Pete DeBoer calls proposed Knights division ‘group of death’

Coach Pete DeBoer dipped into his soccer vocabulary to describe the Golden Knights’ potentially realigned Pacific Division for the 2020-21 season.

“Group of death it sounds like,” he quipped.

While DeBoer might get an argument from folks back east about whose proposed division is tougher, the Knights face a daunting prospect with the expected addition of three teams from the Central Division.

Commissioner Gary Bettman acknowledged Wednesday at the World Hockey Forum in Moscow the NHL’s need to temporarily realign its four divisions while the border between the U.S. and Canada remains closed to nonessential travel because of the coronavirus pandemic.

That means Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver departing for an all-Canadian division, with the likes of Colorado, Dallas and Minnesota, or maybe St. Louis, replacing them.

Bettman added that the league is planning for teams to play games only within their division, making the possible change that much more difficult for the Knights.

“For me, there’s benefits to being in a really tough division,” DeBoer said. “You’re playing really tough opponents and you’re going to have to play really good hockey right from the start through the season. Hopefully that toughens your skin, so to speak, for the playoffs.”

Should Colorado, Dallas and St. Louis join the Knights, it would place the top four finishers in the Western Conference standings from last season in the same division. Meanwhile, Minnesota is 6-1-1 all time against the Knights.

Anaheim, Arizona, Los Angeles and San Jose, which all finished in the bottom 10 of the league standings in 2019-20, would round out the division.

The Knights went 15-6-2 against the Pacific last season en route to their second division title and are 53-20-8 all time since entering the league in 2017-18.

“It will be interesting because it just seems like St. Louis, Colorado and Dallas, it’s not set in stone, but they’re three very good teams,” goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury said. “It’s going to make our division hard to battle.”

Wait and ‘C’

After the Knights were eliminated from the playoffs in September, DeBoer said the organization would name its first captain starting this season.

That could happen once training camp begins, but DeBoer made it clear he doesn’t have a timetable for doing so. Right wing Mark Stone appears to check all the boxes to wear the coveted letter on his jacket. Newly signed defenseman Alex Pietrangelo was the captain in St. Louis.

“I’m going to talk to (president of hockey operations) George (McPhee) and (general manager) Kelly (McCrimmon), and we’ll get more detail on that as we get to camp,” DeBoer said.

Krebs on cusp

Forward Peyton Krebs got a taste of life in the NHL during the postseason, and DeBoer believes the 2019 first-round pick can challenge for a job out of training camp.

“We don’t look at birth certificates when we’re building a team,” DeBoer said. “I think he’s going to push people hard to be in that mix.”

Krebs is one of three Knights prospects who will participate in the World Junior Championship starting Dec. 25. He is joined on Team Canada by defenseman Kaedan Korczak, and 2020 first-round pick Brendan Brisson is a forward for Team USA.

NHL Network will broadcast every game of the tournament from Edmonton, Alberta.

“I think it’s a great experience for our young players,” DeBoer said. “For us, you know you’re getting a better player at the end of those tournaments.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.