# 2019–20 Vegas Golden Knights season

The 2019–20 Vegas Golden Knights season was the third 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 third straight season after losing in the first round of the 2019 Stanley Cup playoffs to the San Jose Sharks the year prior. On October 17, 2019, the NHL suspended Valentin Zykov for 20 regular season games for violating the terms of the NHL/NHLPA Performance Enhancing Substances Program.
The season was suspended by the league officials on March 12, 2020, after several other professional and collegiate sports organizations followed suit as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On May 26, the NHL regular season was officially declared over with the remaining games being cancelled. The Golden Knights advanced to the playoffs and earned the top seed in the Western Conference during the Stanley Cup Qualifiers. In the First Round they defeated the Chicago Blackhawks in five games. The Golden Knights advanced to their second Conference Final in three years after defeating the Vancouver Canucks in seven games in the Second Round. The Golden Knights season came to an end in the fifth game of the Conference Finals as they fell to the Dallas Stars.

## Regular season

The Golden Knights started their season with a 4–1 win against the San Jose Sharks on October 3. Cody Glass scored his first NHL goal in his debut game during the opener.

## Standings
### Divisional standings

Pacific Division :
| Pos | Team v t e | GP | W | L | OTL | RW | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Vegas Golden Knights | 71 | 39 | 24 | 8 | 30 | 227 | 211 | +16 | 86 |
| 2 | Edmonton Oilers | 71 | 37 | 25 | 9 | 31 | 225 | 217 | +8 | 83 |
| 3 | Calgary Flames | 70 | 36 | 27 | 7 | 25 | 210 | 215 | −5 | 79 |
| 4 | Vancouver Canucks | 69 | 36 | 27 | 6 | 27 | 228 | 217 | +11 | 78 |
| 5 | Arizona Coyotes | 70 | 33 | 29 | 8 | 26 | 195 | 187 | +8 | 74 |
| 6 | Anaheim Ducks | 71 | 29 | 33 | 9 | 20 | 187 | 226 | −39 | 67 |
| 7 | Los Angeles Kings | 70 | 29 | 35 | 6 | 21 | 178 | 212 | −34 | 64 |
| 8 | San Jose Sharks | 70 | 29 | 36 | 5 | 22 | 182 | 226 | −44 | 63 |

### Western Conference

| Pos | Teamvte | GP | W | L | OTL | RW | GF | GA | GD | PCT | Qualification |
| 1 | St. Louis Blues | 71 | 42 | 19 | 10 | 33 | 225 | 193 | +32 | .662 | Advance to Seeding round-robin tournament |
| 2 | Colorado Avalanche | 70 | 42 | 20 | 8 | 37 | 237 | 191 | +46 | .657 | Advance to Seeding round-robin tournament |
| 3 | Vegas Golden Knights | 71 | 39 | 24 | 8 | 30 | 227 | 211 | +16 | .606 | Advance to Seeding round-robin tournament |
| 4 | Dallas Stars | 69 | 37 | 24 | 8 | 26 | 180 | 177 | +3 | .594 | Advance to Seeding round-robin tournament |
| 5 | Edmonton Oilers | 71 | 37 | 25 | 9 | 31 | 225 | 217 | +8 | .585 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 6 | Nashville Predators | 69 | 35 | 26 | 8 | 28 | 215 | 217 | −2 | .565 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 7 | Vancouver Canucks | 69 | 36 | 27 | 6 | 27 | 228 | 217 | +11 | .565 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 8 | Calgary Flames | 70 | 36 | 27 | 7 | 25 | 210 | 215 | −5 | .564 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 9 | Winnipeg Jets | 71 | 37 | 28 | 6 | 30 | 216 | 203 | +13 | .563 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 10 | Minnesota Wild | 69 | 35 | 27 | 7 | 30 | 220 | 220 | 0 | .558 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 11 | Arizona Coyotes | 70 | 33 | 29 | 8 | 26 | 195 | 187 | +8 | .529 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 12 | Chicago Blackhawks | 70 | 32 | 30 | 8 | 23 | 212 | 218 | −6 | .514 | Advance to 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs qualifying round |
| 13 | Anaheim Ducks | 71 | 29 | 33 | 9 | 20 | 187 | 226 | −39 | .472 | |
| 14 | Los Angeles Kings | 70 | 29 | 35 | 6 | 21 | 178 | 212 | −34 | .457 | |
| 15 | San Jose Sharks | 70 | 29 | 36 | 5 | 22 | 182 | 226 | −44 | .450 | |

#### Tiebreaking procedures

* Fewer number of games played (only used during regular season).
* Greater number of regulation wins (denoted by RW).
* Greater number of wins in regulation and overtime (excluding shootout wins; denoted by ROW).
* Greater number of total wins (including shootouts).
* 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.
* Greater goal differential (difference between goals for and goals against).
* Greater number of goals scored (denoted by GF).

