Golden Knights’ Kelly McCrimmon faces roster decisions

Kelly McCrimmon always has a lengthy to-do list, but it grew considerably while the NHL season was paused.

The next task for the Golden Knights general manager is a fresh set of roster decisions.

The NHL is expected to expand rosters as part of its 24-team return-to-play tournament, and McCrimmon said Monday during a Zoom call with media the Knights are waiting for clarity from the league on how many skaters will be allowed to participate.

“It’ll be players from the American Hockey League that’ll make up our taxi squad, and once we know those numbers for sure we’ll probably make those decisions,” McCrimmon said. “If 28 is that number, which has been thrown around, we could have more players skating in Phase Two and then make some decisions at the end of Phase Two.”

The Knights confirmed six players — Deryk Engelland, Marc-Andre Fleury, Nick Holden, Max Pacioretty, Paul Stastny and Mark Stone — have skated during Phase Two since City National Arena was opened to small groups starting June 8.

McCrimmon did not provide any additional Phase Two participants, but added that no one from the organization has tested positive for COVID-19.

One player who will not be available for the restart is center Cody Glass, who continues to rehabilitate from March knee surgery. Meanwhile, the league and NHL Players’ Association continue to negotiate whether players such as Jack Dugan are eligible to sign entry-level contracts and participate in the playoffs.

“We’re really excited about Phase Two opening up,” McCrimmon said. “We’ve had real good turnout from our players. They’re excited, as we all are, as we inch closer to what hopefully will be a July 10 training camp and on into a revamped playoff format. We look forward to continuing along the lines to that process.”

McCrimmon addressed several of the items on his agenda ahead of training camp tentatively scheduled to begin July 10.

The NHL halted its regular season March 12 because of the coronavirus pandemic, which allowed players to heal injuries. The Knights were one of the teams to benefit from the break, as leading scorers Pacioretty (lower body) and Stone (lower body) are back to 100 percent.

McCrimmon believes with players across the league at full strength and the Stanley Cup at stake, the quality of play could be as high as it’s ever been should the playoffs take place.

”I think this is going to be a lot more similar to what maybe you would’ve seen at a World Cup,” McCrimmon said. “The best players in the world got together (in 2016) and played extremely entertaining, competitive hockey. So that’s more what I think people are going to see.”

Las Vegas continues to be a front-runner to be selected as one of the hub cities for the NHL’s restart, and McCrimmon was hopeful the Knights would be allowed to play at T-Mobile Arena.

The Knights received a bye to the Western Conference quarterfinals and will play two exhibition games before taking on St. Louis, Colorado and Dallas in a round robin to determine the top four seeds.

Those five games should give coach Pete DeBoer time to find the right line combinations and settle on a starting goalie between Fleury and Robin Lehner.

“We were really pleased with the format because it makes games meaningful,” McCrimmon said. “I know we were concerned at one point that we might face a team coming off a first-round win where we’d been on a bye, for example, and weren’t at the same level having not played since early to mid-March.”

McCrimmon also has watched the worldwide anti-racism protests with interest following the Memorial Day death of George Floyd while in police custody in Minneapolis.

He described the past three weeks as a “real learning experience” and added the organization will address the topic further when the team reconvenes.

“I’m very proud of the things that have been said by our players, and I know there’s a very genuine sense of caring,” McCrimmon said. “And as I touched on earlier, whatever we can do to make things better to improve race relations, everyone being treated equitably, we’ll play our part. I believe there’s a real opportunity for people in our positions to do that.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.