Introducing The Vegas Golden Knights

We have a real team on our hands. It was announced Wednesday night at the NHL Awards, the National Hockey league now has themselves a 31st team. The Vegas Golden Knights have arrived. It was announced on Wednesday that the first three games for the Knights will be played October 6th in Dallas and Saturday October 7th in Arizona, while there home opener will take place October 10th against Arizona. Who will be playing on that team was also revealed on Wednesday night. They selected 30 players from current teams, as well as adding a few more via trades along with Picks.

So here now is the full roster of the Vegas Golden Knights:

Forwards:
Teemu Pulkkinen (Arizona Coyotes)
William Carrier (Buffalo Sabres)
Tomas Nosek (Detroit Red Wings)
Cody Eakin (Dallas Stars)
Jonathan Marchessault (Florida Panthers)
Reilly Smith (via trade, Florida Panthers)
Connor Brickley (Carolina Hurricanes)
Chris Thorburn (Winnipeg Jets)
Pierre-Edouard Bellemare (Philadelphia Flyers)
Nikita Gusev (via trade, Tampa Bay Lightning)
Mikhail Grabovski (via trade, New York Islanders)
James Neal (Nashville Predators)
Brendan Leipsic (Toronto Maple Leafs)
David Perron (St. Louis Blues)
Oscar Lindberg (New York Rangers)
Erik Haula (Minnesota Wild)
Alex Tuch (via trade, Minnesota Wild)
William Karlsson (Columbus Blue Jackets)
David Clarkson (via trade, Columbus Blue Jackets)

Defenseman:
Luca Sbisa (Vancouver Canucks)
Jon Merrill (New Jersey Devils)
Brayden McNabb (Los Angeles Kings)
Jason Garrison (Tampa Bay Lightning)
Jake Bischoff (via trade, New York Islanders)
Deryk Engelland (Calgary Flames)
Colin Miller (Boston Bruins)
Marc Methot (Ottawa Senators)
David Schlemko (San Jose Sharks)
Griffin Reinhart (Edmonton Oilers)
Alexei Emelin (Montreal Canadiens)
Clayton Stoner (Anaheim Ducks)
Shea Theodore (via trade, Anaheim Ducks)
Trevor van Riemsdyk (Chicago Blackhawks)
Nate Schmidt (Washington Capitals)

Goalies:
Calvin Pickard (Colorado Avalanche)
J-F Berube (New York Islanders)
Marc-Andre Fleury (Pittsburgh Penguins)

Just by looking at this list, the Golden Knights may have something brewing out in Vegas. They will still add pieces, sure, through the draft as well as possible trades and free agency. Just by looking at the list above, there's quite a bit to be optimistic about in Vegas.

Lets start in net shall we. Fleury should be the number one. I know he's 32 but there's still something to prove in that he has plenty left in the tank to be effective. Pickard and Berube will figure it out during camp who's going to be the steady backup behind Fleury. On the blueline, there's plenty of talent to start off. Methot, Schlemko, Emlin and Garrison are, in all likelyhood, going to be your top four blueliners. Those four guys play solid games at both ends of the rink. Also bringing in guys like Niller, Stoner Sbisa, they bring more of a defnsive minded game to the blue line, in that they don't really have to join up on the rush.

Of course, you have the guys up front who have the ability to put the puck in the back of the net. The two biggest names that are going to be counted on to do that are David Perron and James Neal, both of whom have a strong history of doing that in this league. Jonathan Marchessault, Riley Smith, Erik Haula, will help round out some of the deft scoring touch. Christ Thorburn, David Clarkson, William Karlsson and Cody Eakin were brought on to add another level of toughness to this team as well.

Right now, general manager George McPhee and Head Coach Gerard Gallant have a team that, on paper, could make some noise in the Pacific Division, as well as the Western Conference, this season.