2020–21 Vegas Golden Knights season

The 2020–21 Vegas Golden Knights season was the fourth season for the National Hockey League 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
Division2nd West
2020–21 record40–14–2
Home record21–5–2
Road record19–9–0
Goals for191
Goals against124
Team information
General managerKelly McCrimmon
CoachPeter DeBoer
CaptainMark Stone
Alternate captainsAlex Pietrangelo
Reilly Smith
ArenaT-Mobile Arena
Minor league affiliate(s)Henderson Silver Knights (AHL)
Fort Wayne Komets (ECHL)
Team leaders
GoalsMax Pacioretty (24)
AssistsMark Stone (40)
PointsMark Stone (61)
Penalty minutesJonathan Marchessault (39)
Plus/minusShea Theodore (+28)
WinsMarc-Andre Fleury (26)
Goals against averageMarc-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

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Divisional standings

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West Division
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 e – Arizona Coyotes 56 24 26 6 19 153 176 −23 54
6 e – Los Angeles Kings 56 21 28 7 19 143 170 −27 49
7 e – San Jose Sharks 56 21 28 7 15 151 199 −48 49
8 e – Anaheim Ducks 56 17 30 9 11 126 179 −53 43
Source: National Hockey League[6]
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)
e – Eliminated from playoff contention; p – Clinched Presidents' Trophy; x – Clinched playoff spot

Schedule and results

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Regular season

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The regular season schedule was published on December 23, 2020.[7]

2020–21 game log

Legend:   Win (2 points)   Loss (0 points)   Overtime/shootout loss (1 point)   Postponement

Playoffs

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2021 Stanley Cup playoffs

Legend:   Win   Loss

Player statistics

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Skaters

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Goaltenders

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Regular season[92]
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
Playoffs[93]
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

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The Golden Knights were involved in the following transactions during the 2020–21 season.

Trades

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* 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 (2021-07-17) To Nashville Predators
Cody Glass
To Vegas Golden Knights
Nolan Patrick[b]
[98]
July 17, 2021 (2021-07-17) To New York Rangers
Nick DeSimone
WPG 4th-round pick in 2022
To Vegas Golden Knights
Brett Howden
[99]

Players acquired

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Date Player Former team Term Via Ref
October 10, 2020 (2020-10-10) Tomas Jurco Edmonton Oilers 1-year Free agency [100]
October 11, 2020 (2020-10-11) Danny O'Regan New York Rangers
October 12, 2020 (2020-10-12) Alex Pietrangelo St. Louis Blues 7-year [101]
March 16, 2021 (2021-03-16) Daniil Miromanov HC Sochi (KHL) 1-year†‡ [102]
March 30, 2021 (2021-03-30) Zack Hayes Henderson Silver Knights (AHL) 3-year†‡ [103]
Legend:  †  Contract is entry-level.  ‡  Contract begins in 2021–22 season.

Players lost

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Date Player New team Term Via Ref
October 9, 2020 (2020-10-09) Jon Merrill Detroit Red Wings 1-year Free agency [104]
Nick Cousins Nashville Predators 2-year [105]
October 10, 2020 (2020-10-10) Curtis McKenzie St. Louis Blues 1-year [106]
November 2, 2020 (2020-11-02) Jaycob Megna San Jose Barracuda (AHL) [107]
December 1, 2020 (2020-12-01) Garret Sparks Orlando Solar Bears (ECHL) [108]
December 22, 2020 (2020-12-22) Deryk Engelland Retirement [109]
February 10, 2021 (2021-02-10) Brett Lernout Colorado Eagles (AHL) Professional tryout Free agency [110]
July 5, 2021 (2021-07-05) Oscar Dansk HC Spartak Moscow (KHL) 2-year [111]

Signings

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Date Player Term Ref
October 7, 2020 (2020-10-07) Chandler Stephenson 4-year [112]
Gage Quinney 1-year [113]
October 8, 2020 (2020-10-08) Reid Duke [114]
Jimmy Schuldt
October 9, 2020 (2020-10-09) Tomas Nosek [100]
October 19, 2020 (2020-10-19) Keegan Kolesar 2-year [115]
December 31, 2020 (2020-12-31) Lukas Cormier 3-year† [116]
January 25, 2021 (2021-01-25) Pavel Dorofeyev [117]
March 29, 2021 (2021-03-29) Peter DiLiberatore [118]
March 30, 2021 (2021-03-30) Layton Ahac 3-year†‡ [103]
April 7, 2021 (2021-04-07) Maxim Marushev 2-year†‡ [119]
May 31, 2021 (2021-05-31) Mason Primeau 3-year†‡ [120]
Legend:  †  Contract is entry-level.  ‡  Contract begins in 2021–22 season.

Draft picks

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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

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  1. ^ a b c d Spectators were in attendance, but the exact number was not reported.
  2. ^ From Philadelphia as part of a three-way trade

References

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  1. ^ "Golden Knights defeat Sharks, become first to clinch playoff berth". NHL.com. April 21, 2021. Retrieved April 21, 2021.
  2. ^ "Golden Knights defeat Wild in Game 7, advance to Stanley Cup Second Round". NHL.com. May 28, 2021. Retrieved June 8, 2021.
  3. ^ "Golden Knights eliminate Avalanche with Game 6 victory". NHL.com. June 10, 2021. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
  4. ^ "Canadiens to play Golden Knights in Stanley Cup Semifinals". NHL.com. June 10, 2021. Retrieved June 10, 2021.
  5. ^ "Canadiens defeat Golden Knights in Game 6, advance to Stanley Cup Final". NHL.com. June 24, 2021. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
  6. ^ "NHL Hockey Standings". www.nhl.com. National Hockey League.
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  105. ^ "Predators Sign Nick Cousins to Two-Year, $3 Million Contract". Nashville Predators. October 10, 2020.
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  108. ^ "Solar Bears sign Garret Sparks". Orlando Solar Bears. December 1, 2020. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
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  118. ^ "Golden Knights Sign Defenseman Peter DiLiberatore To Entry-Level Contract". March 29, 2021. Retrieved May 25, 2024.
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  120. ^ "Vegas Golden Knights Sign Forward Mason Primeau To Entry-Level Contract". May 31, 2021. Retrieved May 25, 2024.