The Golden Knights have spent the last seven years making massive trades to build their roster. They’re running out of runway to keep doing it though. Let me explain…
This offseason was already expected to be tense but it might have gotten even more distressing for Golden Knights fans. With less than one month to sign franchise leading goal scorer Jonathan Marchessault, reports have surfaced indicating beloved television play-by-play announcer Dave Goucher could be on the move as well.
Over the weekend, The Boston Globe reported the Bruins and their broadcast partner were actively pursuing the New England native.
NESN and the Bruins have reached out to Dave Goucher, who is very familiar to Bruins fans. He called their games on the radio from 2000-17 before he was hired as the TV play-by-play voice for the expansion Vegas Golden Knights, where he calls games with former Bruins defenseman Shane Hnidy. His ecstatic “Bergeron! Bergeron! Bergeron!” call of Patrice Bergeron’s overtime goal to cap a comeback against the Maple Leafs in the first round of the 2013 playoffs is among the most iconic in modern Boston sports history. –Chad Finn on Boston.com
Goucher became the voice of Vegas hockey in 2017 and was immediately embraced by the fans. Starting with that magical 2017-18 run to the Final. For seven seasons, Goucher’s been on in thousands of households across Las Vegas. Usually, starting at 7:08 PM.
While there’s no indication the play-by-play announcer will take the open Bruins job, the executives at NESN believe he’s the perfect fit. If so, you can’t blame Goucher for listening. The position is coveted and it’s his hometown team.
Goucher enjoys his job in Las Vegas, but he and his wife are New Englanders who still spend their summers in Rhode Island. He would be the ideal choice, and hopefully the Bruins and NESN will make him an offer worthy of his talents. –Finn on Boston.com
Finn most likely has inside information from both parties, and his report over the weekend suggests there’s a possibility the Golden Knights will be searching for replacement for Goucher. I’m certain he’ll be torn if he’s offered the job.
The thought of losing Marchessault is already keeping VGK fans up at night but losing Goucher would make it even worse. The perfect scenario is for Goucher to be on the call next season for when Marchessault scores his 250th career goal. One holding a golden microphone and the other in his best-selling golden #81 sweater.
The Golden Knights have competed in 537 regular season games over their first seven seasons. They’ve played every team at least 11 times.
Here are the all-time leaders in Wins, Save Percentage, Goals, Points, and Penalty Minutes
| vs. | Wins | Save % | Goals | Points | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anaheim | Fleury (10) | Fleury (.939) | Karlsson (14) | Karlsson (24) | McNabb (28) |
| Arizona | Fleury (9) | Brossoit (.951) | Stone (8) | Marchessault (24) | Carrier (18) |
| Boston | Thompson (2) | Thompson (.932) | 4 Tied (3) *43/61/67/81* | Stone/Marchessault (8) | McNabb (8) |
| Buffalo | Fleury/Lehner (2) | Lehner (.939) | Smith (6) | Karlsson (13) | Pacioretty (12) |
| Calgary | Fleury (7) | Fleury (.945) | Karlsson (9) | Karlsson (23) | Marchessault (12) |
| Carolina | Fleury (2) | Patera/Quick (1.000) | Theodore/Marchessault (4) | Theodore (9) | 3 Tied (6) *7/10/56* |
| Chicago | Fleury (6) | Brossoit (.949) | Karlsson (8) | Karlsson (15) | McNabb/Karlsson (8) |
| Colorado | Fleury (6) | Dansk (1.000) | Marchessault (8) | Stone/Marchessault (15) | Roy (21) |
| Columbus | Fleury (2) | Subban (.958) | Eichel (6) | Marchessault (8) | Hague (8) |
| Dallas | Fleury (4) | Fleury (.963) | Pacioretty (5) | Stone (11) | Marchessault (18) |
| Detroit | Fleury/Hill (2) | Lehner (.929) | Marchessault (9) | Marchessault (9) | McNabb/Marchessault (6) |
| Edmonton | Fleury (4) | Brossoit (.937) | Marchessault (10) | Marchessault (18) | McNabb (17) |
