For Knights, time to exhale while holding their breath

LAS VEGAS — Have you ever tried catching your breath while holding it at the same time?

That’s what the Vegas Golden Knights are doing, along with the other 31 NHL teams as we’ve hit the break for the much-anticipated 4 Nations Face-Off tournament which begins Wednesday in Montreal. The season goes on a two-week hiatus except for the players and coaches representing the U.S., Canada, Sweden and Finland. They’ll still be working in a made-for-television event that is being billed as “Best vs. Best” even though Russia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Switzerland, Slovakia and Slovenia are not invited. Check back in a year when the Winter Olympics are held in Italy and perhaps Russia is back in the good graces of the International Ice Hockey Federation and are on the ice again for a true Best vs. Best event.

For the Knights, the 4 Nations break is good. They’re a banged up bunch and can use the time away from the rink to heal up, reboot or whatever you want to call the opportunity to get some rest.

Vegas had a tough January and February wasn’t looking much better when the team dropped games in New York to the Rangers and the Islanders. In a month, the Knights had gone from having the best record in the NHL to falling out of first place in the Pacific Division. They’re still not healthy and they’ve only had the roster they anticipated having at the start of training camp for a handful of games so far.

They’re going to be without center William Karlsson for a while as he was put on LTIR Friday. Knights fans know what that usually means. Someone is likely coming to Vegas in a trade as there’s over $5 million salary cap space to work with.

Of course, there was no 4 Nations tournament when Mark Stone went on LTIR the past couple of years so perhaps Karlsson, who had been selected to play for Sweden but has pulled out of the 4 Nations, may be able to return later this month. And since we have no idea to what exactly is ailing him or how bad it is, we’ll have to wait and see how long he’ll be unavailable. Maybe we don’t see him until the playoffs in mid-April. Perhaps he’s back sooner.

Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is also taking a pass on the 4 Nations to heal whatever injuries he’s been dealing with. Pietrangelo was supposed to play for Canada. Instead, Kings defenseman Drew Doughty, who recently returned to the lineup after being injured against the Knights in the preseason, will take Pietrangelo’s spot.

Pietrangelo stayed on the ice for the remainder of the trip which saw the Knights win at New Jersey Thursday and rally from a 2-0 deficit at Boston Saturday to end the skid and get back into first place in the Pacific, which they will share with Edmonton with 67 points apiece though the Oilers have a game in hand.

So as the majority of the team gets away from hockey, five players will be skating for their country — two for Team USA (Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin) and three for Canada (Mark Stone, Shea Theodore and Adin Hill). Coach Bruce Cassidy is also an assistant for Team Canada.

It also means if you’re general manager Kelly McCrimmon, you’re going to be holding your breath the next two weeks. The last thing you want to see is one of the five VGKers get injured. And every GM that has players involved in the 4 Nations as well as their fan bases, will be doing the same. Nobody wants to see an injury.

But this is not an All-Star Game. You can expect guys laying their bodies on the line for their country and going full-out every shift. And therein lies the internal angst every team will be experiencing. You want your guys to play great and win. But you’re scared to death that one of them could get hurt and be lost for an extended period.

For the Knights, who are already missing Karlsson, it’s also about getting those able to play to put up the numbers necessary to win. Tomas Hertl has finally done that. He’s contributing the way the team hoped he would. Pavel Dorofeyev is leading the team with 22 goals. Not bad for a third-round draft pick. Eichel is having a career-best season. Stone is averaging better than a point a game. We’ve talked about Brett Howden and Keegan Kolesar are having career years so far.  

Ilya Samsonov and Tanner Pearson have been bargain pickups and Brandon Saad, who joined the team a week ago after parting company in St. Louis with the Blues, may turn out to be another reasonably-priced acquisition for McCrimmon.

In essence, the 4 Nations break can serve as an additional trade deadline. The actual one on March 7 will be here before we know it. But it shouldn’t shock anyone if McCrimmon looks to find a little more scoring. Maybe it comes in the next few days. Maybe it’s not going to happen until near or on the 7th. But the Knights figure to do something. It’s not their style to stand pat.

In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed that your favorite team comes out of the 4 Nations healthy.