The Golden Knights have been searching for answers on the power play for years. Despite significant changes in almost every area, power play has never become a strength. Vegas proved it is not a prerequisite to winning a Stanley Cup, but that hasn’t stopped them from continuing to look for upgrades.

At the deadline, they added Tomas Hertl and Noah Hanifin, two players expected to make major impacts on special teams, and then this summer brought in Alexander Holtz and Victor Olofsson, a pair of guys who have had their biggest successes in the league on the power play.

Couple that with the losses of Jonathan Marchessault, Chandler Stephenson, and Michael Amadio, and the Golden Knights power play is set to look much different than it has in years past.

The challenge for Vegas this year will be finding the right combination with all of the available pieces. Reasonably, heading into Opening Night on October 9th, the Golden Knights could have 12 players with significant power play experience in the 20-man lineup. Of course, there’s only room for 10 on the power play which will force Bruce Cassidy to make some difficult decisions.

Even the players guaranteed to have spots on the power play, Eichel, Stone, and Hertl to name a few, there are plenty of different places to deploy them which will make the lineup possibilities endless.

To prove this point, here are two perfectly reasonable setups with every single player in a different place from Option 1 to 2.

Option 1
Hertl
Eichel-Stone-Olofsson
Hanifin

Barbashev
Holtz-Roy-Karlsson
Pietrangelo

Option 2
Stone
Brisson-Hertl-Eichel
Theodore

Olofsson-Karlsson-Roy
Pietrangelo-Hanifin

The first decision is going to be whether or not to use all three star defensemen. When Hanifin, Theodore, and Pietrangelo were all in the lineup last year, Hanifin was a lock on the top unit, and the other two split time on the second one. Very rarely were two defensemen used at the same time though which meant one of them was stapled to the bench on every man advantage. Cassidy has never been a huge proponent of the three-forward, two-defenseman setup, but he might have to be with the roster he’s being presented.

Then, the bench boss will have to figure out the right combination of net-front and bumper players. Stone, Hertl, Karlsson, Roy, and Barbashev have all had success in each spot but there’s never been a combination that has worked so well that it emerged as the clear best option.

Figuring out the perfect place for Eichel will be extremely challenging as well. Historically, Eichel has been on the left side and operated as the focal point of the operation. However, there’s been a tendency for things to slow down when he is in that spot. When flipped to his off-side, he’s typically made quicker decisions, but hasn’t been nearly as dangerous.

Finally, choosing between the glut of other options is going to leave an exponential number of ways Cassidy can configure the two units. Barbashev, Roy, and Karlsson have always been mainstays, but Holtz, Olofsson, and Brisson all become much more useful in power play situations than they are anytime else.

The balance between affording time for chemistry to develop and wanting to experiment is going to be a delicate dance for Cassidy this season. The weapons are certainly there for Vegas to have the most potent power play they’ve ever had, but it won’t be easy to find the right mix of all the elements VGK have at their disposal.