Every Friday this season, theScore's NHL editors are debating a hot-button issue in On The Fly, our roundtable series. This week, we discuss what we're excited for, and concerned about with hockey heading to Vegas.

Blank slate

Wilkins: General manager George McPhee has a unique opportunity with the Vegas Golden Knights.

Typically, when a GM takes over, he's inheriting a roster he hopes to build into a winner. But it often comes with its less desirable parts - it's not uncommon to see a GM saddled with scouts he didn't hire, a coach he didn't pick, and a handful of ugly contracts he's not too fond of.

That's not the case in Vegas, where McPhee, the former general manager in Washington, will start with a clean slate in his attempt to bring Lord Stanley to the Strip.

McPhee gets to lay the first brick with the Golden Knights, choosing everything from the team's initial roster and its staff. He even had input on the team's official name. Not a bad gig.

Is there anybody out there?

Gold-Smith: Golden Knights fans hit their season-ticket deposit cap long before the team had a name or a logo, but it's the years after their inaugural campaign that owner Bill Foley should be concerned about.

There will be at least 16,000 seats accounted for in 2017-18 thanks to the early season-ticket drive, but whether they're consistently filled in a city with an unrivaled number of evening entertainment options remains to be seen.

The onus will be on the club's management - led by McPhee and whoever he tabs as head coach - to build a competitive team that holds interest long enough to establish a loyal fan base in a town with myriad distractions.

How the Golden Knights do at the gate will be one of the most intriguing storylines of their maiden voyage in the NHL.

The on-ice product

Cuthbert: When a bullish Foley triumphantly vowed that the executive team he chose would craft a championship roster within six seasons, it was clear that he hadn’t been sitting in on the mock drafts.

Without question, Las Vegas has assembled an impressive collection of hockey minds and strategists more than capable of building a successful franchise from the ground up. But because the expansion mandate has proven to accommodate the NHL’s 30 active teams, it would be naive to expect even the most fervent talent evaluators to piece together more than a glorified American Hockey League team with its selections.

Mock drafts from pundits and fans shared and discussed online are alarming, and these rosters have been assembled even before the NHL’s active franchises board up their rosters with the deadline still months away.

McPhee’s team is going to unearth talent. But with the way the NHL has protected its other teams, you have to be concerned about the product the Knights will bring to opening night.

Looking the part

McLaren: For as poorly as the unveiling went for the team we now know as the Vegas Golden Knights, the logo, at the very least, was well worth the wait.

The first thing about the logo that stands out is the V built into the Knight's helmet, which was a stroke of design genius. It works especially well after it was announced the team would be go by Vegas and not Las Vegas, a nod to the locals on the part of owner Bill Foley.

The gold is said to represent the fact Nevada is the largest producer of gold in the United States, while the grey represents strength and durability, and the black represents power and intensity.

Put it all together, and the hockey world has a slick new logo that fans from all over the world can proudly don - even if the the team is an absolute embarrassment on the ice to begin with.

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In hockey circles, American Thanksgiving is the initial checkpoint on the path to the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Over the past decade, 76 percent of teams seeded in postseason standing in time for the mid-week holiday binge successfully qualify for the tournament. So as we stand now six weeks into the season, we can gauge who will be gearing up for a postseason run, and who should be devising a plan to make this losing season a productive one.

Except while the percentage of teams that consolidate their current advantage likely won't deviate from the prevailing standard, it doesn't seem as simple identifying the divide.

The East

The Rangers, Penguins, Capitals, Canadiens, and Lightning are the five teams that have created separation in the Metropolitan and Atlantic Divisions, and should be penciled into the bracket.

Then it's the Senators, Blue Jackets, and Devils - three teams that didn't qualify last season - holding down the remaining postseason spots. If we go by the percentages, that means we should expect at least one of those teams to keep it. However, of the eight remaining outsiders, seven (including three teams that made the postseason last year) are within four points of unseating one of the three teams with insubstantial advantages at Thanksgiving.

Only the last-place Islanders - another playoff team from a season ago - would remain outside the bracket in the event that they string a few wins together. But even then, the Islanders aren't a candidate to disband, meaning the entire 16-team conference could continuing chasing those eight playoff spots.

Out West

At the six-week mark, the Pacific Division-leading Oilers are the only change in the Western Conference playoff picture, having taken the place of last season's No. 1 seeded Stars.

Lack of turnover in the overall standings is likely a stronger predictive measure than the percentage of teams that typically maintain their postseason positions. And yet, five of the six teams outside the West standing are within three points from crashing in. Only the Coyotes seem to have opened an overwhelming deficit, having took a league-low 14 points from 18 games.

