Our favorite format for making predictions is back. It’s time for some off-the-wall opinions for the 2024-25 Golden Knights. We’ll get Jason’s (and yours from our Discord channel) later in the week.
Call me crazy, but Mark Stone will set a career-high in goals and will trail only Jack Eichel for the team lead
Since Stone became a Golden Knight he’s been one of the team’s most important offensive driving forces. However, he has never scored more than 21 goals with the Golden Knights in a season. His career high came the year he was traded to Vegas when he scored 28 in Ottawa before tallying five more with VGK for a total of 33. Because the roster is quite devoid of goal-scoring wingers, I expect Stone to carry a bulk of the load and will fly past 30. No matter how the lineup shakes out throughout the season, Stone is going to be playing with a great center and the line will be expected to produce tons of offense. Finally, I think this is the year Stone remains healthy and plays close to 80 games. I wanted to go one step further and say he’ll lead the team, but I think Eichel will be pushing 50, and Stone’s not doing that.
Call me crazy, but the Golden Knights will have the worst Corsi, Fenwick, and shot share of any team to make playoffs and all three will be the worst in franchise history
Last year’s team nearly pulled off this feat in Corsi and Fenwick (Boston was worse at both), but they actually finished the season with more shots on goal than they allowed (BOS, TBL, and VAN all made the playoffs and didn’t). This year, VGK will cede possession more than they ever have at any point in team history. Not only do I think they’ll allow more shot attempts than they create, I think the delta will be significant. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Golden Knights allow 600 more shot attempts than they take. On certain nights, it’ll be too much to overcome, but on most nights the scores will be close VGK will win their fair share of games even when losing the Corsi battle by a wide margin. A strong defensive corps and decent goaltending will keep them afloat in most games and they’ll feast on the bad teams to win enough points to clinch a playoff spot. This season may not be pretty, but they’ll still win more games than they lose.
Call me crazy, but Jonas Rondbjerg will score more goals and points than Alexander Holtz
Holtz enters the season as one of the most exciting young offensive players the Golden Knights have ever had. The former #7 overall pick has shown the ability to score in the NHL but has yet to prove he can earn the trust of an NHL coach. On the flip side, Jonas Rondbjerg is pretty much the exact opposite. I expect Holtz to run into all sorts of trouble with Bruce Cassidy which will limit his time on ice when he’s in the lineup and likely limit his appearances. Rondbjerg may not even win the starting job out of camp but the fact that he has to clear waivers should afford him some extra leeway in terms of remaining on the 23-man roster. I don’t expect this to be a high-scoring race, so give me the guy every coach loves instead of the one who consistently finds his way to the dog house.
Call me crazy, but VGK’s combined power play and penalty kill percentages will be greater than 106% and will be Top 5 in the league
The Golden Knights have finished with a combined special teams percentage over 100% just twice in seven seasons. Year 1 they were solid at both posting a 102.4 combined rate. The 56-game season in 2020-21 they boasted one of the most dominant PKs ever at 86.8 which boosted the poor power play to a total of 104.6. This year, the Golden Knights will become true special teams merchants and it will be a huge reason why they are successful in the standings. There are tons of penalty kill options and the team will be as locked in as ever on the kill as most of their games will be lower-scoring. The power play has a good chance to be the best in team history, topping the 2019-20 team’s 22.0%. Hertl, Hanifin, Olofsson, Holtz, and Dorofeyev are all great weapons on the power play and a healthier Stone will help a ton as well. Trust me, I know how scary it sounds to VGK fans to have to trust that special teams will be the calling card of the team, but the makeup of the roster suggests it this year more than ever.
