Jason Pothier

In the not-too-distant future, the Golden Knights will have former players inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. Most notably, VGK's #1 overall expansion draft pick Marc-Andre Fleury will undoubtedly be inducted into Toronto's hockey cathedral after he hangs up the goalie skates. Last week Sportsnet composed a list of active NHL players that are Hall of Fame locks. The 2021 Vezina trophy winner was one of the names on Sportsnet lists.

Is Adin Hill a true number one NHL goaltender? Sportsnet doesn't believe so. However, the Canadian syndicate isn't high on many starting goaltenders, so Hill shouldn't take offense.

The Bay State is known for many things, dropping r's, insufferable sports fans, and a Revolutionary War freedom trail that gets thrown up on nightly in the streets of Boston. Massachusetts also happens to be a top breeding ground for NHL players. The same goes for the Wolverine state. Over the years Michigan has produced 190 professional goaltenders and skaters. As of 2023, the Detroit metropolitan area held the record for most American-born NHL players.

The other day we lightly played off of NHL’s crafted All-Massachusetts vs. All-Michigan starting lineups. With very little analysis, Vegas’ Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin led their home state past Michigan and Minnesota in hypothetical matchups. Well, we figured we’d try the same scenario and compare the commonwealth's starting lineup to All-Canadian province lineups. This mock bracket didn't go as well for MA. Nothing Eichel or Hanifin can do when several of the world's best players grew up in the same Canadian regions.

But it sure seems like the door is open for a lefty like Shea Theodore — after a couple of injury-marred seasons — to seize a spot.

It was nice to see that the Oilers are a destination for players that are focused more so on trying to win a championship. It was obvious that the players that chose to come to Edmonton likely (left) money on the table. This came down to a business decision relative to our short term as well as long-term viability for our roster with the salary cap. When you put this whole situation together, we feel like we've been able to … give us a lot of flexibility and options moving forward. – Stan Bowman, Oilers GM

Every champion since 2018 carried 20% or higher power player into the postseason. With the exception of the 2023 Golden Knights, all were in the top ten through 82 regular season games. Magnifying the importance of a consistent, reliable power play.

Let’s be sensible, should the Golden Knights actually expect a combined 48 goals from newcomers Zach Aston-Reese, Alexander Holtz, and Victor Olofsson? Maybe if we add up their career highs, but that’s when expectations become unrealistic. The Golden Knights will bump into scoring woes if their replacement offense goes into below-average mode.

In the summer of 2020, the NHL's Western Conference took a massive shift with one offseason acquisition. The St. Louis Blues desperately tried to retain their Stanley Cup-winning defenseman, but the terms were unappealing for both parties. The Blues felt that they had offered all they could, while Alex Pietrangelo was expecting an offer he couldn't refuse. Well, he did, and the rest is history.

If Theodore wants to stay and the Knights want him to stay, I always assume this is a place people are going to stay. Now, could there be a whopper of a contract out there that maybe he’s thinking about? We’ll find out. -Elliotte Friedman,