The Vegas Golden Knights still haven’t formally rolled out their opening night roster, but the latest wave of moves has made the picture pretty clear.
With preseason wrapping up and cap-compliant rosters due Monday, teams across the league are scrambling through final waiver decisions. For Vegas, that has meant sending several familiar names onto waivers for the purpose of AHL reassignment, including forwards Alexander Holtz, Tanner Laczynski, and Jonas Røndbjerg, along with defensemen Ville Heinola and Antti Tuomisto.
That churn points to one big takeaway: rookie winger Trevor Connelly appears headed for an NHL debut.
Connelly is not waiver-exempt, so the Golden Knights can move him to AHL Henderson without exposing him to the wire. Instead, they’ve kept him in the mix while putting other players at risk, which strongly suggests he’s in line to stay on the opening night roster.
The first-round pick from the 2024 NHL Entry Draft finally reached training camp this year after a run of injuries kept him out the previous season. That delay made this camp his first real chance to show what he can do in front of the Golden Knights’ staff.
At the start of camp, general manager Kelly McCrimmon made clear the organization was watching Connelly’s progression closely. “It’s going to be a matter of what the timing is.
Does he kick the door down immediately, or does it take a little more time? Those are the things that we’ll watch play out,” said Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon at the start of training camp.
“I think he’s going to be an exceptionally good player. It’s just a matter of what the timeline looks like between now and then.”
Vegas is off Sunday and will announce its roster Monday at 2 p.m. PST.
Craig also had praise for Connelly after the preseason finale. “He’s had a very good camp,” Craig said of Connelly following the preseason finale. “When we talk about Trevor, he’s checking boxes for the first time, and I think that’s where this day off probably comes at a good time for him.”
In Other News...
Trevor Connelly Is Giving Vegas Fans Rare Reason To Believe
Trevor Connelly has given Golden Knights fans something they have not always had with recent first-round picks: a preseason showing that looks calm, skilled and fully his own. The young winger has played with the kind of confidence that stands out in camp, bringing a more assertive style than the organization has seen from some of its other top prospects, and that has made him an easy player to watch as Vegas sizes up its future.
For a franchise that has not always gotten the expected return from its early draft investments, Connellys start carries a different kind of weight. Brendan Brisson is the obvious recent comparison, a first-rounder whose path never quite matched the hope around him, but Connelly has so far looked like a player with a clearer sense of what he is at this level. The preseason does not settle anything, of course, but it has been enough to make the possibility of a better long-term outcome feel more real than it has in a while. [Read more 🡒]