Head coach Gerard Gallant, and forwards Jonathan Marchessault and Reilly Smith have all been key ingredients to the Golden Knights' historic 7-1-0 start, but they wouldn't have any of these three important figures if it weren't for some horrible mismanagement from the Florida Panthers organization.

Let's backtrack to 2014-15. The Panthers were coming off a disastrous 29-win season. The franchise had only made the playoffs four times in their 20-year history. In stepped Gallant, the newly-minted head coach. He led the team to a 91-point season - a 25-point increase from the season prior - and the fifth-most in franchise history at the time.

Gallant followed up this promising campaign with a club record 103 points, and was named a finalist for the Jack Adams Award as the league's top coach. Finally, the Panthers seemed to have some stability behind the bench after being a recycling bin for coaches in their existence. However, Gallant was relieved of his coaching duties after the Panthers got off to an 11-9-1 start the following season.

In April of 2017, Gallant was hired as the head coach of the expansion Vegas Golden Knights. He has taken a team largely made up of misfits, and has led them to a terrific start, as they currently rank second in the Western Conference with 14 points. He has done so through adversity too, having to deal with injuries to both his starting and backup goalie.

While Gallant certainly deserves plenty of credit for Vegas' success, in the end, it's the players who play the game. Two of their most important players - Marchessault and Smith - are also products of poor decisions made by the Panthers.

One of the biggest stories of the expansion draft was the fact that the Panthers left Marchessault exposed. The 26-year-old was coming off a breakout 30-goal season, and was only scheduled to make $750,000 for the upcoming season.

Marchessault was left exposed because the Panthers were determined to get Smith's contract off their hands. Although he's owed $25 million over the next five years, the winger is just 26 years old and already has two 50-point seasons under his belt.

Essentially, Florida just gave Marchessault to Vegas so the Golden Knights would take on Smith's contract.

Instead of keeping both Smith and Marchessault, Florida preferred to have a fourth-round pick from Vegas, and protect the likes of Mark Pysyk, Alex Petrovic, and Nick Bjugstad from being taken in the expansion draft.

The Panthers used part of the $5 million from Smith's absence to sign Radim Vrbata (one-year, $2.5 million), Evgeny Dadonov (three years, $12 million), and extend Mike Matheson (eight years, $39 million).

Marchessault has missed three games due to injury this season, but still has a respectable two goals in five games. Smith on the other hand, sits second on the team with seven points in eight games. Both players would undoubtedly provide a boost to Florida's middle-of-the-pack offense.

While it's certainly too early to evaluate Bob Boughner eight games into his NHL head coaching career, with a record of 3-5-0, it must be awfully tough for Panthers management to look at the NHL standings and see the Golden Knights near the top, led by three contributors whom the organization essentially gift-wrapped for Vegas.

If Vegas' miraculous run continues and it actually ends up making the playoffs, it can give a big thank you to the Panthers' brass.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)

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A Bill Barilko hockey card signed by the late Gord Downie and his Tragically Hip bandmates is being auctioned off on eBay to raise money for charity.

The card belongs to Stratford, Ontario, native Blair Babcock, whose father died in 2007 following a battle with glioblastoma - the same form of brain cancer that Downie succumbed to last week at the age of 53. Proceeds from the auction, which ends Thursday, will be split between three different charities, including the Gord Downie Fund at the Sunnybrook Foundation.

Related: Hockey world remembers Gord Downie

As of Wednesday afternoon, the top bid was $3,050.

The Tragically Hip pay tribute to Barilko in their hit song "Fifty Mission Cap," which tells the story of his mysterious disappearance after scoring the Stanley Cup-winning goal for the Toronto Maple Leafs in 1951.

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Ryan Hartman's stickwork is going to cost him.

The Chicago Blackhawks forward was fined $2,320.79 for his slash on Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Brayden McNabb in Tuesday night's game.

Hartman was given a minor penalty for the incident, which took place in the second period of the Blackhawks' 4-2 loss.

The fine is the maximum allowable amount under the NHL's CBA.

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Copyright © 2017 Score Media Ventures Inc. All rights reserved. Certain content reproduced under license.

This is only the beginning.

Tuesday's dynamic performances from Arizona Coyotes forward Clayton Keller and Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Mikhail Sergachev, already off to stellar starts, make the two freshmen look like the early favorites for the Calder Trophy.

Keller, 19, pocketed two assists against the New York Islanders to bring his season total to 10 points, tops among NHL rookies. It also extended his point streak to three games, over which the Missouri native has notched three goals and three assists.

"If you have not had a chance to watch Keller, you are missing one of the game's brightest young stars," said NHL Network analyst Brian Lawton. "Dynamic every shift."

If Keller can keep it up, he could become the first Coyote to take home rookie of the year honors.

