2020–21 Vegas Golden Knights season
Season of play of professional ice hockey team
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The 2020–21 Vegas Golden Knights season was the fourth season for the National Hockey League (NHL) franchise that started playing in the 2017–18 season. They played their home games at T-Mobile Arena on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. They made the playoffs for the fourth straight season after losing in the Conference Final to the Dallas Stars in the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs. On December 20, 2020, the league temporarily realigned into four divisions with no conferences due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing closure of the Canada–United States border. As a result of this realignment, the Golden Knights played this season in the West Division and only played games against the other teams in their new division during the regular season, and potentially the first two rounds of the playoffs.
| 2020–21 Vegas Golden Knights | |
|---|---|
| Division | 2nd West |
| 2020–21 record | 40–14–2 |
| Home record | 21–5–2 |
| Road record | 19–9–0 |
| Goals for | 191 |
| Goals against | 124 |
| Team information | |
| General manager | Kelly McCrimmon |
| Coach | Peter DeBoer |
| Captain | Mark Stone |
| Alternate captains | Alex Pietrangelo Reilly Smith |
| Arena | T-Mobile Arena |
| Minor league affiliates | Henderson Silver Knights (AHL) Fort Wayne Komets (ECHL) |
| Team leaders | |
| Goals | Max Pacioretty (24) |
| Assists | Mark Stone (40) |
| Points | Mark Stone (61) |
| Penalty minutes | Jonathan Marchessault (39) |
| Plus/minus | Shea Theodore (+28) |
| Wins | Marc-Andre Fleury (26) |
| Goals against average | Marc-Andre Fleury (1.98) |
On April 21, the Golden Knights clinched a playoff berth after a 5–2 win over the San Jose Sharks.[1] They were tied with the Colorado Avalanche for first in the league, as well as first in the West Division, but lost the chance to claim their first ever Presidents' Trophy because of a tiebreaker, as they finished with fewer regulation wins than Colorado. The Golden Knights eliminated the Minnesota Wild in the First Round, with a 6–2 victory.[2] In the Second Round, the Golden Knights defeated the Avalanche in six games.[3] They faced the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup Semifinals,[4] but were defeated in six games.[5]
Standings
Divisional standings
| Pos | Team | GP | W | L | OTL | RW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | p – Colorado Avalanche | 56 | 39 | 13 | 4 | 35 | 197 | 133 | +64 | 82 |
| 2 | x – Vegas Golden Knights | 56 | 40 | 14 | 2 | 30 | 191 | 124 | +67 | 82 |
| 3 | x – Minnesota Wild | 56 | 35 | 16 | 5 | 27 | 181 | 160 | +21 | 75 |
| 4 | x – St. Louis Blues | 56 | 27 | 20 | 9 | 19 | 169 | 170 | −1 | 63 |
| 5 | Arizona Coyotes | 56 | 24 | 26 | 6 | 19 | 153 | 176 | −23 | 54 |
| 6 | Los Angeles Kings | 56 | 21 | 28 | 7 | 19 | 143 | 170 | −27 | 49 |
| 7 | San Jose Sharks | 56 | 21 | 28 | 7 | 15 | 151 | 199 | −48 | 49 |
| 8 | Anaheim Ducks | 56 | 17 | 30 | 9 | 11 | 126 | 179 | −53 | 43 |
Rules for classification: 1) Fewer number of games played (GP, only during regular season); 2) Greater number of regulation wins (RW); 3) Greater number of wins in regulation and overtime, excluding shootout wins (ROW); 4) Greater number of total wins, including shootouts (W); 5) Greater number of points earned in head-to-head play; if teams played an uneven number of head-to-head games, the result of the first game on the home ice of the team with the extra home game is discarded; 6) Greater goal differential (GD); 7) Greater number of goals scored (GF)
p – Clinched Presidents' Trophy; x – Clinched playoff spot
Schedule and results
Regular season
The regular season schedule was published on December 23, 2020.[7]
| 2020–21 game log | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legend: Win (2 points) Loss (0 points) Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) Postponement | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Playoffs
| 2021 Stanley Cup playoffs | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Legend: Win Loss | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Player statistics
Skaters
Goaltenders
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marc-Andre Fleury | 36 | 36 | 2,146:36 | 26 | 10 | 0 | 71 | 1.98 | 989 | .928 | 6 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Robin Lehner | 19 | 19 | 1,155:19 | 13 | 4 | 2 | 44 | 2.29 | 505 | .913 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Oscar Dansk | 1 | 1 | 61:25 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3.91 | 29 | .862 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Logan Thompson | 1 | 0 | 8:15 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.00 | 2 | 1.000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marc-Andre Fleury | 16 | 16 | 972:52 | 9 | 7 | 33 | 2.04 | 403 | .918 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| Robin Lehner | 3 | 3 | 182:27 | 1 | 2 | 11 | 3.62 | 97 | .887 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
†Denotes player spent time with another team before joining the Golden Knights. Stats reflect time with the Golden Knights only.
‡Denotes player was traded mid-season. Stats reflect time with the Golden Knights only.
Bold/italics denotes franchise record.
Transactions
The Golden Knights were involved in the following transactions during the 2020–21 season.
