The prospects of the Golden Knights offseason: Who stays and who goes? – Hockey Writer – Las Vegas Golden Knights

Entering the playoffs, the Vegas Golden Knights’ chin rises high. In the team’s fourth win in the Pacific Division in its eighth season, we can say we are perfect.

There were only a few times along the way, and they crossed the wild wilderness of Minnesota in six games by the Russian phenomenon. The Golden Knights then played first in the second round with the Edmonton Oilers, who saw the success they’ve seen so far.

The Oilers fell into a mistake, and to many people’s surprise, tennis took the upper hand. Stuart Skinner recorded back-to-back closures in Games 4 and 5, sending the Golden Knights home.

Related: Are the Golden Knights behind the best in the league?

Needless to say, no one in Vegas expects this to be an exit interview this early, especially in the regular season show. Now, there are more questions than answers to the 2023 Stanley Cup champion, many of which involve the current squad.

There are a lot of uncertainty in Sin City in the foreseeable future with several core pieces under contract and two back-to-back playoff runs. This offseason will address this uncertainty, and if history tells us anything, General Manager (GM) Kelly McCrimmon does not hesitate to make a bold move to win.

“We all looked at an 82 regular season game, not only our own team, but also teams in the league, and when you get into the playoffs, it’s different,” McLinmon said in the exit interview. “It’s something we need to remember when building a team.”

McCrimmon and Company have made many decisions about entering the offseason, who stays in the offseason, who comes and goes?

More questions than answers to the offseason

In the regular season, the Golden Knights’ depths are shining. Home run 2019 third-round draft pick Pavel Dorofeyev thrives as a sharpshooter, leading the team with 35 shots. Keegan Kolesar’s career year, while playing all 82 games, scored 12 goals and 30 points.

The Golden Knights’ offense ranked fifth in the league with an average of 3.34 goals, but in the playoffs, that depth disappeared. Jack Eichel led 10 points in 11 games, followed by Mark Stone. Naturally, given the most important thing is the lack of crime, there will be mistakes, but not many people think.

“We haven’t scored in the last two games,” McLinmont said. “This is one of the questions you guys are waiting to ask. I don’t see it as failing to generate a scoring opportunity. I think we have some chances in every game. I’m watching Game 1, we’re up 2-0 and there are two great opportunities, we missed us.”

As mentioned, they were turned away in back-to-back games and scored 10 goals against the Oilers’ Pacific Division, all of which appeared in the first three games.

“I think when you build a team, you want to build a team that has a chance to win the Stanley Cup,” McLinmont said. “I think this team did it…so from that perspective, it’s disappointing because we didn’t what we expected.”

Goalkeepers in these playoffs are also an important focus, not the way many think. Adin Hill became one of the 16 best goalkeepers in the playoffs, making it to the playoffs until there wasn’t. He was hit in Games 2 and 3 in Round 1 against Akira Schmid of the Fields.

Hill signed a six-year extension with the Golden Cavs in March and will be a goalkeeper in Las Vegas in the distant future, but you have to wonder what caused the playoff recession. Sometimes he is at the top of the game, but sometimes it is not a beautiful story.

There is no doubt: starting with the lineup, the Golden Knights have some difficulties in the offseason. They face several roster gaps, limited hat flexibility and few solutions in the cabinet.

Read the roster

While the 2025-26 season may be a few months away, it is the right time to take stock of the lineup and determine where the Golden Knights have holes. Most of their free agents are forwards, but here is the complete list of unrestricted free agents (UFAS) and restricted free agents (RFA):

• Riley Smith (UFA)
• Brandon THAAD (UFA)
• Victor Olofson (UFA)
• Tanner Pearson (UFA)
• Ilya Samsonov (UFA)
• Alex Holtz (RFA)
• Cole Schwind (RFA)
• Jonas Røndbjerg (RFA)
• Nicholas The Hague (RFA)

This may not be the nine UFA/RFA offseason compared to the loss of free agents last offseason; the only problem comes down to blocking space. As of the end of the 2024-25 season, they have a cap space of $71,000. Obviously, there is almost no room to work with.

However, according to Puckpedia’s cap space entering free agents, their cap space is expected to be $9.62 million, which is still not much, but gives some room to swing.

The priority should be The Hague, as he ranks in the top six in defense and plays an indispensable role in defense. The Golden Knights do have depth, youngster Kaedan Korczak patiently awaits his full-time role at the NHL club. But The Hague has proven itself since it was drafted by Las Vegas in 2017.

Smith’s original inappropriateness is also a person who expresses his willingness to be in Las Vegas. He has said many times that his family loved the city and brought the best in Las Vegas. It is worth noting that he won the championship goal in the playoffs, with 0.4 seconds left in the second round against Edmonton.

Olofsson and Pearson, the other big names on the list, scored a lot of Golden Knights’ depth scores in the regular season. Oloffson is in and out of the roster, and Pearson is doing well. Saad was picked up in late January after being exempted from St. Louis Blues and then signed with Las Vegas.

For others, Røndbjerg, Schwindt and Holtz don’t offer much service, Holtz is the only game in the regular season.

In the network, their Samsonov was injured and had no backseat available during the playoffs, but was good in the regular season, ending a 16-9-4 record in 29 games with an average savings percentage of .891. Given the depth of the net, Samsonoff is unlikely to return to Las Vegas next season.

With that in mind, this is how the current lineup is shaped, minus the pending free agents.

If they do not intend to re-sign more than one of the listed UFAs, they will need to be filled in a few holes during the offseason. The Hague is the only defender, but all expectations point to his return to Las Vegas next season.

But, for others, this is where things can get tricky. Fan favorite Smith said he would love to come back, but it had to be a contract that would fit the team, which would only say whether this happened.

Free agents start on July 1 as usual, and McLinmont will be very busy. But with limited hat space, his actions may not be as flashy as those we have seen in the past.

Fun offseason is fun for the Golden Knights

The Golden Knight finds himself in an interesting place. The possibility of returning to the playoffs may be very likely, but the depth they can go is the debate. There is little room for a limited hat space for large moves, even if most of the roster is back. McCrimmon has a critical offseason in one way or another, and there are plenty of questions to answer.