McKenna’s Mailbag: Answering questions about Vegas’ salary cap challenges, hating playing against Tom Sestito & more

Mike McKenna
Mike McKenna(MikeMcKenna56)
McKenna’s Mailbag: Answering questions about Vegas’ salary cap challenges, hating playing against Tom Sestito & more

Bob’s a hard one to figure out. I wish I could pinpoint stylistic or technical changes, but there haven’t been any obvious ones. He still loves to play out in the white ice with aggressive depth and backward flow. And Florida is still giving up a ton of chances against during 5-on-5 play.

Maybe it’s just a confidence thing or maybe Bob worked on his tracking during the offseason. He’s getting beat by clean shots much less often. Bob got roasted on medium-danger chances last year – those shots from a little further out, but not downtown. This season he’s making those saves. I do think he’s trying to stay higher in his stance when tracking the puck through traffic. That’s helped him get his eyes on shots earlier. But in general, I think Bob’s got his mojo back. It’s not easy changing teams after spending seven seasons in one city and it can take time to adjust.

No. But it’s a great question, and something that would make a ton of sense – if done properly. It seems easy at first but there’s a lot of logistics to figure out. How do you create a precise virtual goal line with sensors? It would have to extend both vertically and horizontally. Essentially it’s like creating a force field from the goal line to the posts and crossbar.

And then you have to make sure the puck has sensors all the way to the very edge, since it has to completely cross the line. Could an algorithm make up for any disparity in sensors? I’m not sure. That’s some high-brow NASA stuff. I think someday it might happen. But right now I’m not sure the technology is ready.

You’re referring to Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Zach Whitecloud spending an extra 36 seconds in the penalty box during Wednesday’s game against the Predators when the game clock zonked out. I’m sure it’s happened before, but I can’t find any record of it.

I’ve been on the ice when the clock didn’t start on time, or when the off-ice officials failed to stop it and extra time ticked off. It happens. The game clock is run by humans.. All it takes is one person being briefly distracted. Or a technical glitch. Whatever the case in Nashville, it was a bad look for the NHL. Nashville was handed over 30 extra seconds of power-play time. I think everyone was relieved that the Predators goal was called back due to goalie interference. Inadvertently, it cleaned up the mess.

Definitely. I couldn’t stand Tom Sestitio. That guy played so dirty. He’d fight in the NHL, but in the AHL, it got to a point where it was pretty obvious he didn’t want to drop the gloves. But he’d still run around burying players. Slew-footing me as he came through my crease. Plenty of things that were incredibly irritating. I don’t hold it against him now, but when I played – I hated him. If we were to share a meal or conversation today, I’m sure we’d laugh about it.

I actually played better when I was angry. My Mom always said: “Don’t piss Mike off.” And she was right. For whatever reason, I became even more competitive and invested in the game. The nights where the other team was all over my crease – I thrived in them. I see a lot of that in Jordan Binnington now. As a kid, I saw it in Ron Hextall. Some of us need that emotional element to really perform our best.

I sure hope so – bring back color and creativity! I do feel like the pendulum is swinging towards colorful equipment. The argument has always been that white equipment makes goalies look bigger. And there was a study done years ago that concluded the human eye picks up yellow first. It’s why Marc-Andre Fleury switched to all white gear when he was playing for the Pittsburgh Penguins.

But that study did not include any on-ice data supporting the hypothesis that a goaltender is likely to make more saves with white equipment. In fact, some would argue dark equipment makes it harder for the opposing team to find the puck in a scrum. Bottom line: I don’t think the color of a goalie’s equipment makes any difference in terms of competitive advantage. Juuse Saros is crushing it in yellow gear. Tristan Jarry switched to black equipment and his numbers are much improved. Marc-Andre Fleury won his first Vezina Trophy last season as the NHL’s top goaltender – in solid gold gear.

If I’m Vegas, I’m silently hoping the answer is – nothing. When Jack Eichel fully heals from disc replacement surgery, he’s going to be in the lineup. And that’s expected before the Stanley Cup Playoffs begin. And so, barring further injury, the Golden Knights are going to have to move some salary out the door to stay under the salary cap.

Between now and then, we don’t know what the roster will look like. Long-term injured reserve might still be in play if another Golden Knights player gets hurt. And while that would be bad from a competitive standpoint, it would make things easier on the front office. Because they’re going to have to make some hard decisions if the team is fully healthy.

Let’s say the Golden Knights have to shed $5 million. Reilly Smith makes that amount and is on an expiring contract. But I can’t see Vegas winning the Stanley Cup without him. William Karlsson makes $5.9 million as a second-line NHL center. His contract would be very attractive to a number of teams – especially with five years remaining on it. But the Golden Knights didn’t trade for Jack Eichel with the intention of moving another top center out. Imagine this down the middle: Eichel, Karlsson, Stephenson, Roy. That’s as good as any team in the league.

I don’t see Vegas moving a top defenseman or goaltender Laurent Brossoit. So I think the easiest thing to do would be a patchwork of moves. With the recent play of Jake Leschyshyn, Jonas Rondbjerg and Paul Cotter, I could see some of the regular bottom six forwards in play. Would William Carrier ($1.4 million), Mattias Janmark ($2.0 million) or Brett Howden ($885 thousand) be available? I could also see Dadonov on the block if absolutely necessary.

It’s really hard to predict this far out. But it won’t be easy for the Golden Knights to shed salary if it becomes necessary. They might have to pay teams with draft picks or prospects to make it happen.

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