Sergachev delivered a similar performance Tuesday against the Carolina Hurricanes. The Russian blue-liner added another assist to bring his season total to nine points, one behind Keller for the league lead. And no Lightning player has ever won the Calder either.

After a slow start to the season in which he posted two points in six games, Sergachev's experienced a reversal of fortunes in his past four contests with three goals and three assists.

Most impressively, the quality of his play has been a bit unexpected - at least so early. The budding defenseman wasn't a lock to fill a roster spot for the Lightning when the team entered training camp, but the 19-year-old's recent play should negate any talk about developing his game in the minors.

"You're looking for 'Has there been improvement? Is he adapting to the game, the speed of the game, the physicality?' He's done all that," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said prior to Tuesday's game, according to Greg Auman of the Tampa Bay Times.

The Lightning paid a steep price to bring in Sergachev, sending forward and former third overall pick Jonathan Drouin to the Montreal Canadiens. But the deal is quickly providing value.

"When you watch a player like that continue to improve, especially at a young age, looking at the ceiling he has, which is really high right now, it's pretty hard to make a change," Cooper added. "He's had a positive impact on our team. He's a part of a team, and that's how it's going to be moving forward."

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The Philadelphia Flyers lost Nolan Patrick to injury during the second period of Tuesday's game against the Anaheim Ducks after the 2017 No. 2 pick was hit into the boards by Chris Wagner.

There's cause for concern as Patrick's head clearly bumped the glass with force as a result of the shoulder-to-shoulder check.

The 19-year-old center remained down for several moments before being helped off the ice.

The Flyers announced midgame that Patrick would not be returning. Later, general manager Ron Hextall said the team would know more about Patrick's status Wednesday, according to Adam Kimelman of NHL.com.

The view from the press box was not promising:

Patrick recorded one goal and two assists in nine games prior to the injury.

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NEW YORK (AP) John Tavares completed his hat trick with a tiebreaking goal in the third period, lifting the New York Islanders over the winless Arizona Coyotes 5-3 on Tuesday night.

The Islanders won their third straight and improved to 5-3-1. Jaroslav Halak made 32 saves for New York.

Adam Pelech had three assists for the Islanders, and fellow defenseman Scott Mayfield cemented the win with his first goal of the season at 17:03.

The Coyotes - starting a five-game road trip - fell to 0-8-1 under new coach Rick Tocchet.

Tavares' seventh career three-goal game came on a night when he also moved past Islanders forward Bob Bourne into seventh place on the career franchise goals list. The 27-year-old Tavares has six goals this season and 241 career tallies. Bourne had 238 goals with the Islanders from 1974-86.

Brock Nelson put the Islanders ahead 3-2 early in the third on the power play, but Arizona's Nick Cousins tied it at 8:57 with a long-range shot that eluded Halak.

Nelson's fifth goal of the season on a snapshot from the right circle beat goalie Louis Domingue at 4:32 of the third, three minutes after Arizona's Mario Kempe tied it at 2.

Tavares scored his fourth and fifth goals of the season in the second after Arizona's Anthony Duclair scored early in the first.

Duclair opened the scoring with a power-play goal at 4:47 of the first. Duclair finished off a passing play started by former Ranger Derek Stepan and rookie Clayton Keller.

The goal was Duclair's second of the season and came with Anders Lee of the Islanders in the penalty box for tripping.

It was the seventh time in nine games the Coyotes scored a first- period goal.

Starting an eight-day road trip, the Coyotes had the better of play in the first, outshooting the Islanders 14-6 before a sparse crowd at Barclays Center.

Stepan, traded to Arizona by the Rangers after last season, has two goals and five assists in his last seven games for the low-scoring Coyotes, who have 21 goals in nine games. Six of those goals are from the 19-year-old Keller, who had two assists against the Islanders.

Tavares tied it at 3:41 of the second when he tipped in a pass from Jordan Eberle after linemate Anders Lee stripped the puck from Coyotes defenseman Jason Demers to the right of Domingue, who is 0-5 so far after being pressed into a leading role with starter Antti Raanta out with a lower-body injury for the past two weeks.

Tavares put the Islanders ahead when a pass from Pelech towards Tavares in the slot, banked in off Tavares' skate at 14:25 of the second.

Eberle, who assisted on Tavares' first two goals and has six assists on the campaign, has yet to score through nine games in his first season with the Islanders.

NOTES: The Coyotes will host the Islanders on Jan. 22. ... The Islanders scratched forward Josh Ho-Sang and defensemen Ryan Pulock and Dennis Seidenberg while the Coyotes scratched defenseman Kevin Connauton, forward Lawson Crouse and goaltender Antti Raanta.

UP NEXT

Coyotes: At New York Rangers on Thursday night.

Islanders: At Minnesota on Thursday night.

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