On the Vegas board I've been predicting a competitive team for a looooooong time.
I'm on record there for predicting they'd have a 6-2-2 start to the season and be in the playoff hunt in February.
I have been following the budding franchise closely since they hired ex-Caps GM
McPhee. Then he picked coach
Gallant whom I respected as a player and as coach in Florida who simply will NOT play to lose or middle around. He reminds me of Ted Nolan that way. Every game, every shift, he holds every player accountable, not in an angry way, but a focused and comment-rich feedback way.
Nate Schmidt from Washington leads the blueline in minutes played, getting the special teams ice time the Caps had not given him. He also leads the team in blocked shots.
Cody Eakin has been the most consistently great forward.
Neal has had moments of brilliance and a dominant game against Dallas physically as well.
Perron will be traded by the deadline simply because he is a playoff warrior right now, doing all the little things right. What a great line.
The blueline is mostly pending UFAs, and as I detailed in the summer on the Vegas board, that means the defensemen compete hard to impress on every shift from the preseason onward.
Thank god it looks like
Reinhart will finally be dumped in the coming week.
Notice how my avatar has been wearing a Knights helmet for over half a year?
(Before any wisecracks about teams I am a fan of - Vancouver and San Jose are majoring sucking in the West and it's due to bad GMing and I painfully follow them still, but Nashville and now Vegas give me two Western conference teams to watch night in and night out and invest hopes in.)