2025-26 Golden Knights: The Good, The Bad, & The Unpredictable

Last season, the Vegas Golden Knights were an offensive juggernaut. They had seven players who scored at a 20+ goal pace. Because of that, they did something they haven’t done in a full 82-game season since 2017-18: they finished top-five in scoring. 

Once again, the fate of their upcoming season rests almost entirely in the hands of their middle-six forwards.

Okay, that was a tad dramatic. But it’s also probably not far from the truth. 

Of the aforementioned players who scored at a 20+ goal pace last season, two were the usual suspects in Jack Eichel and Mark Stone. Eichel led the way, scoring 28 goals and finishing the season with 94 points. And Stone was once again the pinnacle of consistency, scoring 19 goals and 67 points in 66 games.

But let’s go a little deeper. 

Young Pavel Dorofeyev led the team with 35 goals. For the first time in his career, Brett Howden broke double-digits and finished the season with 23 goals. Tomáš Hertl scored 32 goals in 73 games and set a franchise record with 14 power play goals. Ivan Barbashev broke 20 goals for just the second time in his career. And Victor Olofsson, who only drew into 56 games, scored 15 goals and recorded 29 points.

Only time will tell if last season’s offensive emergence was a sign of great things to come or simply a pleasant outlier.

Let’s discuss the good, the bad, and the unpredictable.

First, the good: after adding Mitch Marner, the Golden Knights will probably have one of the best top lines in the league.

The Golden Knights have never had a player truly capable of keeping up with Jack Eichel. I don’t say this to discredit Ivan Barbashev or Mark Stone– they’re both proven top-six scorers. And with 15 goals and 29 points in 56 games, Victor Olofsson was quite the bargain deal last season. But Mitch Marner deserves his own tier.

Marner regularly scores at a 30+ goal pace. After hovering around a 100-point pace since 2018-19, he finally cracked it, hitting 102 points last season. Offensively, he’s a huge upgrade. And I’ll take it one step further. Marner, combined with Jack Eichel, could very well push Ivan Barbashev to flirt with 30 goals.

Now, for the bad: don’t expect Brett Howden or Keegan Kolesar to reach the offensive highs they hit last year. 

After swapping Nic Roy for Colton Sissons, the fourth line won’t score like they did last season. They’ll certainly still be effective defensively, but the Golden Knights lost a 15-goal, 31-point player in Roy.

For Marner, the price was well worth it. But that’s still a significant loss.

Finally, let’s discuss the unpredictable: the middle-six. Yet again, those six forwards will dictate just how far this Golden Knights team can go.

Despite injury misfortune, Mark Stone, who figures to cede his spot on the top line to Mitch Marner, hasn’t dropped below the 20+ goal pace since 2013-14. Even if Pavel Dorofeyev suffers a sophomore slump in his second full season, it’s hard to fathom a 15-goal dropoff. And it’s been eight seasons since Tomáš Hertl scored below a 20+ goal pace.

Then there’s William Karlsson, who’s due for a bounce-back year, and he’s been reunited with Reilly Smith. And Brandon Saad, who figures to line up next to Tomáš Hertl and Pavel Dorofeyev once again, is just one year removed from a 26-goal season.

Every single one of the Golden Knights’ middle-six forwards is capable of scoring 20+ goals. But will they? It’s hard enough to predict how the middle-six will line up; it’s even harder to guess how they’ll perform. But they’ll be the deciding factor. 

At the end of the day, the middle-six will determine whether the 2025-26 Golden Knights can contend for a Stanley Cup or not.

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