The Vegas Golden Knights completed day 1 of their training camp on Thursday giving fans a glimpse of who might be on the opening night roster.
The Golden Knights split their roster into two groups but based on the line rushes, HC Bruce Cassidy has an idea of what lineup he would like to ice for the first game of the 2024-25 season. Of course, the rest of training camp and preseason will impact his decisions as well as possible injuries but if all goes well, his day one lineup could be what we see on opening night against the Colorado Avalanche.
Barbashev-Eichel-Olofsson
Dorofeyev-Karlsson-Stone
Roy-Hertl-Holtz
Pearson-Howden-Kolesar
Theodore-Pietrangelo
Hague-Hanifin
McNabb-Whitecloud/Korczak
Hill
Samsonov
Cassidy had hinted that Olofsson would get the first crack at playing the line one right-wing spot alongside Jack Eichel and yesterday during his press conference, GM Kelly McCrimmon confirmed that the first opportunity would be his.
Related: Golden Knights HC Bruce Cassidy Looking Forward To Training Camp Experiments
The Golden Knights have seven NHL-calibre defensemen with only six spots. If no moves are made, Kaedan Korczak and Zach Whitecloud will be the two defenders fighting for the final spot. Tanner Pearson was also included in the lineup despite signing a PTO. Brendan Brisson was left out of the forward group but due to him being waiver’s exempt, he’ll start in the AHL and be the first forward they call up.
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The second line looks to be a shutdown line with high offensive upside. William Karlsson has become one of the league’s best defensive centres and Mark Stone is always topping the charts in takeaways. Pavel Dorofeyev is young but has shown great chemistry with Karlsson and Stone and an inventiveness on defence as well.
Cassidy wants the Golden Knights to be the best defensive team in the Pacific Division and his early line combinations show that.
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