2021-22 has been anything but smooth sailing for the (still) new kids on the block. Alec Martinez, Brayden McNabb, Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, Max Pacioretty, Reilly Smith, Robin Lehner, William Karlsson, and Zach Whitecloud are just some of the names that have missed significant time due to injury for the Vegas Golden Knights this year.
With all of that, the team that was projected to be Presidents’ Trophy hopefuls at the beginning of the year now sits out of a playoff spot with under a month left to go in the regular season. They now have just 13 games left to make one last push to re-enter the top eight teams in the Western Conference.
Vegas’ best hope is likely to catch the Dallas Stars and take the second Wild Card spot out from under them. Dallas is one point ahead of Vegas, but they have 16 games remaining as compared to Vegas’ 13 left. The Stars are 6-4-0 in their past ten, and if that .600 points percentage keeps up for the rest of the regular season, the Stars would finish with 98 points. In order for Vegas to reach the 98-point plateau, they would need 20 points out of a possible 26, or roughly a 10-3-0 record in their final 13. Something like 8-3-2 would also get the job done, but the bottom line is that the Golden Knights can’t afford to lose more than three games in regulation the rest of the way.
If they were to try and catch the Edmonton Oilers for the third divisional spot in the Pacific Division, they’d likely need to do even better than that. The Oilers have a slightly worse points percentage than the Stars, but they’re much hotter with a 7-2-1 record in their past 10. If that keeps up, there’s no chance Vegas can catch them.
Now, the Knights don’t have the hardest schedule for the rest of the way. Tonight begins a five-game stretch against non-playoff teams in the West (Seattle, Arizona, and three games against Vancouver). After that, three of their remaining eight games are against-non playoff teams, so eight out of 13 games left in total are against non-playoff teams. One date to undoubtedly circle on the calendar is April 26th, where Vegas heads to Dallas to play their 80th game of the season, one that could ultimately decide their playoff fate if they can bank points.
So, we ask you, PHR readers: is this even a reality worth entertaining? Can the Knights overcome unprecedented injury-related adversity to be one of the 16 teams in the 2022 Stanley Cup Playoffs? Make your voice heard below:
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