Golden Knights Used Icings To Their Advantage In 24-25

One of the hallmarks of a Bruce Cassidy team is the fundamentals with which they play. His teams are always defensively sound, rarely give up odd-man rushes, and offer a consistent forecheck.

There may be no better stat that indicates this than icings. When a team is consistently under immense pressure, they ice the puck a lot. On the flip side, when they are all over the opposition in the offensive zone, they see a lot of icings against them.

Last season, the Golden Knights finished the year in 4th place in both fewest icings committed and most icings against. The only other team to finish in the Top 5 in both categories was the back-to-back Stanley Cup champion, Florida Panthers.

VGK iced the puck 315 times in 82 regular season games in 24-25. That’s a little less than four times per game, the league average was 4.5. They went on to “clear the icing” (not give up a goal, penalty, or another icing) in 242 of the 315, or 76.8%, also Top 5 in the league. It’s the best percentage Vegas has posted since 2017-18 when they finished 2nd in the NHL at 78.9%.

An interesting aspect of the Golden Knights’ success in erasing their icings is the faceoff that follows. When a team ices the puck, in addition to not being able to change, the opposing team also gets to choose which circle the faceoff is taken. Vegas finished with a faceoff percentage of just 43% following an icing, well into the bottom half of the league, yet it did not impact their ability to clear them. On the opposite side, when a team iced the puck against the Golden Knights, Vegas’ centers went on to win 58%.

In attack, last year’s Golden Knights were also extremely strong at forcing their opponents to ice the puck. Vegas forced 428 icings against, the 4th most in the NHL. Their +113 ratio of icings to icings taken trailed only Florida and Utah. VGK scored 20 goals and drew 14 penalties in the 30 seconds following an icing.

They often go overlooked, especially when nothing comes of them, but icings add up on teams both offensively and defensively. They mess with substitution patterns, force poor matchups, and cause fatigue.

Last year’s Golden Knights used them to their favor in a big way, and it helped them to a season of Top 5 scoring and defending and a Pacific Division championship.