August is winding down, college football is back, and the hockey calendar is starting to come back into focus. For the Vegas Golden Knights, that means the familiar buildup to another season at T-Mobile Arena, with fans getting ready to pack The Fortress again and chase another run at the Stanley Cup.
There was plenty to sort through around the NHL this week, and one of the biggest storylines involved a star who suddenly wants a change of scenery. Connor Hellebuyck, the Hart Memorial Trophy winner, publicly said he wants to be traded after months of private conversations with the Winnipeg Jets. That immediately put his name in the orbit of the Golden Knights, who have already shown they can make a major goalie move work when they brought in the player who gave the team its only Vezina Trophy winner.
Vegas also got a sizable spotlight from the league’s broadcast plans. The NHL handed the Golden Knights 15 nationally televised games for the 2026-27 season, a sign of how much of a draw the team has become. Among those games are a December 16 matinee against the San Jose Sharks and the Stadium Series matchup against the Dallas Stars at AT&T Stadium.
Not everyone sees smooth sailing ahead for Vegas, though. Daily Faceoff listed the Golden Knights among the teams expected to regress in 2026-27.
The reasoning was simple enough: it’s not easy to bounce back after coming so close the season before, especially with a new coach and the loss of a top goal-scorer. Still, as the source of this week’s chatter made clear, stranger things have happened.
In Other News...
Golden Knights Schedule Includes TV Changes Fans Will Want To See
The Golden Knights are set to be a prominent part of the NHLs 2026-27 national TV slate, with 15 games lined up on ESPN and Turner Sports and the rest of their schedule spread across Scripps Sports and KnightTime+. For fans planning ahead, the season opens Sept. 29, 2026, against the Chicago Blackhawks on ESPN, giving Vegas an early spotlight as the league rolls out its latest broadcast calendar.
There is also some practical news for followers trying to map out the season in advance: the NHL adjusted start times for six Golden Knights games. Those changes are the kind of small scheduling tweaks that can matter plenty to viewers, especially for a team with a growing national profile and a fan base that tends to track every date on the calendar. [Read more 🡒]
Golden Knights Face One Big Question After Key Offseason Changes
The Golden Knights spent the 2026 offseason reshaping a roster that had already gone deep into the playoffs, and the changes were broad enough to give training camp a different feel right away. Vegas added defensemen Parker Wotherspoon, Ville Heinola and Adam Ginning, along with forwards Victor Olofsson and Marc Gatcomb, while also parting with Pavel Dorofeyev and other players in moves that altered the mix up and down the lineup.
For a team that has built its identity on staying competitive while constantly adjusting the edges of the roster, the bigger issue now is how all of those new pieces fit together once camp opens. The Golden Knights are not starting from scratch, but they are clearly going to look different, and the early weeks of the season should reveal how quickly the newcomers can settle into roles that matter for another long playoff push. [Read more 🡒]
Golden Knights Rivalry Game Could Suddenly Mean A Lot More
The NHLs newly announced national TV slate put a familiar Pacific Division date in the spotlight, with the Golden Knights and Sharks set for a Dec. 16 matchup on TNT. On paper, its the kind of rivalry game Vegas has usually handled with little trouble, but the leagues decision to showcase it suggests the intrigue could be a little higher this time around.
San Jose has tried to close the gap with additions such as Jacob Trouba and Darnell Nurse, giving this meeting more substance than the usual standings-chaser. If both clubs are sitting near the top of the Pacific by mid-December, the game could carry far more weight than a routine division test, with more than bragging rights hanging over a matchup that has long tilted one way. [Read more 🡒]