Four minutes into the Vegas Golden Knights’ first practice of the new year, Mitch Marner reminded all watching that he’s back.
The chirping. The playful banter. It was all back. As were the Knights, who returned to business after a third short offseason in nine seasons.
The bitter taste of falling two wins shy of a second Stanley Cup championship still resonates in the organization. The Knights are bringing back most of the core that made the stunning run to the Cup Final in the first place.
“I sure think it’s unfinished business,” general manager Kelly McCrimmon said.
The first day of the Ryan Craig era got underway Thursday at City National Arena. Much of what happened the previous four years under Bruce Cassidy, and later John Tortorella, remained the same.
The biggest difference was hitting the ground running. The Knights open the preseason on Saturday against the Los Angeles Kings. The regular season begins on Sept. 29 vs. Chicago.
“When I’ve used the words ‘starting over,’ it’s because we don’t get back to that point without starting at zero in the regular season and earning our way back to have that opportunity,” Craig, the new coach, said. “Our organization has unfinished business in the sense of where our standards are and what we hope to accomplish.”
Keeping things the same
Trying to reinvent the wheel from an identity that’s been established over the past four years isn’t something the Knights are going to do overnight.
The mindset — the buzzword that Tortorella repeated at length during his two-month tenure — hasn’t changed, either. The Knights feel they have the right people in the locker room to get back to playing hockey deep into June.
“Our mindset is to get back in the final and bring (the Stanley Cup) back to Vegas,” center William Karlsson said.
Craig also didn’t change much in the forward lines.
The top six remained the same with Jack Eichel at first-line center with Ivan Barbashev and captain Mark Stone.
Karlsson skated with Marner and Brett Howden. The trio became the Knights’ best line in the playoffs when Karlsson returned from a chronic hamstring injury.
“I kind of know who I’m going to play with to start the year. That’s always good,” said Marner, who is coming off a league-high 29 points in 22 playoff games. “It’s always nice to come in and know everyone here and be more comfortable, kind of be yourself.”
Connelly creating competition
The bottom six was going to create the most competition. That runway starts with top prospect Trevor Connelly getting a look on the third line with Tomas Hertl and the returning Victor Olofsson.
Braeden Bowman, who signed a six-year extension with the team on Sept. 10, started on the new-look fourth line with center Nic Dowd and newcomer Marc Gatcomb.
“We have opportunities available,” McCrimmon said. “It’s really going to be exciting for us to see which players seize those opportunities. There’s some urgency to make every session in main camp count, make your opportunities in preseason count.”
Connelly was a full participant at practice, donning a face cage after suffering an upper-body injury Saturday during the Knights’ rookie tournament in San Jose.
Whether Connelly, 2o, can make his opportunity count is another discussion. He’ll need to make a quick impact with a four-game preseason schedule as opposed to seven, per the league’s new collective bargaining agreement.
McCrimmon said the Knights will ice younger lineups during their first two preseason games. They’ll play the San Jose Sharks next at SAP Center on Tuesday.
It’s no guarantee Connelly is going to make the team, but he’s going to get every chance he can during his first training camp.
“It’s exciting,” Connelly said. “A little bit of nerves being the first time. It’s so fun to be out there on the ice. It’s a great energy and a great group.”
That first blow of the whistle to start the day was when Craig started to realize everything is now real. It’s a new era with a new voice leading the charge.
But it’s still much of the same.
“There’s been some build-up to this day,” Craig said. “Getting on the ice with those guys, it was a good day.
Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
