Vegas Golden Knights’ HC Bruce Cassidy has elected to switch up his defense pairings.
Cassidy is reverting back to what is familiar in order to keep the puck out of their net. As of now, the Golden Knights are 17th in the NHL in goals-per-game despite Cassidy’s ambition to be the best defensive team in the Pacific Division.
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Taking everything into account, Cassidy decided it was the right moment to change his defense pairings.
Hanifin—Pietrangelo
McNabb—Theodore
Hague—Whitecloud
Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore have been partners for a long time as well as Nicolas Hague and Zach Whitecloud. They understand each other’s game and complement each other very well. Alex Pietrangelo skated with Alec Martinez during his tenure in Vegas but when Noah Hanifin was acquired, the two were paired up and played a lot of minutes together.
Hanifin was asked about the shake-up and had this to say.
“We were losing some habits, and sometimes it’s good to play with somebody new and freshen it up. But it’s up to us individually. We all got to play better. We’ve just lost three games in a row. Everybody has to play better.”
The 27-year-old also spoke to Tom Gulitti of NHL.com and mentioned that he is now beginning to feel settled as a Golden Knight.
“It’s been great,” Hanifin said. “I feel real settled in now. I think coming last year at the (Trade) Deadline, you kind of just get into it right away. You get to figure it out and you get to know the guys and get ready for the playoffs, so I think that helped me a lot.”
One of the pieces the Golden Knights sent to the Calgary Flames to land Hanifin was Daniil Miromanov, a 6’4, 27-year-old, right-handed defenseman. The Golden Knights felt comfortable moving on from Miromanov because they had Pietrangelo and Whitecloud as right-handed defenders in their lineup already, as well as Kaedan Korczak who is waiting for his opportunity.
Korczak has yet to feature in an NHL game this season after playing in 26 last year. The 23-year-old is patiently waiting for his chance but is still competing with veteran Ben Hutton for the seventh defenseman role.
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The Golden Knights have an issue of having too many NHL-calibre defensemen, it’s a good problem to have but still something they must deal with. If the current six defensemen continue to struggle to keep the puck out of their net, Cassidy may look to draw in one, or both of Korczak and Hutton.
Tonight’s matchup against the Los Angeles Kings will be another test for the Golden Knights blue line as they try to end their three-game losing streak in their return home.
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