Vegas Golden Knights: 3 reasons why fans should be worried

3. One Line Team

Last season, the Vegas Golden Knights got a lot out of their top forward line. Though they haven’t been as dominant through the first five games of the 2018-19 season, they’ve still been very good. Through five games, Jonathan Marchessault, Rielly Smith, and William Karlsson have combined for 12 points.

Here’s the problem – the rest of the team has eight points combined. Marchessault and Smith are the only forwards with multiple goals (two). In fact, Karlsson, Marchessault, and Smith are their only three players who even have more than one point.

The Golden Knights haven’t found their optimal line combinations yet aside from their top line. Making this task harder is the recent injury to Paul Stastny, which could keep him out for up to a month.

Stastny was signed to lead the second line. His injury has forced Erik Haula up. Though he had an amazing season a year ago, he hasn’t gotten off to a good start, despite having Max Pacioretty flanking him.

To be fair to the Knights, injuries have been hurting them thus far. Cody Eakin recently played in his first game, scoring against the Washington Capitals. But still, the Golden Knights are struggling while icing essentially the same lineup they did last season. Sure, the losses of James Neal and David Perron hurt, but there’s obviously more to the story.

The Golden Knights need their forwards to get healthy. More importantly, head coach Gerrard Gallant, the reigning Jack Adams winner, needs to prove why he won the award by tinkering with the lines until he gets the combinations that work.