The Vegas Golden Knights had little room to be active at the trade deadline. Shea Theodore suffered an injury at the 4 Nations Face-Off but returned to practice recently and won’t be out of the lineup until the postseason. Theodore’s injury didn’t allow Vegas to use the cap circumvention route to open up cap space, which led to just one move. The move went well with Golden Knights fans, as they reunited with Reilly Smith in a trade from the New York Rangers.
The Golden Knights’ season has been up and down, but the rest of the Pacific Division has been in the same boat. This has led to Vegas’s first-place seeding, two points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers with a game in hand. The Golden Knights feel they are in a good spot this season, and the Pacific Division is the perfect place to be. The Oilers have many questions, and the Los Angeles Kings will likely suffer another first-round exit.
The Winnipeg Jets will receive the first seed in the Western Conference, so they will face the team that ends up in the last wild card spot. That likely leaves the first-place team in the Pacific Division with the Minnesota Wild. The Wild started the season hot but have completely fallen off over the past few months.
The Golden Knights have a path of the Wild, Oilers/Kings, and whichever team emerges from the Central Division. The Central will be a gauntlet, and the team that advances to the Western Conference Final might not have much left for Vegas.
Golden Knights “Misfits” are back together again
The Golden Knights were an immediate success when they entered the NHL as an expansion team. Vegas, coined as the original “misfits,” made it to the Stanley Cup Finals in their first season but lost to the Washington Capitals. The Golden Knights’ original core remained successful until the 2023 playoffs when they finally defeated the Florida Panthers for the Stanley Cup. Remaining successful came at a cost, as the salary cap made it impossible to keep all of the original players. The issue led to them losing Reilly Smith.
Smith was a Vegas mainstay and an essential part of their locker room. The team finished fourth in the Pacific Division and eighth in the Western Conference, which led to a matchup with the first-seed Dallas Stars. The Golden Knights won the series’ first two games but lost four of the last five to exit the playoffs in the first round.
Injuries to Jach Eichel and Mark Stone didn’t help, as William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault could not shoulder the offensive load. The roster upheaval continued in the offseason as Marchessault left to join the Nashville Predators.
It wasn’t a good 2024-25 season for Karlsson, his first without Reilly Smith and Marchessault. The longtime linemates had chemistry since the team’s inaugural season, and Karlsson couldn’t find the right fit. His lingering injury didn’t help, and after recording one point in his last ten games, the team shut him down with a hamstring injury.
Karlsson’s return to play with his old linemate, Smith, should help rejuvenate his play. The Golden Knights have won just two of their first six games since Smith’s return, but the organization is hopeful the familiarity will help them by the playoffs.
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