Vegas Golden Knights team preview: Mitch Marner adds more star power

This past off-season for the Vegas Golden Knights was defined by a major addition, with top free agent Mitch Marner joining from the Toronto Maple Leafs. However, it was also marked by a significant loss, as Alex Pietrangelo announced a step back from hockey due to ongoing injury concerns.

Regardless of these changes, the Golden Knights are once again expected to contend for the Stanley Cup as they head into the 2025-26 campaign, their ninth in the league. Coming off a first-place finish in the Pacific Division — becoming just the second expansion-era team to win at least four division titles in their first eight seasons — and a second-round playoff exit, Vegas is poised to make another run at the trophy theyâ€ve competed for twice and lifted once.

When their post-season run ended in May against the Edmonton Oilers, Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon reflected on the loss at his year-end media availability, calling it “a missed opportunity because I felt our team was good enough to win.†He added that the group “genuinely believed we had what it takes†and that it was “disappointing because we fell short of what we anticipated we would.â€

Since entering the league in 2017-18, the Golden Knights have carried an expectation to win, which has helped build a strong culture and identity along with consistent, tangible success. As Jack Eichel recently told NHL.com, “Our standard is the Stanley Cup. Expectations are super high. I think thatâ€s a great problem.â€

Apart from the Marner trade, in which Nicolas Roy was sent to Toronto, the other noteworthy moves the Golden Knights†front office made this past summer were re-signing Reilly Smith and Brandon Saad to one-year contracts, locking up Kaeden Korczak on a four-year deal, acquiring Colton Sissons and Jeremy Lauzon from the Nashville Predators in exchange for Nicolas Hague and a 2027 conditional third-round pick and letting unrestricted free agents Tanner Pearson, Victor Olofsson and Ilya Samsonov walk. They also drafted four players in June: Jakob Ihs-Wozniak (55th overall), Mateo Nobert (85th), Alex Weiermair (186th) and Gustav Sjoqvist (187th).

With their season and home opener exactly a week away — Oct. 8 against the Los Angeles Kings — our 32-teams-in-32-days preview series now shifts to the entertainment capital of the world.

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Newcomer to watch: Mitch Marner

Coming from an intense hockey market like Toronto, Marner is used to having lots of eyes on him. After leaving the only NHL organization heâ€s known — where he played his first nine seasons — the star forward is set to remain in the spotlight as he begins a new chapter in Vegas with an eight-year, $96 million contract in hand. Ample curiosity will follow Marner, not just to see how he fares with his new team, but also how the Maple Leafs adjust now that the Core Four has been disbanded.

Marner, 28, recorded a career-high 102 points in 81 games last season, the most on the Maple Leafs and the fifth-highest total in the NHL. His 75 assists were also a career-best, ranking third league-wide. Joining a Golden Knights team that finished fifth in the league in goals per game in 2024-25 (3.34), the three-time all-starâ€s elite offensive touch should help vault their attack to another level. With nine straight playoff appearances in Toronto and 63 points in 70 games during that stretch, heâ€ll also inject more post-season experience into an already seasoned lineup.

Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy has hinted at trying Marner and Eichel together on the top line, though it remains to be seen how well the two stars will mesh. â€œSometimes on paper you look at chemistry and think itâ€s going to work, and it doesnâ€t,†said Cassidy. “And sometimes other lines just come together naturally. So that, to me, is a little bit unpredictable.†He also pointed out that “those guys both like to hang onto the puck.â€

Heading into a contract year, Dorofeyev is positioned for a notable payday if he can match or build on last seasonâ€s production. The 24-year-old Russian is in the second season of a two-year, $3.67 million deal and is set to become a restricted free agent after 2025-26. Heâ€s coming off a breakout campaign in which he set career highs across the board — playing all 82 games and posting 35 goals, 17 assists and 52 points — while recording a 13.8 shooting percentage and averaging 16:32 of ice time. His goal total led all Golden Knights skaters, and his 13 power-play markers were just one shy of the single-season franchise record Tomas Hertl set with 14.

Currently sidelined with a lower-body injury suffered in Vegas†second pre-season game against the Kings, itâ€s unclear if Dorofeyev will be ready for opening night. His name is being floated as a candidate to join Eichel and Marner on the left side, though Ivan Barbashev has been given the first go. Pairing last seasonâ€s team goals leader with two of the leagueâ€s top playmakers seems like a natural fit. Dorofeyev spent most of last year alongside Hertl and Saad and on the top power-play unit, but if he does get time with Eichel and Marner and the additional opportunities that come with that, another breakout season with even bigger numbers is well within reach.