Trades
* Retained Salary Transaction: Each team is allowed up to three contracts on their payroll where they have retained salary in a trade (i.e. the player no longer plays with Team A due to a trade to Team B, but Team A still retains some salary). Only up to 50% of a player's contract can be kept, and only up to 15% of a team's salary cap can be taken up by retained salary. A contract can only be involved in one of these trades twice.
| Date | Details | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|
| October 7, 2020 | To Detroit Red Wings 4th-round pick in 2022 |
To Vegas Golden Knights 5th-round pick in 2020 (#125 overall) |
[94] |
| October 9, 2020 | To Winnipeg Jets Paul Stastny |
To Vegas Golden Knights Carl Dahlstrom conditional 4th-round pick in 2022 |
[95] |
| October 12, 2020 | To Vancouver Canucks Nate Schmidt |
To Vegas Golden Knights 3rd-round pick in 2022 |
[96] |
| April 12, 2021 | To San Jose Sharks BUF 5th-round pick in 2022 |
To Vegas Golden Knights Mattias Janmark* |
[97] |
| April 12, 2021 | To Chicago Blackhawks 2nd-round pick in 2021 3rd-round pick in 2022 |
To Vegas Golden Knights Nick DeSimone 5th-round pick in 2022 |
[97] |
| July 17, 2021 | To Nashville Predators Cody Glass |
To Vegas Golden Knights Nolan Patrick[b] |
[98] |
| July 17, 2021 | To New York Rangers Nick DeSimone WPG 4th-round pick in 2022 |
To Vegas Golden Knights Brett Howden |
[99] |
Players acquired
| Date | Player | Former team | Term | Via | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 10, 2020 | Tomas Jurco | Edmonton Oilers | 1-year | Free agency | [100] |
| October 11, 2020 | Danny O'Regan | New York Rangers | |||
| October 12, 2020 | Alex Pietrangelo | St. Louis Blues | 7-year | [101] | |
| March 16, 2021 | Daniil Miromanov | HC Sochi (KHL) | 1-year†‡ | [102] | |
| March 30, 2021 | Zack Hayes | Henderson Silver Knights (AHL) | 3-year†‡ | [103] | |
| Legend: † Contract is entry-level. ‡ Contract begins in 2021–22 season. | |||||
Players lost
| Date | Player | New team | Term | Via | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 9, 2020 | Jon Merrill | Detroit Red Wings | 1-year | Free agency | [104] |
| Nick Cousins | Nashville Predators | 2-year | [105] | ||
| October 10, 2020 | Curtis McKenzie | St. Louis Blues | 1-year | [106] | |
| November 2, 2020 | Jaycob Megna | San Jose Barracuda (AHL) | [107] | ||
| December 1, 2020 | Garret Sparks | Orlando Solar Bears (ECHL) | [108] | ||
| December 22, 2020 | Deryk Engelland | Retirement | [109] | ||
| February 10, 2021 | Brett Lernout | Colorado Eagles (AHL) | Professional tryout | Free agency | [110] |
| July 5, 2021 | Oscar Dansk | HC Spartak Moscow (KHL) | 2-year | [111] |
Signings
| Date | Player | Term | Ref | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| October 7, 2020 | Chandler Stephenson | 4-year | [112] | ||
| Gage Quinney | 1-year | [113] | |||
| October 8, 2020 | Reid Duke | [114] | |||
| Jimmy Schuldt | |||||
| October 9, 2020 | Tomas Nosek | [100] | |||
| October 19, 2020 | Keegan Kolesar | 2-year | [115] | ||
| December 31, 2020 | Lukas Cormier | 3-year† | [116] | ||
| January 25, 2021 | Pavel Dorofeyev | [117] | |||
| March 29, 2021 | Peter DiLiberatore | [118] | |||
| March 30, 2021 | Layton Ahac | 3-year†‡ | [103] | ||
| April 7, 2021 | Maxim Marushev | 2-year†‡ | [119] | ||
| May 31, 2021 | Mason Primeau | 3-year†‡ | [120] | ||
| Legend: † Contract is entry-level. ‡ Contract begins in 2021–22 season. | |||||
Draft picks
Below are the Vegas Golden Knights' selections at the 2020 NHL entry draft, which was originally scheduled for June 26–27, 2020, at the Bell Center in Montreal, Quebec, but was postponed on March 25, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The draft was held virtually via video conference call on October 6–7, 2020, from the NHL Network studio in Secaucus, New Jersey.
| Round | # | Player | Pos | Nationality | College/Junior/Club team (League) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 29 | Brendan Brisson | C |  United States |
Chicago Steel (USHL) |
| 3 | 68 | Lukas Cormier | D |  Canada |
Charlottetown Islanders (QMJHL) |
| 3 | 91 | Jackson Hallum | C | United States |
St. Thomas Academy (Minnesota) |
| 6 | 184 | Noah Ellis | D | United States |
Des Moines Buccaneers (USHL) |
| 7 | 215 | Maxim Marushev | C |  Russia |
Bars Kazan (VHL) |
Notes
- Spectators were in attendance, but the exact number was not reported.
- From Philadelphia as part of a three-way trade