The Vegas Golden Knights Prospect Report will be a monthly article to give Golden Knights fans a peek into who will be wearing the black and gold in the future. I will have a top 10 list of players and discuss how they performed in the previous month, along with prospects who are trending up and down.
The parameters for the list are as follows; I will consider them a prospect if they are below the age of 25 and have under 50 games played in the NHL.
Top-10 Golden Knights Prospects
1. Cody Glass, Vegas Golden Knights (Center)
Cody Glass came to training camp with a purpose to make the big club and he succeeded. He impressed coaches and management, and along with injuries to Cody Eakin and Alex Tuch to start the season, he centered the second line with Mark Stone and Max Pacioretty.
Glass is also seeing top power-play minutes in Vegas because of his elite vision and ability to pass the puck. He scored his first career NHL goal against the San Jose Sharks and has lit the lamp twice while adding three assists.
He is gaining valuable professional experience, and with the recent suspension of teammate Valentin Zykov, he is a lock to stay with the big club all season and develop under veterans like Paul Stastny and Stone. It’s safe to say he has the potential to win the Calder Trophy.
2. Peyton Krebs, Winnipeg Ice (Center)
Peyton Krebs has yet to play in a game this season as he is still nursing a scary injury he suffered right before the NHL draft. He is staying with the Golden Knights as he rehabs his torn Achilles, but it looks like he could return to action soon.
Krebs was announced as one of the members of Team WHL to take on Team Russia at the 2019 CIBC Canada-Russia Series. The mini-series takes place on November 13 and 14, which would indicate he could be ready to play by then. The Golden Knights won’t rush their first-round selection from 2019, but it is great to see that he is progressing and potentially returning to the ice soon.
3. Nicolas Hague, Vegas Golden Knights (Defense)
Nicolas Hague made the team out of training camp but did not crack the lineup for the first game. Then, Nate Schmidt went down with an injury and Hague found his opening. He looked a little shaky in his first few games but seems to have settled and is getting better with each game.
Hague plays a tough game and possesses a booming shot from the point, one that he has been able to showcase from the second power-play unit while Schmidt is out. While injuries are unfortunate, this is a great opportunity for him to gain experience and earn a full-time spot in the lineup once Schmidt returns.
4. Pavel Dorofeyev, Metallurg Magnitogorsk (Left Wing)
Pavel Dorofeyev’s numbers may not suggest it, but he is off to a great start with Metallurg in the KHL this season. He played 23 games for them last season and only scored two points while averaging 7:40 minutes of ice time. He is still considered a rookie so he is only playing 8:06 minutes per game this season, but in 17 games he has scored four goals and six points, including this beauty.
He is an extreme talent, but unfortunately, he re-signed with his KHL club at the beginning of October and his new contract does not expire until 2022. However, this is probably best for the young Russian as he can develop in a place he is comfortable and familiar with. The Golden Knights already have Stone, Pacioretty, Reilly Smith, Jonathan Marchessault and Alex Tuch signed until at least 2022 so Dorofeyev would not receive top-six minutes for Vegas.
5. Dylan Coghlan, Chicago Wolves (Defense)
Our first movement on the list, Coghlan has moved up one spot from six to five. He spent the offseason training and impressed coaches and management throughout his rookie and training camps.
He makes smart plays with the puck and can zip the puck around the rink. He has made great strides to improve his play in his own zone and continues to develop. With three free agents on the blue line this summer, Coghlan could make the big club full-time next season.
6. Jimmy Schuldt, Chicago Wolves (Defense)
Along with Hague, Schuldt made the opening night roster for the Golden Knights but was not able to crack the lineup. He was recently sent down to the AHL, which is not a bad thing. Moving down to the minors means he will be able to see significant game action in hopes of developing into an NHL-caliber defenseman for the Golden Knights.
7. Jack Dugan, Providence College (Left Wing)
The college season has started and Dugan is on fire through his first four games. He has three goals and six assists for the Friars in his sophomore campaign thus far. He is looking to build off a successful freshman season where he averaged almost a point-per-game (39 points in 41 games) and scored three game-winning goals.
8. Lucas Elvenes, Chicago Wolves (Center)
Elvenes is the first newcomer to this list. The 2017 fifth-round selection is spending his first season in North America in the AHL with the Chicago Wolves. He is up to five points in three games and looks to be transitioning fine to the smaller ice surface. He scored this nifty toe-drag backhand goal during the rookie tournament over the summer.
Sometimes it takes some time for Europeans to get used to the smaller playing surface, but Elvenes has not skipped a beat. He leads all AHL rookies in points this season and the twenty-year-old looks to continue to build off a strong start.
9. Nicolas Roy, Chicago Wolves (Center)
Roy is on the cusp of breaking into the NHL. He was recently called up to the big club for the second time this season when Zykov was suspended. This is a great sign as management feels he is the most NHL ready player on the Wolves. He is a two-way center that has great vision on the ice and makes the smart play.
10. Ivan Morozov, SKA-Neva St. Petersburg (Center)
Morozov has spent the majority of this season with SKA-Neva in the VHL, which is Russia’s top junior league. He is already halfway to his season totals from last season as he has one goal and three points in seven games. He played in 19 games for Neva last season and only registered six points. Management loves his game; he has a high hockey IQ and plays a strong 200-foot game.
