The Vegas Golden Knights are heading into 2026-27 with a different cast, and the changes aren’t small. Pavel Dorofeyev, Kaedan Korczak and Keegan Kolesar are all gone after being traded as part of a move to avoid future salary overloads, and the roster now has holes where a hard hitter, a goal scorer and a defense-first piece used to be. In their place, Vegas brings in Parker Wotherspoon on a deal worth $500,000 for one season.
Even with those departures, the Golden Knights are still positioned to make noise in a Pacific Division that was the worst regular-season division in the NHL last year. Vegas finished with fewer wins than losses for the first time in franchise history and still reached the Stanley Cup Final, which says plenty about how much room there is for the team to maneuver during the regular season.
With that in mind, a few names are sitting in the background and could end up turning plenty of heads once 2026-27 begins.
Brett Howden is the first one to watch. Last postseason, he led the NHL with 14 goals and came through in some of the biggest moments of the run to the Final.
He scored twice in Game 2 of the Final and also buried the game-winning short-handed goal in Game 5 against the Utah Mammoth. The former first-round pick has already shown he can be a dependable scorer, and with Dorofeyev out of the picture and Mitch Marner projected to start on his line, the setup is there for even more production.
Victor Olofsson is another player who could make a bigger impact than people expect. The last time he suited up for Vegas, he posted 15 goals and 14 assists, with six of those goals coming on the power play.
That made him a key piece of the man advantage, and the profile hasn’t changed much: he’s a sharp shooter who works the corners well. On a one-year deal that comes in at roughly $1.64 million, he’s a low-cost bet to deliver again in his second stint with the Golden Knights.
Then there’s Carter Hart, a name that could matter a lot if the pieces around him hold up. Vegas had some dead weight on the blue line, including Kaedan Korczak, and some players weren’t at 100% during the Stanley Cup Final run.
Even so, Hart managed to steal the Western Conference Final. The Stanley Cup Final was a tougher story, with defensive-zone turnovers and sloppy play leaving him exposed, and the numbers show he allowed four goals in most games.
Still, with Parker Wotherspoon arriving to help replace Korczak, Hart should have a healthier defensive group in front of him, and that could change everything.
In Other News...
Which Pacific Rival Could Give The Golden Knights The Most Trouble
The Pacific Division has a habit of looking different by spring, but for the Golden Knights, the bigger question is which rival is most likely to close the gap before long. A fresh look around the division lands on the usual mix of familiar names and unfinished projects, with Vancouver, Seattle, Calgary, Los Angeles, Edmonton, Anaheim and San Jose all carrying their own reasons for optimism, frustration or both. For Vegas, it is less about who has been best lately and more about who is building something that could become a real problem down the line.
The Kings still feel like the cleanest long-term nuisance, given how often they have hovered near contention and how little room there is for error in a division this crowded. Edmonton always looms because of its top-end talent, while the younger clubs are trying to turn promise into something more dependable, even if their paths remain uneven. Anaheim and San Jose are still in the earlier stages of that climb, but if there is one truth in the Pacific, it is that no team stays frozen in place for long, which is exactly why Vegas has to keep watching the neighborhood so closely. [Read more 🡒]
Jeremy Lauzon Has Golden Knights Near A Franchise Mark Fans Wont Love
Jeremy Lauzons first season with the Golden Knights left him all over the stat sheet, just not in the way most players hope to be remembered. The defenseman set a new franchise benchmark for penalty minutes in 2025-26, a mark that pushed past the old standard held by Ryan Reaves and put Lauzon in a very specific place in team history.
Much of that total came from a style that fits the hard-nosed edge he brought to Vegas, including seven fights over the course of the season. For a club that has usually wanted its physical play to stay controlled, it is the kind of record no one in the organization is eager to celebrate, especially with the possibility that the number could climb again if that approach continues. [Read more 🡒]