The Golden Knights donâ€t boast the deepest of prospect pools, hardly surprising considering theyâ€ve made only two first-round picks and two second-round picks over the past four drafts, and just four total selections in each of the last three. But currently at the top of their list is forward Trevor Connelly, taken 19th overall in 2024 from the USHLâ€s Tri-City Storm, the organizationâ€s earliest pick since selecting Peyton Krebs 17th overall five years earlier. 

Connelly, 19, spent the 2024-25 season at Providence College, where he posted four goals and nine assists in 23 games as a freshman. Days after his NCAA season ended, Connelly signed a three-year, entry-level contract with Vegas and joined the AHLâ€s Henderson Silver Knights, posting a goal and three assists in six games. He also recorded four points in seven games for the gold medal-winning United States at the most recent World Juniors tournament. As he makes the jump to pro hockey, Connelly is expected to spend the 2025-26 season in Henderson.

1. Will Jack Eichel sign an extension during the season?

Since acquiring Jack Eichel from the Buffalo Sabres in November 2021, the Golden Knights have made him a cornerstone of their roster. Heâ€s coming off a 2024-25 season in which he set career highs in assists (66), points (94), average ice time (20:32), shooting percentage (12.0), power-play points (34), and plus-minus (plus-32) over 77 games. Eligible to sign an extension since July 1, the 28-year-old is entering the final year of his eight-year, $80 million contract.

Eichel has nearly averaged a point per game over his career, with 608 points in 616 contests between Buffalo and Vegas, plus 43 points in 40 playoff appearances. In May, shortly after Vegas was eliminated from the post-season, GM Kelly McCrimmon called re-signing Eichel “an important order of business†and emphasized his value, saying, “Heâ€s one of the top guys in the NHL. Heâ€s got great character and great leadership. You see night in and night out what he does for our team.â€

Following Kirill Kaprizovâ€s record-setting extension with the Minnesota Wild on Tuesday, Sportsnetâ€s Elliotte Friedman suggested the eight-year, $136-million deal could raise Eichelâ€s asking price. “And Iâ€m not sure Vegas is comfortable with that,†said Friedman. “I just donâ€t think the two sides are comfortable where theyâ€re at yet, but what I do think is it gives Eichel and the Golden Knights a better idea of what theyâ€re really dealing with.â€

2. How big a hole does Alex Pietrangeloâ€s absence leave?

In a statement released on June 30, Pietrangelo announced that, after consulting with doctors and his family, it had been decided that he would step away from hockey to allow his body to recover from a hip issue that he had played through for most of last season and into the playoffs. At the time, it sounded as though the defencemanâ€s career might effectively be over. But just a few months later, Pietrangelo walked back some of the implied permanence of his decision, telling reporters, “Nothing is really concrete. Iâ€m just going to continue to take it day by day and go throughout my process and see where it goes.â€

The 35-year-old led the Golden Knights in average ice time (22:24) last season across 71 games, and again in the playoffs (23:03). His 7,823 total regular-season minutes over the past six seasons are over 800 ahead of the next closest Golden Knight, Brayden McNabb. He also led the team in shifts during that span with 8,750. Vegas still has a strong blue line, led now by Shea Theodore and Noah Hanifin, and McCrimmon has identified 24-year-old Kaedan Korczak as a defenceman poised to take on a bigger role. According to McCrimmon, Pietrangelo himself has voiced confidence that Korczak is “ready to be a really good NHL player for a long time.â€

3. Could they land Rasmus Andersson from the Calgary Flames?

And on the note of filling a hole on defence… with Andersson likely to depart the Flames before the March trade deadline, itâ€s not hard to imagine Vegas taking a swing at him, given their history of bold moves. Entering the final season of a six-year deal with a $4.55 million cap hit, the pending free agent is expected to be a hot commodity. Over the summer, rumours circulated that Andersson was only interested in signing with one team — the Golden Knights — though he denied that, saying it “couldnâ€t be further from the truth†and that he “would never handcuff (GM Craig Conroy) and give him one team.â€

Still, Vegas may very well be at the top of his list in terms of a sign-and-trade scenario, as The Athleticâ€s Pierre LeBrun reported at the end of June. However, according to LeBrun, the Flames werenâ€t excited about what the Golden Knights were offering at the time. While Andersson doesnâ€t need to be extended to be moved, and he only has a six-team no-trade list, sending the right-shot somewhere heâ€d be willing to sign long term would likely bring the best return. Although Vegas is currently well over the cap, Pietrangeloâ€s move to LTIR starts to open the door, and the team has shown it can make the necessary maneuvers and adjustments in these scenarios. Andersson would be a suitable replacement and could slot in next to his former teammate Hanifin.

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