Golden Knights Revamp Needed, Only Eichel is Untouchable

For the Vegas Golden Knights offense, this postseason was one to forget. The final two games of their second-round series against the Edmonton Oilers accentuated the point, but even dating back to the first round against the Minnesota Wild, the Golden Knights struggled to score.

If you watched the Golden Knights’ second-round series and thought that, for the most part, Jack Eichel was the only player creating chances, for the most part, you’d be correct. And somehow, the analytics are worse than the eye test.

Just look at these 5v5 Scoring Chance Contributions, presented by JFreshHockey.

If you’re wondering what those numbers mean, let’s put it this way: Tomáš Hertl created his fair share of scoring chances, but had no goals to show for his efforts. Jack Eichel created assist chances at will, but no one on the team could finish. 

No one else on the team could do much of anything, actually. Against the Oilers, the Golden Knights scored -2.64 goals above expected. The team scored just 10 goals over five games; all of them came in the first three.

Some of the individual performances were particularly alarming. Per MoneyPuck, Ivan Barbashev scored -1.24 above expected; Tomáš Hertl scored -1.86 above expected. Pavel Dorofeyev played just three games and scored -1.18 above expected. 

Barbashev, Hertl, and Dorofeyev combined for a grand total of zero goals against the Oilers. During the regular season, they combined to score 90– 33% of the Golden Knights’ total 274 goals.

So, where do the Golden Knights go from here? Do they chalk this series up as a fluke and pray scoring regresses to the mean?

Yeah, that’s not really how this organization operates. The Golden Knights have been all-in ever since their inaugural season. When there’s a problem, they fix it. Judging from Kelly McCrimmon’s comments during his year-end media availability, that isn’t changing anytime soon.

Here’s the problem: five of the nine forwards signed through next season have some form of trade protection. Three of the five defensemen signed have No Trade Clauses, and Alex Pietrangelo has a full No Movement Clause. Thus, making any major roster changes will be difficult.

But at the end of the day, in this league, complacency is the enemy of success. The Golden Knights aren’t content to make the playoffs; no, what they care about is winning another Stanley Cup. Division titles are nice, but that’s not the banner the Golden Knights want to hang.

And so, changes must come for the team that wasn’t good enough to achieve the ultimate goal.

Here’s how I see it: Jack Eichel is untouchable. So, too, is Shea Theodore. Everyone else– and I do mean everyone– can be had for the right price. 

Now, for some of those players– namely, William Karlsson, Tomáš Hertl, Noah Hanifin, and Pavel Dorofeyev– the price should be high. Mark Stone has a Full No Movement Clause; even if he didn’t, he, too, would fall into that category.

The Golden Knights shouldn’t trade any of them for the purpose of making a trade. With regard to skill players, a lateral movement is often a lost trade. If they are to be moved, which would be difficult, as all but Dorofeyev have some form of trade protection, it should only be for a haul.

Everyone else? After a postseason where depth scoring became their weakness, the Golden Knights shouldn’t be married to keeping just anyone.

Ivan Barbashev, for example, is signed for three more years at $5 million. He has an 8 Team No Trade List; after the 2025-26 season, that shifts to a 5 Team No Trade List. He’s had his success in the past, but after the postseason Barbashev had, I wouldn’t be surprised if McCrimmon tried to move him.

The Golden Knights have excellent center depth and could dangle a player like Nic Roy as trade bait in hopes of securing a scoring winger. Roy is just 28 and signed for two more seasons at $3 million. Any team lacking depth down the middle would salivate at the player and attached contract.

The Golden Knights won’t be the same team next season. They have six players on expiring contracts– only two of whom they should keep. They’ve got salary cap space, and there are some intriguing players set to hit Free Agency.

Moves are coming. But only time will tell if those moves will return the Stanley Cup to Vegas.

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