The Golden Knights have the Pacific Division in their grip right now, but the teams trying to pry it loose are getting younger, faster and a lot more dangerous.
Vegas still sits as the standard in the division, and plenty of clubs already look out of the race. The Vancouver Canucks, Calgary Flames and Seattle Kraken are grouped firmly in that category, while the Los Angeles Kings are described here as basically just being there, even after adding Artemi Panarin and a bunch of old guys.
That leaves three teams with a real claim to the conversation: the Edmonton Oilers, the San Jose Sharks and the Anaheim Ducks. But the story here isn’t really about the oldest team in that mix. It’s about the two younger ones, the clubs that could make life annoying for Vegas this season and for years after.
San Jose is the one to circle first. Macklin Celebrini is the face of it all, and the obvious plan for opponents is to try to take him out of the equation whenever the Golden Knights see him.
But the Sharks’ push isn’t built on one player alone. Will Smith is expected to take another step in 2026-27, and San Jose also brought in Jacob Trouba and Darnell Nurse to give Celebrini puck-moving defensemen with a shot-blocking edge.
There’s real belief building around the Baby Sharks. The regular-season record may still tilt heavily toward Vegas, but general manager Mike Grier is signaling that the Sharks’ Stanley Cup window is opening.
Anaheim is just as hard to ignore. The Ducks swept the regular-season series from Vegas last season, and they did it with the kind of dynamic offense Leo Carlsson and Cutter Gauthier can spark.
The playoffs, though, told a different story. The Golden Knights leaned on their experience, wore Anaheim down and won the Second Round in six games.
Mitch Marner was huge in that series, finishing with five goals and six assists. Vegas rode that run all the way to its third Stanley Cup Final appearance after sweeping the Colorado Avalanche, while the Ducks were left learning how to handle the postseason grind.
Even so, Anaheim isn’t going away. Pat Verbeek is still working through contract negotiations with his restricted free agents, but Lukas Dostal is expected to improve and there are still plenty of scoring options in the Orange County hockey world.
In Other News...
Golden Knights Face A Familiar Prospect Question Entering Year 10
As the Golden Knights head toward their 10th season, the organization is once again using September to take stock of its younger players, with Rookie Camp and the Rookie Faceoff tournament on the calendar. It is the same annual checkpoint that gives Vegas a look at the next wave, but it also reinforces how much attention the club still draws whenever the conversation turns to development and the pipeline behind the NHL roster.
Brendan Brisson is part of that broader picture, too, even if his path has moved well beyond the Golden Knights after being traded to the Rangers and later landing a one-year deal with the Maple Leafs. Against that backdrop, The Athletics recent criticism of Vegas prospect system has only sharpened the focus on the farm depth question, and it is the kind of issue that lingers around a contender built more on present-tense success than on a long list of blue-chip prospects. [Read more 🡒]
Jack Eichel Faces A Huge Scoring Question For Vegas
Jack Eichel still drove a lot of what Vegas wanted last season, but the numbers also hinted at a player who was just a step off his sharpest scoring pace. His goals, assists, high-danger expected goals and shooting percentage all dipped a bit, and the power play did not give him the kind of finishing boost the Golden Knights were hoping for as they tried to push deeper into the spring.
For a team that has leaned on Eichel as its offensive centerpiece, the bigger question is whether that scoring ceiling can climb back to where it needs to be. One projection has him reaching 33 goals and 70 assists in the 2026-27 season, which would put him in position to become the first 100-point player in franchise history, but the path to that kind of breakout starts with how Vegas gets more out of him in the moments that matter most. [Read more 🡒]