Bleacher Report spent a few days painting two very different pictures of the Vegas Golden Knights, and both took the same team seriously.
On July 6, the outlet updated its NHL Power Rankings and slotted Vegas fourth, behind the Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche and Montreal Canadiens. Three days later, another Bleacher Report piece put the Golden Knights among four teams worth watching as possible underachievers in 2026-27.
Same offseason. Same franchise.
Very different read on what comes next.
That split is a little surprising given what Vegas just did. The Golden Knights won the Pacific Division in 2025-26, swept the Presidents’ Trophy winners in the Western Conference Final and then fell to the Carolina Hurricanes in the Stanley Cup Final. They also had a relatively quiet free agency, re-signing a handful of key players to keep the core intact.
Joe Yerdon’s ranking piece focused on the small changes around the roster, including the loss of Pavel Dorofeyev and the addition of Victor Olofsson to help replace the 37 goals Dorofeyev scored last season. Yerdon also made the point that Vegas is never really done shopping. In his view, the Golden Knights are always a team to watch for a move, whether that comes now or later in the season, especially with talent still available on the free-agent market.
Adam Gretz took a different angle in his July 9 piece. He listed Vegas as one of the teams that could disappoint again, noting that last season the club made the playoffs with 95 points - a total that would not have been enough in the Eastern Conference, but still ranked fourth in the West. He also pointed to the coaching change, with the Golden Knights moving from Bruce Cassidy and John Tortorella to Ryan Clark, who is getting his first NHL head coaching job.
Goaltending is another area Gretz flagged. The question, as he framed it, is whether Carter Hart can handle full-time duties or whether Adin Hill can stay the same netminder who won the Stanley Cup only a few seasons ago.
And then there’s the possibility that Vegas isn’t done making noise. Gretz echoed the idea that the front office could still have something big in mind, even floating names like Connor Hellebuyck or Dylan Larkin.
The concern driving his regression argument is age. According to Elite Prospects, the Golden Knights are the third-oldest team in the NHL at 30.05, behind only the Florida Panthers at 30.33 and the Los Angeles Kings at 30.67.
Still, writing Vegas off has never been a smart habit. The Golden Knights have missed the Stanley Cup playoffs only once in their existence, and they’ve handled coaching changes well every time. With the bar in Nevada set at “Stanley Cup or bust,” and a veteran group trying to bounce back from a Finals loss, the team has enough proven talent to make both Bleacher Report takes feel believable.
For now, though, the bigger point is simple: Vegas is still one of the league’s most difficult teams to forecast. The roster has questions, but it also has enough firepower and front-office aggression to keep everyone guessing.
In Other News...
Jack Eichel Changed More About Vegas Than Fans Realized
Jack Eichel has become so embedded in the Golden Knights identity that it is easy to forget how much of the franchises recent rise runs through him. The 2023 Stanley Cup team, the roster around it and even the way certain players were used all look different in a version of events where Eichel never arrives in Vegas. His presence helped shape the line combinations and the kind of top-end talent the organization could realistically chase.
Jonathan Marchessaults breakout stretch and playoff run are part of that ripple effect, and so are the broader roster decisions that came before and after. Without Eichel, Vegas might have looked more like a team still trying to solve its center problem, with fewer paths to the kind of star power that can change a summer, a trade market or the long-term direction of a contender. [Read more 🡒]
Golden Knights Fans Will Argue These 4 Franchise Changing Moves
The Golden Knights have never been shy about making a splash, and the franchises rise has been built on a few moves that changed the shape of the roster almost overnight. From the expansion draft that gave Vegas its first true face in net to the high-end additions that followed, the organization has repeatedly bet on bold swings, and more often than not, those bets have pushed the team from intriguing newcomer to perennial contender.
That is why the debate around the most franchise-altering move still has plenty of life in it. Some fans will point to the stability and leadership that came with Alex Pietrangelo, others to the star power of Marc-Andre Fleury or the impact of the Jack Eichel trade, while the newest wave of discussion centers on Mitch Marner and what his arrival could mean for the next chapter. In a market that has come to expect big moves, the real argument is not whether Vegas has changed itself, but which decision mattered most in turning the Golden Knights into what they are now. [Read more 🡒]