Vegas struggled through injuries and salary cap navigation and finished with a 43-31-8 record.

The Golden Knights finished 12th in the league with 266 goals last season. Jonathan Marchessault and Chandler Stephenson were the team's top scorers. Mark Stone, Jack Eichel, Max Pacioretty and Evgenii Dadonov were injured a lot during the season and didn't play well.

The Vegas Golden Knights have a strong defensive group with Alex Pietrangelo and Shea Theodore. The team had eight different defenders play at least 150 minutes at even-strength last season. Pieterangelo, Alec Martinez and Brayden McNabb form the team's veteran pairing. The third pairing will feature Zach Whitecloud, Nic Hague, Ben Hutton, and possibly rookie Kaedan Korczak.

Vegas sold Marc-Andre Fleury last summer. Robin Lehner was the team's goalie of the future, but he had a bad season with injuries. Laurent Brossoit is injured and out for the next few years. The most successful goalie for Vegas was third-stringer Logan Thompson.

Pete DeBoer was fired after the season. Bruce Cassidy was hired as a coach. Cassidy won the Jack Adams Award in 2019-20 with the Boston Bruins. He led the Bruins to the Stanley Cup Final in the same season and the team made the playoffs in each season he was in charge.

The Golden Knights have some good prospects. They have a lot of young players who are pushing for opportunities. They are in a difficult salary cap bind.

Jack Eichel and Mark Stone were limited to 37 and 34 games respectively in 2021-22. The Golden Knights lost some scoring when they dumped Pacioretty and Dadonov over the summer.

Logan Thompson was a bright spot for the Golden Knights down the stretch. If he can be an average NHL goalie, it would be a huge win for Vegas.

The Golden Knights have gone from a lovable underdog story to a machine that constantly adds and drops big-name players. If things go wrong again this year, it might be time to look for a change in philosophy.

The Golden Knights don't have a great goalie situation, but they have the salary cap room to fix it. Healthy seasons from Eichel and Stone and a strong blueline should be enough to compensate. Vegas should make the playoffs come spring 2023.