Golden Knights 2026 Free Agents, Draft Targets, Offseason Guide After NHL Final Loss
The Vegas Golden Knights came two wins shy of winning the team's second Stanley Cup championship in four years.
The Carolina Hurricanes secured the 2026 Stanley Cup with a 3-0 Game 6 win over the Golden Knights.
As the Hurricanes' celebrations begin, the Golden Knights will begin looking at how much of the Cup Final roster will remain together next season.
With players including Rasmus Andersson and Pavel Dorofeyev potentially hitting free agency, general manager Kelly McCrimmon will be tasked with making some tough decisions in order to help his team make it back to the Cup Final in 2027.
Here's a look at some of the decisions McCrimmon and the Golden Knights will be making this offseason.
Free Agents
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Contract information from PuckPedia.
Pending UFAs: Reilly Smith, Brandon Saad, Colton Sissons, Ben Hutton, Jeremy Lauzon, Rasmus Andersson, Dylan Coghlan
Pending RFAs: Pavel Dorofeyev, Akira Schmid
The Vegas Golden Knights have a long list of expiring contracts to consider renewing this offseason.
The first name the Golden Knights will need to consider on this list is Rasmus Andersson, whom the team acquired from the Calgary Flames this January in exchange for a package including a conditional 2027 first-rounder.
Since joining the Golden Knights in January until the end of the season, Andersson led his new team's defenders with 17 points (seven goals, 10 assists) in 33 games.
Should Vegas let him walk in free agency, the Knights would need to find a new right-side defenseman to skate alongside Noah Hanifin on the second pairing.
Another key free agency decision will involve restricted free agent Pavel Dorofeyev, one of the Knights' two traditional draft picks on the postseason roster. The 25-year-old recorded a career-high 37 goals last season on his way to a promotion to play alongside Jack Eichel on the top line.
Other players hitting unrestricted free agency are bottom-six forwards Colton Sissons and Cole Smith, as well as bottom-pairing defenseman Jeremy Lauzon and Dylan Coghlan.
Reilly Smith, Brandon Saad and Ben Hutton could be moving on after becoming regular healthy scratches this season.
Third-string goaltender Akira Schmid is a pending RFA, so the Knights will need to decide if he should be re-signed to continue providing depth behind Carter Hart and Adin Hill.
The Golden Knights won't have much room to sign any pending free agents without some additional roster chances. The team is projected by PuckPedia to head into the offseason with just $4.6 million in space below the 2026-27 cap.
Draft Targets
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Draft information courtesy of PuckPedia.
2026 Draft Picks: Round 3 (1), Round 5 (1), Round 6 (1), Round 7 (1)
The Knights acquired more than half of their Cup Final roster via trade.
That came at the cost of the team's future draft stock. The Golden Knights currently hold no picks in the first two rounds of either the 2026 or 2027 drafts.
McCrimmon will be tasked with finding some developmental options later in the upcoming draft.
If there's one thing the Golden Knights have proven in their nine seasons in the NHL, it's that developing draft picks isn't key to building a championship roster.
Just two players on the 2026 postseason roster were selected in a traditional NHL draft by the Knights.
Should the Golden Knights decide to bolster their prospect pool this offseason, however, the position to target would be defense.
Only forwards and goalies were listed when The Athletic's Scott Wheeler ranked the top 13 prospects in the Golden Knights organization in March.
Whatever blueliners are left on the board when the third round kicks off in June could be candidates to join the Golden Knights' prospect pool this summer.
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