The Golden Knights’ summer has settled into the kind of quiet stretch where one move stands out because not much else is happening. This past week brought a retirement for an Original Misfit, a franchise history project wrapping up, and a reminder that Alexander Holtz has a lot to prove before his time in Vegas gets any safer.
Brad Hunt, who was part of the Golden Knights’ inaugural run to the Stanley Cup Final, has called it a career after 10 seasons in the NHL. Hunt spent two years in Vegas and posted five goals and 20 assists, carving out a role as a dependable lower-tier defenseman. For one of the original Misfits, that’s the end of the road.
Elsewhere, the Golden Knights’ all-time debate got some fresh attention as the four-part series on the most important players in franchise history came to a close. The conversation touched on names like William Karlsson and Jack Eichel, along with the goaltenders who have mattered most, sparking the kind of fan arguments that always seem to come with a young team that has already built a deep list of memorable figures in its nine-year start.
The bigger current concern, though, is Holtz. Vegas acquired him from the New Jersey Devils with the expectation that he could build on a 2023-24 season in which he scored 16 goals and added 12 assists.
Instead, he has fallen well short of that production across two seasons with the Golden Knights, totaling just seven goals and 14 assists. He has also spent time with the Henderson Silver Knights.
Now Holtz enters the last year of his current deal, and the pressure is obvious. He will be a restricted free agent after this upcoming season, and he needs a strong year to keep his place in the organization. If he doesn’t deliver, his Vegas stint could be nearing its end.
In Other News...
Golden Knights Keep Earning The Long Term Trust Other Teams Lost
Around the NHL, a wide swath of fans still seems to view the Pacific Division through a skeptical lens, with a recent Athletic survey of about 20,000 respondents putting five division teams near the top of the list of clubs they are least confident will win a Stanley Cup before 2036. The Vancouver Canucks, Edmonton Oilers and Anaheim Ducks were among the teams drawing that distrust, a reminder of how hard it is for a franchise to earn long-term belief in this league.
Vegas has managed to stay on the other side of that equation. The Golden Knights have built sustained competitiveness through a salary-cap strategy that has kept the roster balanced, and their front office continues to be a major reason they are viewed differently from so many of their division rivals. There are legitimate questions about an aging roster, but the organization has earned the benefit of the doubt in a way few teams can claim. [Read more 🡒]
Golden Knights Face A Franchise Question About Elite Goal Scoring
The Golden Knights have built their identity around balance, depth and a scoring load that gets spread across the roster, but the lack of a true 50-goal season still stands out as one of the franchises biggest offensive blanks. Since entering the league in 2017, Vegas has never had a player reach that benchmark, even as the club has consistently fielded teams good enough to stay in the playoff mix and make life difficult for opponents across the Western Conference.
Pavel Dorofeyevs departure to the New York Rangers only sharpens the conversation, since he previously held the teams single-season power play goals record. And with no current Golden Knights player having ever scored 50 in a season before, the question is less about whether Vegas can score than whether its carefully constructed approach will ever produce the kind of elite finisher that changes the shape of a season. [Read more 🡒]