## Schedule and results
### Preseason

The preseason schedule was published on June 18, 2019.

### Regular season

The regular season schedule was published on June 25, 2019.
2019–20 game log :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) :

### Playoffs

The Golden Knights played in a round-robin tournament to determine their seed for the playoffs. Vegas finished with a 3–0–0 record to clinch the first seed for the playoffs.
In the first round, the Golden Knights defeated the Chicago Blackhawks in five games.
In the second round, the Golden Knights faced the Vancouver Canucks, and defeated them in seven games.
The Golden Knights faced the Dallas Stars in the Conference Final, but were defeated in five games.
2020 Stanley Cup playoffs :
Legend:
  Win (2 points)
  Loss (0 points)
  Overtime/shootout loss (1 point) :

## Player statistics
### Skaters

Regular season :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Max Pacioretty | 71 | 32 | 34 | 66 | 18 | 44 |
| Mark Stone | 65 | 21 | 42 | 63 | 15 | 27 |
| Reilly Smith | 71 | 27 | 27 | 54 | 17 | 20 |
| Jonathan Marchessault | 66 | 22 | 25 | 47 | 6 | 28 |
| William Karlsson | 63 | 15 | 31 | 46 | 11 | 16 |
| Shea Theodore | 71 | 13 | 33 | 46 | 12 | 25 |
| Paul Stastny | 71 | 17 | 21 | 38 | 6 | 24 |
| Nate Schmidt | 59 | 7 | 24 | 31 | 11 | 12 |
| Chandler Stephenson$^†$ | 41 | 8 | 14 | 22 | 19 | 10 |
| William Carrier | 71 | 7 | 12 | 19 | 0 | 39 |
| Alex Tuch | 42 | 8 | 9 | 17 | −10 | 8 |
| Ryan Reaves | 71 | 8 | 7 | 15 | −5 | 47 |
| Tomas Nosek | 67 | 8 | 7 | 15 | −2 | 20 |
| Nick Holden | 61 | 6 | 8 | 14 | −1 | 13 |
| Cody Glass | 39 | 5 | 7 | 12 | −7 | 6 |
| Nicolas Hague | 38 | 1 | 10 | 11 | 0 | 32 |
| Nicolas Roy | 28 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 3 | 8 |
| Cody Eakin$^‡$ | 41 | 4 | 6 | 10 | −9 | 16 |
| Brayden McNabb | 71 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 1 | 40 |
| Alec Martinez$^†$ | 10 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 5 | 6 |
| Jon Merrill | 49 | 2 | 5 | 7 | 9 | 32 |
| Deryk Engelland | 49 | 1 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 37 |
| Valentin Zykov | 15 | 1 | 3 | 4 | −2 | 6 |
| Nick Cousins$^†$ | 7 | 1 | 2 | 3 | −1 | 2 |
| Brandon Pirri | 16 | 0 | 2 | 2 | −4 | 8 |
| Patrick Brown | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Zach Whitecloud | 16 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Gage Quinney | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | −1 | 0 |
| Keegan Kolesar | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Jake Bischoff | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | −2 | 4 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | G | A | Pts | +/− | PIM |
| Shea Theodore | 20 | 7 | 12 | 19 | 7 | 8 |
| Mark Stone | 20 | 7 | 10 | 17 | −1 | 6 |
| Reilly Smith | 20 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 2 | 8 |
| Alex Tuch | 20 | 8 | 4 | 12 | 5 | 8 |
| William Karlsson | 20 | 4 | 6 | 10 | 2 | 0 |
| Jonathan Marchessault | 20 | 3 | 7 | 10 | 1 | 16 |
| Paul Stastny | 18 | 3 | 6 | 9 | 1 | 8 |
| Nate Schmidt | 20 | 2 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 4 |
| Max Pacioretty | 16 | 5 | 3 | 8 | −2 | 12 |
| Alec Martinez | 20 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 11 | 4 |
| Nicolas Roy | 20 | 1 | 7 | 8 | 4 | 6 |
| Chandler Stephenson | 20 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 4 |
| Nick Cousins | 17 | 0 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 22 |
| Ryan Reaves | 19 | 0 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 14 |
| William Carrier | 20 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 10 |
| Zach Whitecloud | 20 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 6 |
| Tomas Nosek | 8 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 2 |
| Brayden McNabb | 20 | 0 | 3 | 3 | −1 | 14 |
| Patrick Brown | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Jon Merrill | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| Nick Holden | 19 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |

