By the time veteran center Paul Stastny started to feel comfortable in his first season with the Golden Knights, the team traded for a star player that he had to learn to work alongside.
Everything seemed to click by the time the playoffs started, but the early exit left the question of what could have been lingering through the offseason.
Stastny, 33, hopes stability will lead to consistent success in his second season in Las Vegas.
“It was tough last year,” Stastny said during training camp. “(Nate) Schmidt missed the first 20 games, then I got hurt and came back, and (Max Pacioretty) was hurt. (Alex Tuch) missed some time. We just had a lot of injuries, and it led to a lot of different line combinations. It wasn’t until around Christmas where I got really comfortable. Then we got (Mark) Stone (in March), and we started to figure out who was playing with who.”
Stastny was centering a line with Pacioretty and Stone at the end of the season that was easily the team’s most productive unit in the postseason.
They are expected to be reunited on the second line this season, and Stastny is eager for the opportunity.
“For me, it’s different this year because I feel there’s a lot more excitement because there’s a lot less unknowns,” he said. “It’s not easy to find that chemistry, and when you do, it doesn’t happen overnight. The more you play together, the more you hang out off the ice and talk about the game or just talk about life, the more trust you have in each other. We talked a lot this summer about hockey and just real-world stuff.”
Despite the extended absence because of a lower-body injury and patchwork lines at times last season, Stastny had 42 points in 50 games.
Coach Gerard Gallant knows what the two-time All-Star and two-time Olympian is capable of doing.
“I thought he had a good year, but he missed a lot of time early and it was tough on him,” Gallant said. “He’s a tough player and an intelligent player. He played really well in the second part of the season, especially the playoff series. That line was really good.”
Schmidt said Stastny’s presence is felt beyond the impact on his line.
“A guy like him is such a calming guy on the ice,” Schmidt said. “You see what happens when he plays with younger players, they elevate their game. The way he brings his poise to the ice, it really just calms things down when he has the puck. The underappreciated thing is how hard he works away from the puck. You only see it when it hits his stick, but he’s able to make those plays because he works hard to get there, and that helps other guys make plays, too.”
Stastny said he thinks the team has found a balance between moving on from Game 7 in San Jose while still using it to fuel the drive for redemption.
“For everyone in this room, our expectation is to win the Cup first and foremost,” he said. “But we don’t look at it like that. After what happened last year, we were pissed off for 24 or 48 hours and then turned the page and decided to just use it as motivation. We’re not using it as an excuse. We’re just really excited to get back to work. You saw that with what guys did off the ice and now on the ice.”
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Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.