The Golden Knights may be the reigning Pacific Division and Western Conference champs, but the team that keeps looming largest in their division picture is still Edmonton.
Vegas enters 2026-27 with plenty to prove after the doubts that surfaced in the ’26 Final, and while the roster hasn’t been blown up, the rest of the league has been busy making noise. The Golden Knights mostly stood pat, made a handful of tweaks, and kept their core intact. That’s not the kind of offseason that screams reinvention - but it is the kind of move that says Vegas still believes it has a Cup-caliber group.
That also means the target stays glued to their back. It comes with the territory for a franchise heading into its 10th season, one that has already reached the Stanley Cup Final three times. And in the Pacific, everybody is trying to close the gap.
There are other clubs with a case. Anaheim is on the rise and already saw Vegas in the second round of last year’s playoffs.
Los Angeles has a new coach and plenty of believers who think the Kings can finally figure out a way past the Knights. But the team that still looks most capable of pushing Vegas for the division crown is Edmonton.
The Oilers are in the same pressure cooker as the Golden Knights: win now, or risk watching Connor McDavid slip deeper into the kind of contract conversation that never quite goes away. In Edmonton, the expectation is that he’ll stay and keep taking hometown discounts the way Sidney Crosby has.
That belief may be strong, but the urgency is stronger. McDavid is already paired with Leon Draisaitl, and that duo gives the Oilers the kind of firepower that can tilt any race.
The problem has never been the top end. It’s everything underneath it.
Edmonton still needs elite defense and reliable goaltending, the ingredients that keep opponents from forcing McDavid and Draisaitl to do everything themselves. After dealing away Stuart Skinner, the goalie who helped get them to back-to-back Stanley Cup Final appearances, the Oilers went with Calvin Pickard and Tristan Jarry last season. They came close to winning the Pacific before Vegas shut the door in the final stretch.
Then came another reset. Pickard, who had been their best goalie, was allowed to leave in the offseason. Devon Levi and recent Stanley Cup champion Frederik Andersen were brought in to form a new trio, with Edmonton hoping that combination can help deliver the franchise its first Stanley Cup since 1990.
There were other changes too, including the trade of Darnell Nurse, but the bigger issue remains the same: outside of McDavid and Draisaitl, the forward group looks thin. Those two are still the engine, and they’ll once again be expected to pile up more than 200 points together. For Edmonton, that’s the story every night - and usually the difference between winning and losing.
The numbers back up how tight this rivalry has been. In 30 meetings, Vegas holds a 12-14-4 record against Edmonton, and the teams have split their two playoff matchups.
The Golden Knights edged the Oilers by two points for the division title last season and finished nine points ahead of them in 2024-25. The closest the race has been came in 2022-23, when Vegas won the Pacific by two points.
In 2019-20, before the realigned COVID season, the Knights also beat Edmonton by three points for the division. Since entering the league in 2017-18, the Oilers have finished ahead of Vegas only twice, in 2021-22 and 2023-24.
That’s why the matchups always carry extra weight. Fans circle them for the McDavid showdowns with Jack Eichel or Mitch Marner, but the appeal goes beyond star power.
These are two of the league’s best teams, and the games usually feel like a preview of the Western Conference picture. Along with the Colorado Avalanche and Dallas Stars, Vegas and Edmonton sit in the top tier out West - and in the Pacific, the Oilers remain the clearest threat to the Golden Knights’ crown.
In Other News...
Golden Knights Just Made A Summer Move Fans Need To Watch
The Golden Knights opened their summer with a roster move that may not grab headlines outside the market, but it matters to how the rest of the offseason takes shape. Moving on from Keegan Kolesar, a familiar depth piece who had been part of Vegas forward mix, gives the club more flexibility as it keeps sorting out the cap picture and the pieces it wants to carry into next season.
There is also a much different kind of watch item on the horizon for fans who like the teams look as much as its lineup. The NHL announced its Hometown Remix program, set for the 2026-27 season, with all 32 teams getting special jersey designs tied to their citys culture and history. For a franchise that has built a strong identity in a short time, it adds another layer to how the Knights will present themselves, and it comes with the usual reminder that those sweaters are worth taking care of if fans want them to last. [Read more 🡒]
Golden Knights Are Leaving Behind A Look Fans Know Well
The Golden Knights are about to make a subtle but notable change to their wardrobe, shelving the gray jerseys that have been part of their regular-season look and making room for a new alternate sweater. The team will keep its metallic gold home jersey and white road jersey intact, so the move is less about reinventing the brand than reshaping the third option fans have come to recognize over the years.
The change comes through the NHLs Hometown Remix initiative, a leaguewide collaboration with Fanatics, which became the NHLs official uniform outfitter in 2024. Details on the new alternate uniform are still to come in the next few months, leaving Vegas with one familiar element to hold onto and one unanswered question that should draw plenty of interest once the reveal arrives. [Read more 🡒]
Golden Knights May Have Seized Back Control Of The Kings Rivalry
The Golden Knights and Kings have spent enough recent nights trading blows to make this one of the NHLs more interesting Western matchups, and the balance has shifted again. Los Angeles had Vegas in a clear groove for a while, rattling off four straight wins from October 2024 into January 2026, but the Knights have since answered with three consecutive victories of their own, beating the Kings 13-7 in that stretch.
What makes the rivalry feel especially unstable now is how much of it could swing again when the 2026-27 season arrives. Both clubs are being viewed through the lens of age, roster additions and the way they choose to play against each other, which means the current edge may not say much about what comes next. For Vegas, the more immediate question is whether this brief run has genuinely changed the tone, or if the Kings are still one adjustment away from taking control back. [Read more 🡒]