The Golden Knights are a week into their coaching search, and the start of free agency is 50 days away. Those were by far the two hottest topics when we asked subscribers for mailbag questions, and there were enough questions that we opted to split the mailbag into two parts – one focused on coaching questions and one on free agency.
There will be other questions sprinkled throughout each piece, of course, because not every question pertained to those two subjects. Without further ado, here’s the first edition of this week’s Golden Knights mailbag. (Some questions have been lightly edited for style and clarity.)
Who would you want to become the new head coach? Not who do you expect, but who would you hire if you were the general manager? — Юрий
This is an incredibly tough question to answer because I can’t hear each coach’s pitch to management for their vision for this team, and that would be a major factor in my decision. But if it were up to me I think I’d hire Rikard Gronborg.
It’s a risky hire, as he’s been coaching on Olympic-sized ice for quite a while and has no NHL experience, but he’s a brilliant hockey mind and I believe he would be a breath of fresh air into an organization that is heavy with expectations. Gronberg has a master’s degree in management and leadership, and a bachelor’s degree in communications, making him a perfect fit for Kelly McCrimmon’s quest to provide the team with a “new voice.”
Gronberg thinks outside the box, with very progressive philosophies and schemes. He’s vocalized in the past that most NHL teams run the same systems, simply copying successful teams in hopes of replicating them. I think he could bring new ideas and a fresh mindset to this club. Having said that, I don’t expect him to be the hire. It would be an incredibly risky move that I just don’t see happening.
Do you think they will interview Dallas Stars assistant Jim Montgomery? Or will they go with a coach who has a Stanley Cup under his belt? — Arthur A.
I don’t necessarily think a previous Stanley Cup is a requirement for the Golden Knights in their coaching search, but I do think experience is important to them. Montgomery likely has enough experience to be considered for this job, but I also think he’s in a good place right now in St. Louis and may not be interested in moving. Montgomery’s exit from Dallas was messy, his wife is from St. Louis and he’s already turned down a college head coaching job to stay there, so I’m not sure if he’s even on the Golden Knights’ radar at the moment.
What types of coaches have the best odds of winning a Cup? Players coaches or system coaches? Are there stats to back this up? Which is better for the current roster? — Simon G.
I don’t think it’s quite as black and white as this question makes it sound. Most coaches believe they are good at communicating with the players and have effective systems on the ice. Obviously, most have one aspect they’re stronger at, but there aren’t stats to back this up considering it’s very subjective.
I do think Vegas needs a coach who connects with the players. Peter DeBoer mentioned the weight of expectations, and players gripping their sticks too tightly regularly over the past couple of seasons, and a “players coach” would likely do more to lessen those worries.
Am I wrong in thinking that somehow John Tortorella gets hired for this job? — Ted C.
No, I think he’s definitely a potential candidate. He has the experience, the Cup pedigree and is currently in the market for a job.
If the Golden Knights choose Rick Tocchet as their next coach, which player benefits the most? — Mike L.
After thinking about this for quite some time, I’m going with William Karlsson. Tocchet employs a very simple, direct style of hockey that reminds me a lot of what Gerard Gallant did in Vegas. It relies heavily on pressure, and Karlsson is a tremendous forechecker. With the puck, Tocchet’s teams play a more simple style that I think would give Karlsson confidence. I don’t think he’ll ever score 43 goals again, but Karlsson could look more like he did in the first two seasons.
With the high expectations on this team for next year, do you think they might try to lessen or break them by hiring Gronborg or Spencer Carberry? Would that be good for the players if it did reduce expectations? — Christopher B.
I don’t think it matters who the Golden Knights hire. The expectations will still be sky-high. They fired Gallant after a Jack Adams Award and a trip to the Cup Final. They fired DeBoer after two straight conference finals appearances. Whoever the next coach is, he must out-perform both or there will likely be changes to management. I don’t think hiring a less-experienced coach will temper those expectations.
Where will DeBoer end up? — Benjamin E.
I think Detroit would be a solid landing spot for him. He has a history with the area, went to college in Detroit and began his coaching career with the Junior Red Wings. I think the structure DeBoer brings to a team could benefit that young Red Wings squad a lot.
I’ve often heard hockey folks say that they didn’t think that DeBoer’s system was a good fit for the players. How do you feel about that statement and what system and coach would be a good fit? — Mark M.
I agree with it to an extent. I think DeBoer’s system is a good one, and it drastically improved the Golden Knights’ defending and breakouts, but it also zapped some of their creativity on offense and ultimately wasn’t the perfect fit to get the most out of this group. I think Vegas is built to play fast and with a lot of movement. DeBoer’s system prioritizes possession and generates shots from the point, but the Golden Knights don’t have the forwards to screen the goalie or deflect shots regularly enough to score in that style in my opinion.
I think a coach looking to pressure the opposition all over the ice and generate offense in transition would be a good fit for this roster, especially after the addition of Jack Eichel.
Do you think the Golden Knights would consider David Quinn as head coach? He has a relationship with Eichel but didn’t fare well in his stint with the Rangers. — Adam B.
I think Quinn could be on Vegas’ radar but I wouldn’t consider him among the front runners, at least from what I’ve heard to this point.
Does the organization have the worst culture in the league? — Zach D.
No. I don’t think the Golden Knights have the same harmony now that they did over the first couple of seasons, but it’s far from the worst in the league. This coaching hire will be incredibly important to get back on the right track in this aspect, though.
I asked this under a different article, but isn’t it a little hollow to blame all the injuries when they never would have been able to put the “full” team on the ice anyway due to the cap? They would have had to have one or two of the higher-priced players on long-term injured reserve all year to be cap-compliant, correct? — Ed P.