### Goaltenders

Regular season :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | OT | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Marc-Andre Fleury | 49 | 48 | 2,880:06 | 27 | 16 | 5 | 133 | 2.77 | 1,399 | .905 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 8 |
| Malcolm Subban$^‡$ | 20 | 19 | 1,133:05 | 9 | 7 | 3 | 60 | 3.18 | 546 | .890 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Robin Lehner$^†$ | 3 | 3 | 180:00 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1.67 | 83 | .940 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Garret Sparks | 1 | 0 | 27:24 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4.38 | 14 | .857 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Oscar Dansk | 1 | 1 | 60:00 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 6.00 | 37 | .838 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Playoffs :
| Player | GP | GS | TOI | W | L | GA | GAA | SA | SV% | SO | G | A | PIM |
| Robin Lehner | 16 | 16 | 965:52 | 9 | 7 | 32 | 1.99 | 386 | .917 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Marc-Andre Fleury | 4 | 4 | 238:02 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 2.27 | 100 | .910 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 |
$^†$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

The Golden Knights were involved in the following transactions during the 2019–20 season.

### Trades

* 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 | Details |
| June 26, 2019 | To Carolina HurricanesErik Haula | To Vegas Golden KnightsNicolas Roy conditional 5th-round pick in 2021 |
| June 28, 2019 | To Buffalo SabresColin Miller | To Vegas Golden KnightsSTL 2nd-round pick in 2021 5th-round pick in 2022 |
| June 22, 2019 | To San Jose Sharks2nd-round pick in 2019 (#48 overall) WPG 3rd-round pick in 2019 (#82 overall) | To Vegas Golden KnightsPHI 2nd-round pick in 2019 (#41 overall) |
| July 23, 2019 | To Toronto Maple LeafsDavid Clarkson 4th-round pick in 2020 | To Vegas Golden KnightsGarret Sparks |
| July 29, 2019 | To New Jersey DevilsNikita Gusev | To Vegas Golden Knights3rd-round pick in 2020 2nd-round pick in 2021 |
| December 2, 2019 | To Washington Capitals5th-round pick in 2021 | To Vegas Golden KnightsChandler Stephenson |
| February 19, 2020 | To Los Angeles Kings2nd-round pick in 2020 STL 2nd-round pick in 2021 | To Vegas Golden KnightsAlec Martinez |
| February 21, 2020 | To Winnipeg JetsCody Eakin | To Vegas Golden Knightsconditional 3rd-round pick in 2021 or 4th-round pick in 2021 |
| February 24, 2020 | To Montreal Canadiens4th-round pick in 2021 | To Vegas Golden KnightsNick Cousins |
| February 24, 2020 | To Toronto Maple Leafs5th-round pick in 2020 | To Vegas Golden KnightsRobin Lehner* |
| February 24, 2020 | To Chicago BlackhawksMalcolm Subban Slava Demin PIT 2nd-round pick in 2020 | To Vegas Golden KnightsMartins Dzierkals |
| September 28, 2020 | To Chicago BlackhawksBrandon Pirri | To Vegas Golden KnightsDylan Sikura |

### Players acquired

| Date | Player | Former team | Term | Via |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-7-1) | Patrick Brown | Carolina Hurricanes | 2-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-7-1) | Tyrell Goulbourne | Philadelphia Flyers | 2-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-7-1) | Brett Lernout | Montreal Canadiens | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-7-1) | Jaycob Megna | Anaheim Ducks | 1-year | Free agency |
| September 20, 2019 (2019-9-20) | Brayden Pachal | Prince Albert Raiders (WHL) | 3-year† | Free agency |
| July 13, 2020 (2020-7-13) | Logan Thompson | Hershey Bears (AHL) | 2-year†‡ | Free agency |
| Legend: † Contract is entry-level. ‡ Contract begins in 2020–21 season. ||||||

