Golden Knights roster review: Alec Martinez

The Review-Journal presents its “Roster Review” series, which will examine each Golden Knights player’s current production and future outlook in alphabetical order. Tuesday: Defenseman Alec Martinez.

Background

Golden Knights coach Pete DeBoer offered an insightful comment before a Monday matinee in January.

“There’s a list of guys every year who are stuck in depth roles and need a fresh start, or a clean slate somewhere else,” DeBoer said. “Other than the elite players, at the NHL level, the difference in players from a skill point of view is really minimal. Sometimes it’s opportunity, sometimes it’s confidence, sometimes it’s a fit.”

He was talking about Chandler Stephenson. Little did he know he also was talking about a future defenseman on the team.

Alec Martinez began this season as a good player stuck on a bad Los Angeles Kings team. The Knights, like in so many of their best moves in their first three seasons, looked beyond his current situation, saw a talented player and found a great piece to round out their blue line.

Performance

Martinez arrived in Las Vegas like the perfect crossword puzzle hint. Once he popped up, everything seemed to fall into place.

It seemed unlikely when he was traded Feb. 19 that would be the case. He was 32, had one goal in his past 58 games and seemed past his glory years as a two-time Stanley Cup champion with the Kings.

But he quickly showed otherwise.

Martinez scored in his debut and showed he still had enough left offensively to be a power-play weapon on the second unit. His skating and puck-moving skills also were better than advertised.

He scored eight points in his first 10 games after posting the same total in 41 games with the Kings.

More important, since that torrid offensive pace was pretty much unsustainable for him, he formed quick chemistry with defenseman Shea Theodore. Martinez became a great complement for the emerging star and gave the Knights a second pair arguably as good as their first.

That also allowed veteran Nick Holden to shift to the third pair with rookie Zach Whitecloud. The Knights’ defensive corps — a season-long question mark — suddenly looked well rounded and deep.

The team improved its scoring-chance percentage and high-danger chance percentage with Martinez.

“He’s going to make us better,” DeBoer said prophetically when Martinez arrived for the cost of two second-round picks. “(I’m) excited to have another veteran presence back there.”

Future

Martinez still has another season left on his contract, so he could potentially contribute to two playoff chases.

The Knights are counting on his experience and history of clutch scoring — he had perhaps the two most important goals of the Kings’ 2014 Cup run — to help get them back in the Stanley Cup Final.

He’s fully on board with that plan. He arrived eager to get back in the postseason after two painful losing seasons with the Kings.

“That (was) my one goal when I (came) to Vegas: I want to win games,” Martinez said after his first skate with the Knights. “I want to win a Stanley Cup, so it’s as simple as that.”

Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.