from Ron Kantowski of the Las Vegas Review-Journal,

Defenseman Deryk Engelland seems to have assumed a role as the team’s moral compass, mostly because at 35 and with 469 NHL games under his belt, he is qualified for it. There’s also this: After serving an apprenticeship with the ECHL’s Wranglers in 2004-05, Engelland never left Las Vegas. He makes his off-season home here.

“We want to do whatever we can as professional athletes, and with this being home now, we want to get out there and help everyone we can, whether it’s victims or first responders or the (other) people who helped out,” the bearded veteran said in a somber voice after the Golden Knights’ skate at City National Arena.

Engelland said he has been a Las Vegan long enough to feel a kinship with the city, and an essence one doesn’t get from spending a weekend here throwing dice and going to after-dinner shows.

“You’re obviously gonna see it this next little while with what’s happened,” he said. “It’s a big city but with a small community feeling. I think the city will grow together after this … and just get stronger.”

Before Engelland spoke from the heart and said all the right things, the Knights had skated as they normally might on a Tuesday following an off day. But the dressing room was devoid of the high jinks and frivolity one might normally associate with a young expansion team preparing to make its baptism.

There was a heaviness in the air, and the guys who were trying to survive the last cuts weren’t the only ones feeling it. The grinders on the checking line still were seeking a permanent place to call home. But after what happened Sunday night, they already seemed like one of us.

more