On Monday, the Vegas Golden Knights, the lowest-seeded Western Conference playoff team, wrestled home-ice advantage away from the conference-leading Stars with a 4-3 Game 1 win. What’s more, the team’s big-money superstars led the charge. Against a Dallas squad that has been defined by their depth and balance all season, the Golden Knights were driven by their best players. Mark Stone, Tomas Hertl and Jonathan Marchessault all scored for Vegas (as did Brayden McNabb, who netted the game-winner), while Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin contributed two assists apiece.
The win gave Golden Knights fans plenty to be excited about, following an up-and-down regular season performance and plenty of questions heading into the playoffs. It also provided critics with fresh ammo regarding their cap circumvention tactics that, while technically legal, for some, don’t operate within the spirit of the salary cap.
Salary Cap Shenanigans
For the second season in a row, Stone’s return to the lineup after an extended absence due to injury coincided with Game 1 of the opening round of the playoffs. This time, the Golden Knights captain opened the scoring on his first shift, putting Vegas on the board just 1:23 into their Stanley Cup title defense.
Stone’s recovery from a serious lacerated spine injury suffered on Feb. 20 is triumphant, but it’s a story that can’t be told without acknowledging its convenience to Vegas’ cap management plan. By moving Stone to long-term injury reserve (once again), the organization had the cap flexibility to make a major trade deadline splash, bringing in Hertl (who was also originally sidelined), Hanifin and Anthony Mantha.
With Stone’s $9.5 million contract on the sidelines, the Golden Knights were free to use that space. While nothing can be proven regarding the legitimacy (or lack thereof) of the 31-year-old’s injury timetable, it’s curious that he somehow managed to return to the lineup in time for the postseason when cap restrictions are lifted. The roster that Vegas iced on Monday night carried a total cap hit of roughly $90 million, well over the $83.5 million cap.
New Golden Knights Stepping Up
Complain all you want that Vegas’ massive deadline haul came on the backs of sneaky cap manipulation. Any NHL team can use these loopholes to build what seems to be a capped-out roster, but the Golden Knights are actually doing it – and doing it well. Furthermore, they might be nailing some of the acquisitions that were made to shake up what was already a Cup-caliber roster.
Upon his April 8 return from knee surgery in February, Hertl faced the daunting challenge of gelling with his teammates in short order while also getting his legs back from two-plus months on the sidelines. The former San Jose Shark handled his six-game regular season stint so well (two goals, two assists) that he earned the No. 2 center role, opening the playoffs between fellow rehab buddy Stone and Chandler Stephenson.
Hertl scored his first playoff goal since 2019, notching the team’s third goal of the game on the power play despite seeing just 15:36 of ice time. Fittingly, the assist on his goal came from Hanifin, who has also taken nicely to Vegas since the deadline and now looks at home on the blue line. The newly extended 27-year-old led all Golden Knights in ice time, seeing 24:08 of action in Game 1.
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Marchessault Back in Conn Smythe Form
Just as Stone returned to the goal column in the club’s first playoff game since he recorded a hat trick in last season’s Cup clincher, Marchessault also had a successful shift back into playoff mode. Last year’s Conn Smythe Trophy winner got on the scoresheet by finding the back of the net in the first period, something that he didn’t do until eight games into his highly productive 2023 Postseason.
Most notable, however, was Marchessault’s reunion with Eichel and Ivan Barbashev. The trio shined in the playoffs a year ago but struggled to open the regular season, with the club seeing more production from Marchessault, Barbashev and Nicolas Roy at times. Now reunited, they didn’t do much beyond Marchessault’s goal (assisted by Barbashev) but should get more time to re-establish their chemistry, particularly with Hertl, Stone and Stephenson playing well together.
To be fair, it wasn’t that the Stars’ top players weren’t effective in Game 1. Goals from Jason Robertson, Mason Marchment and Jamie Benn kept things close. All three players plus a host of other Dallas notables will be even more motivated on Wednesday night in what is pretty much a must-win Game 2 before the series shifts back to Vegas. At this point, though, you can probably throw the playoff seeding out the window – if the Golden Knights’ biggest stars remain on their game, then the defending Cup champions might become the favorites the rest of the way.
