Vegas Golden Knights acquire key pieces for Stanley Cup run

It was a busy couple of weeks for the Vegas Golden Knights, which culminated in Friday’s NHL trade deadline day. The Knights made three key acquisitions in Jonathan Quick, Teddy Blueger, and Ivan Barbeshev.

Vegas is in a very tight race in the Pacific division. As of Saturday, the Golden Knights hold a slim two-point lead in the Pacific division over the Kings in what is shaping up to be an exciting finish to the season with roughly 20 games left to play.

After both Adin Hill and Logan Thompson went down with injuries a few weeks ago, the Golden Knights decided to shore up their goaltending by acquiring Jonathan Quick, who was surprisingly dealt to Columbus earlier in the week but was not happy with the move.

Quick made his displeasure known and Columbus agreed to deal him once again, this time moving the two-time Stanley Cup winner from the Blue Jackets to the Golden Knights.

Quick mentioned in his pregame media availability Friday that he was so excited about being a Golden Knight that he drove from Los Angeles to Vegas to be the backup against the New Jersey Devils after the trade.

Ivan Barbeshev has quite the pedigree coming from the St. Louis Blues, where he helped them win a Stanley Cup back in 2019 and brings some much-needed offense to the Golden Knights lineup while also carrying some grit with him.

Teddy Blueger, who was acquired from the Pittsburgh Penguins, is someone Vegas targeted for his skill in defensive zone faceoffs and can also give the offense a boost.

The Vegas Golden Knights’ will host the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday afternoon at T-Mobile Arena on the Vegas strip.