But what's a strong indicator that current structure could be flimsy is that the conference's strongest goal differentials belong to Edmonton and Minnesota - the two teams most would peg as likeliest to fall out. The Blackhawks, Sharks, Kings, Ducks, and Predators are just barely outscoring the competition at the quarter portion of the season, while the Blues own a negative differential at Thanksgiving.

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Hockey players are something else.

Case in point: Ottawa Senators forward Ryan Dzingel took an Erik Karlsson slap shot to the head during Thursday's win over the Boston Bruins, and was able to resume playing after getting stitched up - to put it mildly.

Related: Senators' Dzingel takes Karlsson slap shot to head

Head coach Guy Boucher went into further detail:

On top of that, Dzingel went through the NHL's concussion protocol, which he obviously passed.

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Now that's teamwork.

After a turnover caused by an ill-advised pass by David Krejci, Ottawa Senators forwards Kyle Turris and Bobby Ryan teamed up to tally a much-needed insurance marker against the Boston Bruins.

Turris led the rush up the ice, dropped the puck back to Ryan with a between-the-legs pass, and made a beeline to the front of the net where the winger found him with another picture perfect pass.

The play was finished off by a Turris snipe for his ninth goal of the season.

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The Boston Bruins are getting all they could have hoped for out of the 25th overall pick at the 2014 NHL Draft.

On that day, the Bruins selected Czech winger David Pastrnak, and, looking back, it's all too fitting that it was team president Cam Neely who called his name.

Early promise

Pastrnak debuted with the Bruins in late November of 2014, and scored 10 goals in 46 games during his rookie season.

He was limited to 51 games in his second season as a result of a cracked foot suffered early on and a World Junior Championship conditioning stint, but still managed 15 goals.

The 25 goals in 97 total appearances worked out to be an average of 0.257 per game, putting him on pace for 21 through an 82-game regular season.

Decent production for a player drafted at Pastrnak's spot, to be sure.

The breakout

Early on this season, he has taken his game to a whole new level. In fact, only Sidney Crosby has scored with more regularity than Pastrnak this season.

The two players sit well atop the goals-per-game leaderboard, with only eight others averaging 0.5 or more, according to Sporting Charts.

Pastrnak's latest came Thursday against the Ottawa Senators on a nifty spinning backhand.

Will it last?

Pastrnak's shooting percentage sits at 22.4, well above his career average of 14.1. Logic would dictate he won't keep up this pace over the course of the season, but he does have something working in his favor: the quality of his linemates.

The trio of Pastrnak, Patrice Bergeron, and Brad Marchand is quite simply the most effective of any line around the league in terms of puck possession.

In five-on-five play, they're the only three regular forwards in the NHL to record a Corsi For percentage above 60, meaning they're on the ice for way more shot attempts for than against. So while Pastrnak's success rate may regress, it won't be due to a lack of opportunities, especially since he's firing more actual shots on goal than ever before in his career, with a per-game average of more than three.

He's on pace for 56 goals, and if he reaches 50, he'll be the first Bruins player to do so since 1990-91. The last Boston player to score 50? Cam Neely, of course.

There's still a lot of hockey to be played, and Pastrnak has already missed time due to injury and suspension. Early on in his career, however, it certainly appears he's got the black-and-gold touch unseen in 25 years.

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Ryan Dzingel was the victim of friendly fire Thursday night.

The Ottawa Senators forward left Thursday's game against the Boston Bruins after taking an Erik Karlsson slap shot to the side of the head.

Dzingel was seen holding his left ear as he made his way to the locker room, and didn't return for the start of the second period.

His night, however, didn't end.

The 24-year-old has been a revelation of sorts for the Senators this season, recording five goals and five assists in 19 games prior to this one.

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Perfection, it seems, is the way to beat Carey Price.

With room to skate onto the puck in the offensive zone, Elias Lindholm whipped an absolutely flawless knuckling wrist shot at the precise location where the crossbar and post intersect, beating Price and giving Carolina an early lead over Montreal on Thursday night.

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If it's broken, fix it.

That's what Tampa Bay Lightning forward J.T. Brown is doing after smashing the phone of a Nashville Predators fan who was recording his exit from a game on Nov. 21.

"Just a heat-of-the-moment situation," Brown told Roger Mooney of the Tampa Bay Times. "We've reached out to the guy, and we're working on getting him a new phone as well. That's all there really is to say."

Brown had been ejected from the game following an incident with Ryan Ellis, and knocked the phone out of the fan's hand, cracking the screen.

The fan decided not to press charges, but requested a replacement phone. He'll also receive an autographed Brown jersey.

"At the end of the day, we made it right," Brown said.

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