DALLAS — The Vegas Golden Knights are already shorthanded headed into their first NHL game, and it’s their own fault.
Thanks to carrying a glut of defenders that aren’t waiver exempt, Vegas is going to open their first season on Friday against the Dallas Stars with their No. 1 center, Vadim Shipachyov, and arguably top defender, Shea Theodore, in the AHL for the time being.
They are also carrying a back-up goalie that the general manger has admitted isn’t ready for the NHL, and has yet to have a number assigned.
Needless to say, there are lots of moving parts in the works for Vegas. It will be interesting to see if Golden Knights general manager George McPhee makes any moves before tonight’s game to get either player into the lineup.
It is the return of Stars center Cody Eakin, who spent five years with Dallas before being left exposed in the expansion draft.
Eakin met up with several of his former teammates this morning and said it was good to re-connect with them. He’ll likely end up facing off against the Stars top line of Jamie Benn, Tyler Seguin, and Alexander Radulov quite a bit.
“It’ll be fun to play against those guys,” Eakin said. “We were talking before the game, and they’ll definitely be some back and forth.”
While it’s Vegas’ debut, it’s also a big night for the Stars and Ken Hitchcock, who is starting his second stint with the franchise where he won the Stanley Cup in 1999. Hitchcock ranks fourth in NHL history with 781 career wins and is just one win away from tying Al Arbour for third on the league’s all-time win list.
Hitchcock isn’t worried about that or an emotional return.
“Once the puck is dropped it’s hockey,” Hitchcock said. “And I recognize this is a little bit different coming back, but lots of coaches in different sports that are doing this now … to me this starts the elimination of all the dance, and now we just get into the competition.”
Right wing Alexander Radulov, center Martin Hanzal, defender Marc Methot, and goalie Ben Bishop will make their Stars debut.
“It’s been a long time coming, and if you ask anyway it’s nice to get out of training camp,” Methot said. “It is exciting. It’s nice to know you aren’t the only new guy.”
Golden Knights projected lineup
Reilly Smith — Jonathan Marchessault — Oscar Lindberg
David Perron — Cody Eakin — James Neal
William Karlsson — Erik Haula — Brendan Leipsic
Tomas Nosek — Pierre-Edouard Bellemare — William Carrier
Brayden McNabb — Deryk Engelland
Colin Miller — Jason Garrison
Lucas Sbisa — Nate Schmidt
Marc-Andre Fleury
Malcolm Subban
Scratched: Griffin Reinhart, Jon Merrill, Brad Hunt
Stars projected lineup
Jamie Benn — Tyler Seguin — Alexander Radulov
Mattias Janmark — Jason Spezza — Brett Ritchie
Devin Shore — Martin Hanzal — Tyler Pitlick
Antoine Roussel — Radek Faksa — Gemel Smith
Esa Lindell — John Klingberg
Marc Methot — Jamie Oleksiak
Dan Hamhuis — Stephen Johns
Ben Bishop
Kari Lehtonen
Scratched: Adam Cracknell, Greg Pateryn, Julius Honka
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