The Golden Knights are turning to a familiar NHL name to help shape their new bench.
Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon announced Tuesday that Mark Letestu has been hired as an assistant coach, giving Ryan Craig another voice on a staff that’s already been reshaped after Craig’s promotion from the Henderson Silver Knights.
Letestu arrives in Vegas with recent AHL head-coaching experience. He spent the 2025-26 season leading the Colorado Eagles, the Colorado Avalanche’s primary affiliate, and guided them to a 41-20-11 record. Colorado finished second in the Pacific Division and reached the Western Conference Final before falling to the Chicago Wolves.
Before that, Letestu spent four years as an assistant coach with the Cleveland Monsters, the Columbus Blue Jackets’ top farm team. During that stretch, the Monsters made the Calder Cup Playoffs twice and finished first in the North Division in 2023-24, the same season they advanced to the Eastern Conference Final.
Letestu’s path to coaching came after an 11-year NHL playing career. The Elk Point, Alb. native broke in with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2009-10 season and stayed there for three years before being traded to the Blue Jackets in November 2011. He played three full seasons in Columbus, then signed with the Edmonton Oilers as a free agent in July 2015.
After that, Letestu was sent back to the Blue Jackets in a three-team deal with the Nashville Predators ahead of the 2017-18 trade deadline. His final NHL stop came in 2019-20, when he appeared in seven games for the Winnipeg Jets.
In Other News...
Golden Knights Fans Just Got A Brutal Original Misfits Update
Reilly Smiths second run with the Golden Knights now looks like it will stop at one season, according to Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. After coming back to Vegas in a trade from the New York Rangers and signing a one-year deal for the 2025-26 campaign, Smith was always one of the more familiar faces in the room, part of the original group that helped shape the franchises identity and later one of the steady veterans fans expected to see back in the mix.
Brandon Saad and Ben Hutton are also set to hit the open market, leaving Vegas with a few more decisions to sort through as the roster takes another turn. For a team that has leaned on experience and continuity in its rise, losing a handful of known pieces at once changes the feel around the group, even before the rest of the offseason picture comes into focus. [Read more 🡒]
Golden Knights Just Took Another Big Pietrangelo Step
Alex Pietrangelos name remains part of the Golden Knights books, but the practical reality around the veteran defenseman has not changed. Vegas has placed him on long-term injured reserve for the 2026-27 season, a move that comes after he was briefly back on the active roster list on July 1, and it underscores how far the team has already moved toward life without him. Pietrangelos run in the NHL effectively ended after the 2024-25 season, closing a 17-season career that included two Stanley Cup championships and a long stretch as one of the leagues most reliable blueliners.
For Vegas, the roster note also carries cap implications as the club works through the final year of Pietrangelos seven-year, $61.6 million contract signed in 2020. The LTIR move gives the Golden Knights just under $1 million in cap space, but the bigger significance is the organizational one: one of the defining players from the franchises championship core is now being handled strictly as a non-playing piece, even if he remains around the team in other ways. [Read more 🡒]
Golden Knights Just Took A Firm Stand On Their Biggest Concern
The Golden Knights spent the offseason making a clear change in net by moving Akira Schmid out and narrowing their focus to the tandem they want to ride going forward. General manager Kelly McCrimmon has made it plain the team views Adin Hill and Carter as the backbone of the position, with the organization sticking to its belief that Hill can steady himself after a rough year.
For Vegas, the broader message matters as much as the personnel move. Goaltending has been the obvious area to watch, and McCrimmons stance suggests the club is not looking for another shake-up there anytime soon, even with Hill carrying a no-trade list and a contract that makes any potential maneuver more complicated than most. [Read more 🡒]