Imagine being in a coma for five years and waking up on Monday night for the Vegas-Montreal game. And after the game, we’ll tell you that one of the two teams is aiming for the Stanley Cup and the other is refusing to tell its fans that it’s aiming for a playoff berth.
Be honest, you could have answered that it is CH that is aiming for the cup. Montreal ate Vegas.
Of course, it’s no surprise that a bad team beats a good one. It happens.
What I have a hard time understanding, however, is why Vegas can afford to go after big honors and the CH is terrorized by the P-word to keep from getting carried away.
Well, they’re strong, Vegas. They are masters. This year they haven’t lost a single game in regular time. It’s quite a machine.
But if you ignore her successes in recent years and look at her education and that of the CH, are we really light years away from that?
A crowded club?
Vegas had four first-round picks in uniform as of Monday night. The CH had nine.
Paul Cotter plays on the Golden Knights front row. He’s no worse, a big guy. But he has 26 points in his first 72 games in the NHL.
Chandler Stephenson runs like the wind and seems to be the greatest invention since sliced bread. But he still had just 33 points in 168 games with Washington before arriving at Nevada.
William Karlsson is an excellent center manager. But it’s been six years since he scored more than 60 points.
Mark Stone is so good. But he’s 31 now and has played only half-seasons for four years.
Ivan Barbashev was impressive in the playoffs last year. But this is a guy who has never scored more than 29 points before.
Brett Howden never scored more than 23 points.
Alec Martinez is solid, but he’s 36 years old now.
Marchessault will soon be 33 years old and has only scored more than 60 points in one season in his last five years.
Yes, they have Alex Pietrangelo, Shea Theodore and Jack Eichel. But it’s like most teams that rely on a few big players.
Compare player by player with the positional breakdown of both teams. Who would you choose?
Attack:
Stephenson or Suzuki? Caufield or Cotter? Harvey Pinard or Stone? Newhook or acorn? Slafkowski or Barbashev? Anderson or Marchessault? Karlsson or Monahan? Pearson or Dorofeev? Gallagher or Amadio? Evans or Howden? Pezzetta or Carrier? Armia or Kolesar?
In defense:
Matheson or Martinez? Pietrangelo or Kovacevic? Guhle or McNabb? Theodore or Barron? Xhekaj or Hutton? Harris or Korczak?
I arrive in Las Vegas at 10am and Montreal at 8am.
Anyway, my point is that there is no such thing as a crowded club in Vegas at all. It’s extraordinary that they are so strong.
Arrange to win
They didn’t lower expectations after their win last year, saying they would be younger, that there would be some holes in the lineup and that we needed to be more patient. You have to manage to win, that’s all. I could write the same piece about the Bruins this year.
That’s what makes the difference in my opinion. Paul Cotter may not have broken anything early in his career, but in his opinion he plays for the best club in the league. He has no excuses.
Chandler Stephenson didn’t change his skates and was suddenly strong when he arrived in Las Vegas four years ago. He gained confidence and told himself that he would become an important player in a big club. He also followed everyone who did.
It seems that there is no question for this team not to aim for the top. It could be a small player playing wing on the front row and I think the team would still believe it.
And surprisingly, they manage to come out on top almost all the time.
I suspect that Martin St-Louis sees things like this too. Perhaps less so the management, which must meet the public’s expectations and not give up on its rebuild just to get better for one season. But one thing is certain: the Las Vegas setting inspires the CH. The goal of a race track is ambitious. But the goal of not losing out is a small loss.
