Daily Nuggets: Golden Knights, Dobson Trade Rumors; New CBA

Good morning, folks. With the NHL Entry Draft just hours away, there’s sure to be a flurry of action around the league. And according to several NHL insiders, the Vegas Golden Knights are now the center of the hockey universe. To that, I say: aren’t they always?

Elsewhere in the Daily Nuggets, Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving officially announced Mitch Marner will hit Free Agency. However, he almost certainly won’t sign on July 1st. Changes are coming to the NHL per the new CBA. The New York Islanders are shopping Noah Dobson, and the Montreal Canadiens are interested. 

Between the actual Draft, the trades, and the perpetual rumor mill, today is going to be a roller coaster. Enjoy it, my friends. Draft Day comes but once a year!

Golden Knights News

Ah, now, that’s more like it. For weeks, the Golden Knights were quiet– too quiet. The dam broke on Thursday as Elliotte Friedman and Darren Dreger dropped report after report. Here’s the latest on William Karlsson and Tomáš Hertl, as well as Bowen Byram, Rasmus Andersson, and… Erik Karlsson?

Just because the Golden Knights reportedly signed Reilly Smith and Brandon Saad doesn’t mean that they’re out on Mitch Marner. C’mon, guys, you should know better by now. If the Golden Knights want someone, they’re going to get him. And there are three players who are far more likely to be traded than William Karlsson and Tomáš Hertl.

NHL News, Rumors, & National Hockey Now

The Athletic ($): If the Golden Knights want Mitch Marner, they need to be prepared to wait– he probably won’t be a July 1st signing.

Sportsnet: Slow down, folks; the Golden Knights can’t scoop up every big name. Sonny Sachdeva lists six potential landing spots for Brad Marchand, including, you guessed it, Vegas.

New York Islanders Hockey Now: Russ Macias said it best: “The Islanders have the first overall pick in Friday’s NHL Entry Draft, and absolutely nobody is talking about it.” Instead, everyone’s talking about Noah Dobson– are the Isles really looking to trade him? Where could he go?

Montreal Hockey Now: If the Islanders part ways with Dobson, it’ll only be for a haul, but that doesn’t stop the rumor mill from turning. Marco D’Amico linked the Canadiens to both Dobson and St. Louis Blues star Jordan Kyrou.

Florida Hockey Now: Per the new CBA, changes are coming to the NHL. In the 2026-27 campaign, we’ll see an 84-game regular season, a shortening of max contract lengths, and the league cracking down on the playoff LTIR loophole.

San Jose Hockey Now: It’s the end of an era in San Jose– the Sharks are buying out Marc-Édouard Vlasic. Now, Barclay Goodrow is the last man standing from that 2016 Stanley Cup Finals team. 

Pittsburgh Hockey Now: The city of Pittsburgh will submit a letter of interest to the NHL regarding its bid to host the 2028 World Cup of Hockey.

As someone who lived in Pittsburgh for a year, I think this is a fabulous idea. I’m imagining the entire hockey world sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic around the Squirrel Hill Tunnel. Or, even better– trying to figure out how to merge onto the Fort Pitt Bridge. That would be a nightmare… but I digress.

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