### Players lost

| Date | Player | New team | Term | Via |
| June 21, 2019 (2019-6-21) | Brooks Macek | Avtomobilist Yekaterinburg (KHL) | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-7-01) | Pierre-Edouard Bellemare | Colorado Avalanche | 2-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-7-01) | Ryan Carpenter | Chicago Blackhawks | 3-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-7-01) | Daniel Carr | Nashville Predators | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-7-01) | Maxime Lagace | Boston Bruins | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-7-01) | Zachary Fucale | Syracuse Crunch (AHL) | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 2, 2019 (2019-7-02) | T. J. Tynan | Colorado Avalanche | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 11, 2019 (2019-7-11) | Alex Gallant | Stockton Heat (AHL) | 1-year | Free agency |
| July 11, 2019 (2019-7-11) | Zac Leslie | Stockton Heat (AHL) | 1-year | Free agency |
| August 13, 2019 (2019-8-13) | Philip Holm | Chicago Blackhawks | 1-year | Free agency |
| August 22, 2019 (2019-8-22) | Stefan Matteau | Cleveland Monsters (AHL) | 1-year | Free agency |

### Signings

| Date | Player | Term |
| June 24, 2019 (2019-6-24) | William Karlsson | 8-year |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-7-01) | Tomas Nosek | 1-year |
| July 1, 2019 (2019-7-01) | Brandon Pirri | 2-year |
| July 9, 2019 (2019-7-09) | Malcolm Subban | 1-year |
| July 16, 2019 (2019-7-16) | Jake Bischoff | 3-year |
| July 23, 2019 (2019-7-23) | Deryk Engelland | 1-year |
| July 31, 2019 (2019-7-31) | Marcus Kallionkieli | 3-year† |
| September 5, 2019 (2019-9-05) | Jimmy Schuldt | 1-year |
| November 16, 2019 (2019-11-16) | Peyton Krebs | 3-year† |
| December 21, 2019 (2019-12-21) | Kaedan Korczak | 3-year† |
| February 24, 2020 (2020-2-24) | Nick Holden | 2-year‡ |
| February 27, 2020 (2020-2-27) | William Carrier | 4-year‡ |
| March 22, 2020 (2020-3-22) | Zach Whitecloud | 2-year‡ |
| April 22, 2020 (2020-4-22) | Nicolas Roy | 2-year‡ |
| June 1, 2020 (2020-6-01) | Connor Corcoran | 3-year†‡ |
| June 11, 2020 (2020-6-11) | Oscar Dansk | 1-year‡ |
| June 15, 2020 (2020-6-15) | Ryan Reaves | 2-year‡ |
| June 30, 2020 (2020-6-30) | Jiri Patera | 3-year†‡ |
| July 16, 2020 (2020-7-16) | Jack Dugan | 2-year†‡ |
| October 3, 2020 (2020-10-03) | Robin Lehner | 5-year‡ |
| Legend: † Contract is entry-level. ‡ Contract begins in 2020–21 season. ||||

## Draft picks

Below are the Vegas Golden Knights' selections at the 2019 NHL Entry Draft, which was held on June 21 to 22, 2019, at Rogers Arena in Vancouver.
| Round | # | Player | Pos. | Nationality | Team (League) |
| 1 | 17 | Peyton Krebs | C | Canada | Kootenay Ice (WHL) |
| 2 | 41 | Kaedan Korczak | D | Canada | Kelowna Rockets (WHL) |
| 3 | 79 | Pavel Dorofeyev | LW | Russia | Metallurg Magnitogorsk (KHL) |
| 3 | 86 | Layton Ahac | D | Canada | Prince George Spruce Kings (BCHL) |
| 4 | 110 | Ryder Donovan | C | United States | Dubuque Fighting Saints (USHL) |
| 5 | 135 | Isaiah Saville | G | United States | Tri-City Storm (USHL) |
| 5 | 139 | Marcus Kallionkieli | LW | Finland | Sioux City Musketeers (USHL) |
| 5 | 141 | Mason Primeau | C | Canada | North Bay Battalion (OHL) |