| Florida | Fleury/Subban (2) | Hill (.959) | Smith/Pacioretty (4) | Theodore (10) | Pietrangelo/Karlsson (16) |
| Los Angeles | Fleury (5) | Thompson (.919) | Karlsson (11) | Marchessault (24) | Hague (38) |
| Minnesota | Fleury (5) | Thompson (.950) | Marchessault (7) | Stephenson (19) | Hague (25) |
| Montreal | Hill (3) | Lehner (.923) | Marchessault (7) | Marchessault (15) | Martinez (7) |
| Nashville | Thompson/Subban (3) | Fleury (.943) | 3 Tied (6) *7/19/61* | Stephenson (16) | McNabb (36) |
| New Jersey | Subban/Lehner (2) | Hill (.940) | Marchessault (8) | Marchessault (15) | Pietrangelo (12) |
| New York Islanders | Fleury (3) | Hill (.952) | 4 Tied (3) *10/19/71/81* | Smith (7) | Smith/Marchessault (6) |
| New York Rangers | Fleury (3) | Lehner (.950) | Marchessault (8) | Marchessault (14) | Theodore/Kolesar (12) |
| Ottawa | Fleury (4) | Lehner (.975) | Marchessault (8) | Marchessault (16) | Merrill (19) |
| Philadelphia | Fleury (3) | Subban (1.000) | Marchessault (6) | Marchessault (12) | Stephenson (15) |
| Pittsburgh | Fleury (3) | Hill (.944) | Marchessault (5) | Marchessault (11) | Carrier (10) |
| San Jose | Fleury (11) | Hill (.961) | Marchessault (13) | Marchessault (30) | Reaves (31) |
| Seattle | Hill/Thompson (3) | Brossoit (.962) | Marchessault (9) | Marchessault (13) | Howden (17) |
| St. Louis | Fleury/Thompson (4) | Patera/Dansk (.909) | Marchessault (12) | Karlsson (25) | Reaves (15) |
| Tampa Bay | Fleury (4) | Lehner (.931) | Marchessault (6) | Theodore (14) | Hague (18) |
| Toronto | Thompson (2) | Subban (.917) | Karlsson (7) | Theodore/Karlsson (12) | McNabb (16) |
| Vancouver | Fleury (6) | Hill (.941) | Marchessault (10) | Marchessault (22) | McNabb (12) |
| Washington | Fleury/Thompson (4) | Lehner (.979) | Smith (5) | Marchessault (8) | Cotter (17) |
| Winnipeg | Hill/Thompson (3) | Subban (.932) | Marchessault (9) | Karlsson (18) | Marchessault (24) |
- Marchessault leads the team in goals against 19 of the 31 teams. He leads in points against 17.
- 19 different Golden Knights lead the team in penalty minutes against a specific opponent.
- Fleury leads the team in wins against 24 teams but leads in save percentage against just four.
- Smith and Pacioretty are the only two players to lead in goals or points against an opponent and no longer play for the Golden Knights.
- Hague’s 38 PIM against Los Angeles is the most against any team.
- Lehner leads in save percentage against seven teams.
- Despite earning just 30 wins, Subban leads in wins against Florida, Nashville, and New Jersey.
The phrase of the year for the 2023-24 Golden Knights was “missed opportunity.” The players, coaches, front office, fans, pretty much everyone feels the same way, this team had a great chance to win it all again and just weren’t able to get it done.
The question now becomes, how will the way this season ended impact the way they approach next season?
In a Q&A with Gary Lawless on GoldenKnights.com, the head coach of the team had an interesting perspective on it.
I definitely will feel hungry. I don’t know if we were humbled to the extent that the team was and I was in 2022 because I don’t look at this year as some abject failure. We didn’t win and that’s what you want to do, but I think there were reasons for that. It wasn’t like we were 100% there and just fell on our faces. We just had some obstacles that we weren’t able to overcome. I feel like we can overcome them next year. Hungry, for sure, and I would say highly motivated as opposed to humbled. –Bruce Cassidy on GoldenKnights.com
There’s no doubt the way this season ended is much different than the way 2021-22 ended. That year, the Golden Knights stumbled down the stretch losing key games (all in shootout) to Chicago, San Jose, and Dallas. By Game 82, they’d already been eliminated and were left with a feeling the organization had never experienced before. Simply put, they were pissed.
