The Vegas Golden Knights are poised to be one of the league's best teams this season, and with the massive offseason addition of Mitch Marner, they look even more dangerous. However so far it seems not Marner or Eichel are the big dangers in front of goal, but Pavel Dorofeyev.
Last year, Dorofeyev set himself a career-high 35 goals and 52 points on the year, leading the team in goals. But after the signing of Marner during the offseason, it seemed like the majority of goals would come from the fresh new Eichel and Marner partnership. However, after only seven games, Dorofeyev is only showing signs of improvement and will only continue to light the lamp.
Scoring seven goals in as many games so far, going forward it seems like Dorofeyev will be the go to guy for big goals, powerplay shooting, and as a guy who you want to get the puck to in dangerous areas. He can score via wrist shots, slap shots, and sweet snap shots, and has already registered a hat trick this season, showcasing how effective his scoring will be for the Knights this year.
Last season the goals were spread a lot between the likes of Tomas Hertl, Jack Eichel, and Ivan Barbashev, but now, it looks like Dorofeyev will up his game even more, and could make that scoring gap much bigger.
With how the Knights have set up so far, it looks like Dorofeyev will be the guy they lean on during high pressure sequences, and will look to get him the perfect opportunities to get the puck to the net. He has already shown how he can score everywhere, and can even provide perfect shot passes to the net for rebounds, highlighting how his scoring game can stem much further.
Given how hot Vegas look, and how dangerous they could look during the playoffs, it looks like they have found their sharpshooter, their guy who will put up 35, 40 goals a year, and for a team who is in pursuit for the cup, they are the intangibles you can’t afford to lose.