This is definitely a fair point. The Golden Knights were hit with a catastrophic injury bug this season, but they compounded it by acquiring players they couldn’t fit under the salary cap without the heavy use of LTIR. If every player were healthy this season, Vegas would’ve been more than $10 million over the cap and would’ve been forced to trade several players. They attempted to make one of those moves, but the trade to send Evgenii Dadonov to Anaheim was reversed.
The team ended up with more than 500 man-games lost to injury, and I agree that number is a bit phony. The day they traded for Eichel, the plan was to have man-games lost. The full roster was technically not legal, so they were never going to ice it fully healthy. Having said that, I don’t think you can totally write off the injuries as a reason the team struggled. They were a major factor, just not the only one, as management suggested.
How hot are the seats of president of hockey operations George McPhee and McCrimmon? If Vegas starts slow, how quickly might owner Bill Foley make a change in management? — Jon V.
This is a smooth transition from the last question, as I believe McPhee and McCrimmon’s seats are very hot. The fact that they just made their second coaching change in less than three years, combined with Foley’s aggressive ownership style and his public admission that he will be more involved, tells me the current front office needs to win now or else.
If the Golden Knights aren’t successful in 2022-23, I could see a change made before the season ends.
Do you think all the player turnover has come at the cost of building a team identity? If so, what should their identity be and how should they go about building it? — Robert G.
I asked every player who spoke at the team’s end-of-season press conferences what the team’s identity needs to be, and they all gave some rendition of the same answer: A deep team that rolls four lines and plays fast.
The problem is, it’s tough to construct a deep roster when the four highest-paid players (Eichel, Mark Stone, Alex Pietrangelo and Max Pacioretty) take up 42.8 percent of the salary cap. The Golden Knights’ depth will take a major hit this offseason as they unload contracts to fit under the cap. A trade-off to adding superstars, like Vegas has, is that there’s less money to spend on the depth lines. It won’t be impossible to get back to that identity, but I think there’s a serious disconnect between what the players and coaches feel the identity needs to be and the top-heavy roster the front office has moved toward.
We are five years into the existence of this franchise. As you go around the city and spend time at the practice rink, where do you see the biggest impact that can be attributed to the Golden Knights? What positive changes do you notice that benefit our local community? — Csilla K.
It’s been really fun to watch the sport of hockey grow in this community. Las Vegas went from having three sheets of ice that easily satisfied its hockey demands, to now having seven sheets of ice that can’t keep up with all the hockey. I expect at least one more ice rink to pop up in the next few years, possibly more.
The biggest area of growth may be in women’s hockey. I’m actually working on a piece on that right now, diving deeper into the growth of women’s hockey in Las Vegas since the Golden Knights’ arrival in 2017.
Did Vegas pull a “Buffalo” with Robin Lehner? I read reports that Lehner wanted surgery but the team pressured him to remain as backup for cap reasons. If true, that would have been a violation of his bodily autonomy, ironic because Eichel was traded for that exact reason. Lehner is typically outspoken so I’m wondering why he hasn’t commented on this matter publicly. What is the real story behind the scenes here? — Israel B.
I detailed what happened that week in this piece, but here’s a summary:
After playing through shoulder and leg injuries for weeks, Lehner finally decided on April 21, that it was best for him to shut it down for the season and undergo surgery. But it’s important to note that he knew he’d need this surgery for quite some time and was playing through the injury. The team delayed announcing the surgery a few days so that he could fill the backup role against the Sharks on April 24. This wasn’t delaying his actual surgery, which wasn’t going to take place until early May. And if Lehner ended up needing to play in that game, he could have. He had already played several games with that injury, but he wasn’t able to perform to the best of his abilities. It was simply delaying the announcement of the surgery.
He then had the surgery on May 3, so while it was a bit of an odd situation, I don’t think it’s comparable to Eichel’s medical feud with the Sabres.
How much do you think the goalie issues, to put it kindly, had to do with DeBoer’s departure? It’s been a thing his whole tenure (not entirely his fault, of course) but he’s not been known for handling goalies well. — Andrea R.
There’s no doubt DeBoer had a strained relationship with his goalies at times — both Marc-Andre Fleury and Lehner — but I don’t think that is what led to the firing. The front office put him in a very tough spot with both on the roster for the first couple of seasons, but I also believe DeBoer mismanaged the goalies at times, especially late in this season when he insisted Lehner was healthy while blaming him for a loss. Vegas’ next coach will need to be better with that position, for sure.
What is your opinion on Foley saying that he will be more involved? Is this in regard to player relations and the atmosphere around the arena, or was he talking about moving players? If that is the case you can pass on this one, as it’s spicy, but I think Foley is the driver behind how aggressive Vegas has been and the front office is covering for him. I get the feeling that bringing in big names has been him. — Brent T.
I definitely think Foley is referring to hockey operations and player personnel decisions when he says he’s going to be more involved. I don’t believe Foley has been calling the shots in terms of Vegas’ propensity to acquire star players, but I do think his aggressive ownership style has played a factor in that approach. How will things change with Foley being more involved in player decisions? I honestly don’t know. This is the first we’ve heard or seen of that, so it will be interesting to see how things change, if at all.
How many rounds of golf will you play before preseason kicks in? — Venessa P.
Hopefully a lot. It’s a little strange not flying from city to city to cover the playoffs this summer, but I’m spending any additional free time on the links or on the ice for men’s league hockey.
(Photo: Steph Chambers / Getty Images)