LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — The Vegas Golden Knights held their end-of-season media availability while clearing out their lockers on Tuesday. It allowed the team to address their Game 7 loss to Dallas and what's next for the defending Stanley Cup champions.
Golden Knight players and head coach Bruce Cassidy signed autographs and took photos with fans to help lift spirits after a disappointing end to their season.
Jonathan Marchessault's contract is the big talking point heading into the offseason. The impending free agent enjoyed the best statistical season of his career, netting 42 goals last season. An original misfit and Conn Smythe winner, Marchessault is "pretty confident" he won't have to leave Vegas but must keep his options open.
"I don't think, I know I'm a big part of that organization and the team," Marchessault told the press. "I've proved it along the years. I'm pretty confident. I would love to stay. It's my home. I've been a part of the guys we started with. The most proud thing I've done in my life I think, professionally for sure. Happy to be a Golden Knight for the rest of my life but it's not necessarily all in my control. I love it here. I want to stay here for sure but we'll see."
"He's been a big part of the core of this team since it started in 2017," captain Mark Stone said of Marchessault. "He scores goals, brings an energy to the locker room, an enjoyable teammate and he's competitive. Most of are hoping that he's in our lineup next year. There's another two months until free agency and the draft, stuff like that."
"The numbers are what they are," Marchessault added. "It depends to see if this is valuable to them or not. I think what's important to me in what I'm looking for is I want to be an organization that wants me. I still play the game of hockey not just to play it. I don't play it for fun. I play it because I want to win. I want to be in a place that's going to help me win."
"Stuff happens in our league, players change teams" Stone said of Marchessault, who Brayden McNabb and others said they can't imagine the locker room without. "He's a guy most of us are hoping that is in our lineup next year. But he's meant a lot to me. Sitting beside him the last three years he brings a smile to my face every day. Hopefully he can continue to do that."
Other impending free agents whose futures are uncertain are Alec Martinez, Chandler Stephenson, Michael Amadio, William Carrier, and Anthony Mantha.
The Knights had this to say this of their season, which ended by taking the 1-seed Stars the distance in a hard-fought 7-game series that ended with a 2-1 Vegas loss.
"Any time you have a team that's competitive and has a chance and you don't do it, it's disappointing," defenseman Alex Pietrangelo said. "I think everyone feels the same way. But what do you do right. Take some time to process everything and get back to work. You want to still be playing but you got to get ready for next year."
"We obviously had a magical run," star forward Jack Eichel said. "You just assume that's going to happen every year. Coming back this year, listen, I think if you ask every guy in the room we'd all agree that we were gonna win again and I really thought we had the team to do it. And I think we played what, seven one-goal games against Dallas so the difference in winning and losing is so small."
"I feel like we never got our game to where it could be," goalie Adin Hill said. "Last year we saw what we could do in this locker room. I think you could argue we had an even better team on paper this year. Take a couple weeks off, let your body rest and recover from a long season. The nice thing is we know what we have in this locker room and we'll come back hungry next year."
"In the playoffs, it's a grind," Stone said. "It's not the easiest thing. You got to get ready to go battle 82 games to get where you want to be which is playing playoff hockey. Hopefully the guys can unwind the next couple weeks and get back on the saddle. Get the bodies ready and have a chip going into next season."
"Take some time, process it, and move on to the next year," Pietrangelo said. "I think we'll all be pretty eager to get back in August and September whenever it starts rolling in. It'll be a fun summer as far as regrouping and seeing what this team has going into next year."'
"There's only one team that's satisfied at the end of the year," Eichel said. "We happened to be that team last year. This year there's only going to be one team that feels satisfied about what they did this season. That's not where we're going to be so we want to get back to that point. It should fuel everyone. I'm sure going to use it as motivation. Come back and be prepared as possible to have a good season."