It’s early in the season, but there has already been a wave of panic sweeping over unsuspecting Golden Knights fans. At a shaky 2-4, this has been a tumultuous start to say the least. With that said, here are five reasons you should or shouldn’t panic.



5 Reasons To PANIC!



1: William Karlsson hasn’t scored.

Yep, it’s true — literally everyone’s pick from the mainstream press had Wild Bill pegged as a sure-fire regression, so of course it was going to be true. The Swede was VGK’s leading goal-scorer last year, and continues to Center the team’s #1 scoring line. After six games, the one-year “prove it” contract GM George McPhee managed to negotiate is looking smarter and smarter everyday.

2: The Power Play is at 0% after beginning the year 0-15.

After posting a 21.37% Power Play Efficiency in their inaugural year, the Golden Knights have begun the year tied with Nashville for the worst PP efficiency in the league thus far. In fact, Vegas has been outshot on many of their own power plays.

3: The D looks terrible, and may get even worse There’s no use sugar coating it — the defense has looked flat-out lost at times this season. Missing a notable lockerroom presence and top-pair defensiveman in Nate Schmidt for another 14 games doesn’t help. To make matters worse, veteran leader Deryk Engelland appeared to have been injured in today’s game against Philadelphia, and coach Gerard Gallant was elusive with his answer on Engelland’s condition; choosing to label him day-to-day. If the injury doesn’t heal up by Tuesday, Gallant could be forced to recall someone he recently sent to the AHL in Jake Bischoff, leading to yet another change-up in the defensive pairings. 4: Cross-crease passes & odd-man giveaways continue to crush Vegas In last season’s Stanley Cup Finals,Washington exposed the highly aggressive VGK forecheck, and created multiple odd-man rushes and breakaways for it’s many snipers, practically eating VGK’s chances alive. The Golden Knights looked absolutely lost at times, and that was at full-strength and fully healthy. Unfortunately, it appears that the rest of the league has caught on, as we’ve seen many odd-man opportunities by the opposition, leaving Marc-Andre Fleury out to dry. Could this be a signal that the VGK style is overly aggressive? 5: The Injured/Suspended List The Vegas Golden Knights entered the season with the aforementioned suspension to Nate Schmidt. Unfortunately, it didn’t take long for players in key roles to join Schmidt on the list of players out, as Alex Tuch, Paul Stastny & Cody Eakin have all spent time on the injured list — with Deryk Engelland possibly joining them soon. One more significant injury to a top player could spell another bad stretch of games for the Golden Knights, as it’s already been difficult without those players. Further, the Paul Stastny injury could last a month or more.

5 Reasons NOT to Panic! 1: William Karlsson took a while to heat up last year, too.

In fact, he didn’t score his first goal until the seventh game of the year. Here’s looking at you, Buffalo.

2: The Golden Knights aren’t the only team with a 0% PP at this point in the season.