Vegas Golden Knights Projected Lines for 2019-20

Forwards

First and Second Line

1. Max Pacioretty – Paul Stastny – Mark Stone   OR
2. Jonathan Marchessault – William Karlsson – Mark Stone

Alex Tuch or Reilly Smith is expected to play right-wing on the second line. So here are the two quick possibilities for the top two lines.

Option One

First Line: Pacioretty – Stastny – Stone

Second Line: Marchessault – Karlsson – Tuch/Smith 

Option Two

First Line: Marchessault – Karlsson – Stone

Second Line: Pacioretty – Stastny- Tuch/Smith

Personally, I think the second option is better for the Golden Knights. Marchessault and Karlsson are better when they play more minutes. If they want to even out those minutes, they can have Pacioretty and Stastny play on the special teams units.

Third Line

Originally, I had projected Nikita Gusev, Cody Eakin and Tuch or Smith (whoever does not play on the second line). Now that Gusev has been traded, this is what I am thinking for the third line.

Brandon Pirri – Cody Eakin– Tuch/Smith. 

The only difference is that Pirri plays left-wing for the third line instead of Gusev.

Fourth Line

The fourth line is probably the least complicated forwards line throughout the entire Vegas Golden Knights. This should and most likely will be:

William Carrier – Tomas Nosek – Ryan “Reevo” Reaves

If this is not the line, then I don’t know what else it could be.

Defensemen

Pairing 1

The first pairing for the Golden Knights should be very simple. It is expected to be Brayden McNabb and Shea Theodore. It was clear last season that McNabb and Theodore was a huge success when it comes to pairing them. When paired together, they combined for a 57.1 Corsi Percentage, 55.2 average goals-for percentage, and a 58.7 expected goals-for percentage. If you don’t know what this means, let me help you with it. Playing McNabb and Theodore on the same pairing is amazing. 

Pairing 2

The second pairing is going to be good next year for the Golden Knights. We should be expecting Jon Merill and Nate Schmidt. During the last half of the season, Merrill’s numbers improved.  Schmidt is probably the Golden Knights’ best defender. He just didn’t click with Engelland as well as they would have hoped. If Merrill can perform at a top-four level this pairing could be beastly. 

Pairing 3

The third pairing could be much more difficult than we expect. It could consist of a number of rookies for the Golden Knights. Between Jimmy Schuldt, Nic Hague, and Zach Whitecloud there is already a position battle to see who will get the last defensive spot on the Golden Knights roster. Whoever does win the rookie position battle they will most likely play with Nick Holden. 

Goalies

The two goalies for this team are clear and obvious. The starter will be Marc-Andre Fleury and the backup will be Malcolm Subban.

Jonathan Oderon is a contributor for Overtime Heroics. You can follow him on twitter @oderon_jonathan. 

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