The Golden Knights’ prospect cupboard is getting thin, and the latest look at the NHL’s best young talent only underscored it.
On September 3, Scott Wheeler released his Top 145 NHL Prospects for The Athletic, and Trevor Connelly was the lone Vegas player to make the cut. Just a few months ago, Pavel Dorofeyev was viewed as the future in town. After his trade to the New York Rangers in June, Connelly now sits at the top of the organization’s prospect list.
Wheeler placed Connelly in his Support tier, one of five buckets he used to sort the list: MVP, Franchise, All-Star, Star and Support. Connelly, taken 19th overall in 2023, is one of only four first-round picks Vegas has made this decade. The others are Juho Piiparinen, David Edstrom, Zach Dean and Brendan Brisson, with Brisson the only one to have appeared in an NHL game.
Piiparinen, the club’s 2026 first-round pick, will spend another season developing with Tappara in Finland after signing his entry-level contract. The rest of Vegas’ recent first-rounders have already been moved out in trades that helped keep the team stocked for another run.
Edstrom went to the San Jose Sharks in the Tomas Hertl deal. Dean was sent to the St.
Louis Blues for Ivan Barbashev. Brisson later landed with the New York Rangers in the trade that brought Riley Smith back to Vegas.
Those moves have paid off in the standings, but they’ve also left Connelly as the franchise’s top prospect by default. After solid seasons in the USHL with the Tri-City Storm, he spent one year at Providence College and saw his scoring dip as a freshman. A brief season there still opened the door to his debut with the Henderson Silver Knights, and over the last two seasons he has put up 15 goals and 53 points in 52 games.
Connelly has also checked the medal box at the international level, helping win Bronze at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, Silver at the U18 WJC and Gold at the U20 WJC. The common thread, though, was his role: he contributed on teams built to win, but in secondary spots.
That is where the bigger question around Vegas comes in. The Golden Knights are built to win now, and they came within two victories of a second Stanley Cup title in four seasons. Like other contenders such as the Florida Panthers and Colorado Avalanche, who had no prospects in Wheeler’s Top 145, they’ve pushed chips toward the present and accepted the cost to the future.
The risk is obvious. When a core ages out - and in Vegas’ case that includes Mitch Marner, Jack Eichel and even Mark Stone - the next wave has to be ready.
If injuries hit the stars, the depth behind them becomes everything. The Panthers learned that last year, when injuries helped send them from back-to-back Stanley Cup champions to the bottom of the Atlantic Division and nobody could step in to cover the holes.
Vegas is betting on a different outcome, and Kelly McCrimmon has clearly chosen that path. It can produce real success. It can also leave a team staring at an empty pipeline when the window starts to close.
In Other News...
Golden Knights Fans Have An Easy New Way To Chase Free Tickets
The Las Vegas-Clark County Library District has found a clever way to turn Library Card Sign-Up Month into a little extra buzz for local sports fans. New and existing cardholders can enter a giveaway for a shot at tickets to Golden Knights home games or Raiders home games, with other prizes also in the mix. The promotion runs through Sept. 30, giving anyone who already has a card, or is thinking about getting one, a straightforward reason to check in at the library.
Winners will be chosen randomly in October, which leaves the waiting as much a part of the deal as the entry itself. For Golden Knights fans, it is a timely bit of community outreach tied to the teams broader calendar, especially with the 2026-27 preseason schedule also in the spotlight, and it offers a reminder that in Las Vegas, even a library card can become a path to an arena seat. [Read more 🡒]
Braeden Bowman May Be Walking Into The Perfect Next Step
Braeden Bowmans first pro season already gave the Golden Knights reason to keep an eye on him, and the next step may line up even better. The undrafted forward handled himself well with the Henderson Silver Knights, and now he could be entering a setup that feels tailor-made for a young player trying to build on a strong opening year.
Ryan Craig, who coached Bowman in Henderson, is expected to take over behind the bench in Vegas, a change that could make the transition smoother for a player still finding his footing. Bowman may also get the chance to spend time with proven centers such as William Karlsson or Tomas Hertl, and for a developing forward, that kind of support can make a real difference in how quickly the game slows down. [Read more 🡒]
Golden Knights Prospects Just Got An Early Chance To Change Things
The Golden Knights are giving their next wave of players an early look at what comes next, with general manager Kelly McCrimmon releasing a 23-player roster for the 2026 Rookie Camp. The group is heavy on forwards, with 13 listed, along with seven defensemen and three goaltenders, and it will open with a practice Sept. 11 at City National Arena in Las Vegas.
From there, the prospects head to San Jose for the Rookie Faceoff tournament, set for Sept. 12 through 15, where Vegas will go against other Western Conference teams. For a camp built around first impressions, this is the kind of setting where young players can start separating themselves before the full season picture even comes into focus. [Read more 🡒]