Having watched Tomas Nosek lead the Grand Rapids Griffins in goals and points during last year’s Calder Cup Championship run, I could only smile and wonder what could have been as Nosek scored 2 goals in the Vegas Golden Knights’ 6-4 win over Washington last night.
Nosek was all but guaranteed to be the player plucked off the Wings’ roster during the expansion draft due to his age and contract (in hindsight, Petr Mrazek being exposed meant very little other than a symbolic wake-up call, and Riley Sheahan’s ups and downs were evident).
It was a little disappointing to see the Wings expose Nosek, not because he’s magically going to be a 1st line center at the NHL level, but because he could’ve stabilized the third and fourth lines as a support player who is willing to play a supporting role–and teams need those kinds of players to succeed.
Last year, on June 2, Nosek was playing for the Grand Rapids Griffins and delivered the game-winning goal with 13.9 seconds remaining in the third period of Game 1 of the Calder Cup Championship. The Griffins defeated the Syracuse Crunch 3-2 and went on to win the series in six games.
The 25-year-old Nosek, playing on the fourth line, actually scored two goals for the Knights in third period. His game-winner came at the 9:44 mark off a feed in front from defenseman Shea Theodore. He also landed an empty-netter with three seconds remaining.
“This is another level, so it feels great,” Nosek said via the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “We tried to keep the things simple and go hard to the net. I think that’s what made us good in the third period. We have to keep doing that. Just keep things simple and be hard on the forecheck and create some chaos in there.”
Wallner continues; again, I’m not suggesting that Nosek is a star in the making, but the Golden Knights’ version of a “Grind Line” (with Ryan Reaves of all people and Pierre-Edouard Bellemare) is proving again that a strong checking line is an essential part of a winning machine.
I’m glad that Nosek is succeeding on the 4th line in Vegas, and it was neat to see him score two key goals last night.
Great article George. I agree 100%. I feel like our approach at the expansion draft was flawed. Nosek had more appeal than say Abby, because of his contract, age, etc…He should have been protected and Abby exposed. Vegas would obviously not touch Abby. Yeah, yeah, we didn’t want to embarass a leader like Abby and expose him. Well tough beans. Suck it up. A lot of good soldiers were exposed across the league.
So happy to see Nosek succeed. People say I’m negative but I had been pushing for Nosek to be promoted much sooner than he was. In the summer of 2016 we already had Abby, Sheahan, Helm, Glendening, Miller on the roster…then we odd Ott for some reason. Nosek should have been on that team. Ott was totally unnecessary and Miller was no longer an effective NHL player. Miller for sure needed to be waived to make room for Nosek. Nope. Miller played 55 games, Ott played 42, and Nosek played just 11 times. In those 11 games, Nosek had 19 shots. Almost 2 per game. Miller had 43 shots all year and was a defensive hole. The PK struggled when he was on the ice.
These are the kind of little decisions that have hurt us over the years. We show irrational loyalty to guys like Miller while you have a 23-24 year old Nosek with more size, more speed, more hands, lower cap hit sitting around rotting. No different than how we let Nestrasil walk away and employed bums like Cleary and Miller instead. It’s not about whether Nestrasil or Nosek become superstars. They won’t. But they were better options. Hoping to see Nosek lift the Cup high!
I’m glad KH didn’t have to pony up a first round pick for Nosek and his 7 goals.
Great to see Nosek doing well – happy for him.
Did Tatar play last night, I don’t remember seeing him?
No on Tatar.
Nosek played a well rounded game–12:22/20 shifts, 2 G, 2 blocks, 3 hits, 3 SOG, 0 PIM
Yeah, Im definitely rooting for Nosek to keep playing well too. Interesting to see Tatar scratched and Nosek in the lineup. Obviously they play very different roles but if that happened while they were both wings it would have ignited some good discussion.
Gallant has created very clearly defined roles for his team. It’s not about whether Tatar is better or more skilled than Nosek. Player A and B are competing for one role. Player C and D are competing for another role.
This is a philosophy I have long advocated for. If AA or Frk or Jurco or whoever can’t beat out Abby and Helm as a 2nd or 3rd line winger, then don’t shuffle them down to a miscellaneous 4th line role. That doesn’t help anyone. But that’s what we do. And as a result, perfect 4th line guys like Nestrasil and Nosek get squeezed out. Rather than scratch say, Abby or Nyquist or Tatar if playing poorly, we just shuffle them down the line-up. Because we don’t like to hurt feelings or something.
Remember, the tie goes to the vet… so if helm is demoted due to poor play, he still plays over Nosek. regardless of how flawed that approach is
Great for Nosek! I was bummed when he got picked like you George and many others here, but awesome to see him doing well.
KH picked another good one and let him go all in the name of keeping Abby and Helmer. Perfect.
Don’t forget Miller. That was probably the most comparable role. We want a 4th line winger and PK guy.
In this corner, we have Miller who is smaller, slower, older, more expensive, and has no upside at this stage in his career.
And in this corner we have Nosek who is bigger, faster, younger, cheaper, and lots of room to improve.
We chose Miller. And then signed Ott.
Are u autistic or do you just like seeing yourself repeat the same crap
Hey! Don’t give a guy a reason to make himself into a victim.
Seriously? You think autism is funny? Please stop. State an actual opinion on the article. Try contributing something that doesn’t involve me. And please just stop this juvenile behaviour. Have some respect for George, and all of the other readers who have been impacted by mental health issues, autism, or whatever your insult of the day happens to be.
triggered
Miller was only in Nosek’s way for a mere 28 games in 2015-16. Maybe it really was Jurco in Nosek’s way. Hmmmm…..Jurco or Nosek……hhhhmmmmm?????? Was there really a difference?
I wonder where Nosek will be in two years if the Amazing Nestrasil is playing in the K? Oh, right, when measuring how good a player is don’t take into account what they are doing at the peak of their career.
Nobody said we should have kept Nesty and sign him to a long term contract only to watch him peak out low and regret it. It’s the idea that you have a very serviceable roll player at a low cap with potential to grow and well…you wait and see. We’re not talking superstars here.
Exactly Trant.
Trant/D-dog. This is exactly the point. Nowhere did anyone say that Nestrasil should be signed for 8 years as your permanent 4C. Use him for those 2 years when he was clearly a superior option over the guys we retained. And after those 2 years when Nestrasil’s game begins to slip, well that’s when you promote Nosek, and then in 2 years if you want to move on from Nosek then go right ahead.
But some are finding that hard to follow.
All of the above.