The Golden Knights have been awarded pretty much every trophy the NHL has to offer, including, of course, the Stanley Cup. It’s historically the best seven season start to any NHL franchise in modern history. This its why it continues to be bittersweet watching the Western Conference play out, especially if you believe the Golden Knights are as good as the two teams remaining in the West. Besides the desire for back-to-back Stanley Cup championships, VGK has had quite the storied history through 632 NHL games.
Most Postseason Wins Since 2018
- Tampa Bay – 62
- Vegas – 57
- Colorado – 49
- Dallas – 45
- Boston – 43
The organization has accomplished so much in such a short time that its small list of failures has become magnified. For instance, the franchise’s first NHL draft in 2017. It’s a draft that has shaped the league and the Golden Knights left with their hands mostly empty. As the conference finals play out, it’s hard not to imagine how much deeper Vegas would have been this season if more than just Nic Hague remained with the organization. Keep in mind, the Golden Knights front office had 12 selections in seven rounds.
Jonathan Marchessault spoke up saying not only has he not heard from the Golden Knights since the season ended, he hasn’t heard from them at all regarding his contract since he asked after last season. Hosted by Ken Boehlke and Jason Pothier.
Vegas Choice Dental is the presenting sponsor of the SinBin.vegas Podcast. Schedule a free consultation now.
- Marchessault speaks out, but it sorta contradicts what his agent and VGK have said in the past
- What is actually going on with the negotiations
- Finding the Fountain of Youth
- Projected contracts for all VGK free agents
- Creating a bottom-six
- Build it up, tear it down, build it back up
And much more…
We are on iTunes, Spotify and Pandora. Subscribe now!
Money is tight in VGK land this summer. After taking a big run at repeating as Cup champions, the Golden Knights have already allocated about 90% of their salary cap to players for next season.
The midseason acquisitions of Noah Hanifin and Tomas Hertl will likely serve as Vegas’ big splashes heading into next season. Figuring out which of the expiring contracts to spend the rest of the money on will tell the rest of the story.
Vegas have six significant pending unrestricted free agents and one key RFA with arbitration rights. They have about $7.4 million of cap space (read our salary cap primer) to work with to keep as many, or as few, of them as they choose. So the question becomes, how much will it cost to keep each guy?
Lucky for us, much of the guessing game has already been done by the brilliant consulting firm, AFP Analytics. Using past contracts as a guide, they’ve come up with a projected contract for every player in the NHL currently without a contract.
Here’s what they project for each VGK free agent. Each is followed by a little blurb by me about the player’s situation as it relates to the Golden Knights.
**Take a look at the full spreadsheet of projected contracts here. And be sure to follow @AFPAnayltics on X/Twitter.**
Jonathan Marchessault
AFP Analytics Projected Contract: 3 years at $6.285m AAV
Comps: Joe Pavelski (3 years, $7m), Alex Killorn (4 years, $6.25m), Jordan Eberle (2 years, $4.75m)
The kingpin of the offseason was always likely to take up a majority of the Golden Knights’ available space. The hope for VGK is that he and the team will be able to come up with a friendly deal that will fulfill his wish to remain in Las Vegas for the rest of his career. Before the career-high 42-goal season, Killorn was an excellent comparison. Now, Marchessault stands as a unicorn as a recent Conn Smythe winner set to hit the open market. There’s a reasonable argument for Marchessault to reach as high as $9 million, while it’s also fair to look at the Eberle contract and project him for less than $5 million. Term, age, and his incredible standing with the organization make this one nearly impossible to project, but it’s pretty clear to see, if he’s going to stay in Vegas, just about everyone else set to hit the market will have to go.
