(Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)
I’m still trying to figure out what compels me to do this every year, but begrudgingly, we do it again.
Let’s look back on our predictions from the 25-26 season. There were three articles published in which Jason and I made predictions. First, the big one, where I make 50 predictions each season. Last season I went 23-27 and vowed I’d do better this season. Here we go…
VGK will make the playoffs
Not a great regular season, but got there in the end.
Mark Stone will score at least 35 goals
28 goals in 60 games. His most prolific goals/game season.
Mitch Marner will NOT reach 100 points
VGK will lose to the San Jose Sharks in regulation at least once
Sure looked like they were going to but Alex Nedeljkovic had other ideas.
Adin Hill will record at least 3 shutouts
VGK will win at least 7 of their first 10 games
VGK will win both games against the reigning Stanley Cup champions
Went 0-2-0. Lost 3-2 at home and 3-0 in Florida.
Pavel Dorofeyev will score fewer goals than last season (35)
37. Career high and team high.
Jack Eichel will lead the team in shots in the regular season, but not the postseason
260 in regular season (led team), 52 in postseason (3rd on team).
William Karlsson will score at least 40 even-strength points
Had 7 total points in 14 games played. He had 9 even-strength points in 15 playoff games though.
VGK will lose Opening Night for the second time in franchise history
6-5 shootout loss to LAK.
Jack Eichel will score at least 5 game-winning goals
Scored 6, the most since he became a Golden Knight.
Reilly Smith will score at least 10 goals
Brandon Saad will score at least 10 goals
Ivan Barbashev (51), Brett Howden (40), and Keegan Kolesar (30) will all have fewer points than last season
Barbashev 61, Howden 22, Kolesar 17. 2 out of 3 isn’t horrible.
Tomas Hertl will have more assists than goals
Shea Theodore will score more than 60 points
VGK will record at least 15 comeback wins
21 total comeback wins in regular season (16 by 1 goal, 5 by 2 goals)
Mitch Marner will record at least 50 assists
Zach Whitecloud will score an empty net goal
2 goals, both at even strength
Colton Sissons will NOT lead all forwards in shorthanded ice time
3rd in shorthanded TOI behind Marner and Eichel
Jeremy Lauzon will lead the team in hits
Kolesar (270), Lauzon (251). Lauzon played 14 fewer games
VGK will win 3 or more shootouts
VGK will score more PP goals (53) but have a worse PP% (28.3) than last year
58 power play goals, 24.6% PP%
Noah Hanifin will lead VGK in ice time
2nd place in both total TOI (12 minutes behind Marner despite playing 10 fewer games) and 2nd place in average TOI (14 seconds behind Theodore)
Jaycob Megna will play in double-digit games for VGK
VGK will not claim a player on waivers
VGK had claimed a player in all but 2 prior seasons.
Shea Theodore will score more than 10 goals
Scored 10 goals in 70 games
VGK’s PK percentage (75.7%) will improve from last season
Colton Sissons will record worse than 50% shorthanded faceoff percentage
Kaedan Korczak will play 82 games
20 or more different forwards will start games for VGK
21 forwards started games
Braeden Bowman will make his NHL debut
Stanley Cup Final debut too!
Akira Schmid will record at least 1 shutout
VGK will use at least 4 goalies to start games
4 goalies started games (Schmid, Hill, Hart, Lindbom)
Adin Hill will take at least 6 penalty minutes
VGK will score first in more than half of their games
Scored first in 34 of 82 games. Yikes.
VGK will win 18 or more games against the Eastern Conference
Went 14-11-7 against Eastern Conference
The Nashville Predators will beat VGK at least twice
VGK will sweep the Vancouver Canucks
There will be a game against EDM in which neither Connor McDavid nor Leon Draisaitl record a point
April 4th, 2026. VGK won 5-1 at Edmonton. Draisaitl did not play, McDavid did not have a point.
A VGK player will score a goal in the Olympic Gold Medal match
No, but Eichel and Hanifin won gold! USA! USA! USA!!!
Brayden McNabb will record the highest ATOI (20:09) of his NHL career
20:31 ATOI. At age 35 nonetheless.
VGK will win a playoff game scoring fewer than 3 goals
2-1 win over Colorado in Game 4 of Western Conference Final
Jack Eichel will receive votes for the Hart trophy (MVP)
Eichel did not receive a vote
Brayden McNabb’s 3+ season long ironman streak will come to an end
VGK’s longest winning streak will be 7 games
They reached exactly 7 twice.
VGK will win more OT games than they lose (SO not included)
Mark Stone will be named among NHL’s 3 Stars of the week at least twice
He was not named a single time
VGK will trade for a defenseman who will play at least 20 games
Rasmus Andersson played 33 games
The final tally… 25-24-1! Over .500!!!
Ok, now onto our wild bold predictions that we lovingly name “Call Me Crazy, But”
First, Jason’s picks.
Call me crazy, but the Golden Knights will lose only twice in the month of November.
Call me crazy, but Vegas will have 15 players score 10 or more goals.
9 (Dorofeyev, Stone, Eichel, Hertl, Marner, Barbashev, R. Smith, Howden, Theodore)
Call me crazy, but Shea Theodore WILL finally reach 15 goals this season.
10 (Career high remains 14)
Call me crazy, but another Golden Knight will end Brayden McNabb’s two-year +/- title run this season.
McNabb +2, behind Stone (+26), Eichel (+23), Barbashev (+20), Theodore (+19), Marner (+17), and Korczak (+6)
A few of those are quite bad, but Jason did get one correct. Pretty impressive for what we consider our boldest predictions for the season.
I was close on a few, but as always, all wrong.
Call me crazy, but the Golden Knights will outscore last year’s team but finish with fewer points in the standings.
274 goals in 24-25, 264 goals in 25-26. 15 fewer standings points
Call me crazy, but for the first time in franchise history, a forward will rank first or second in average time on ice for the Golden Knights. That forward will be Jack Eichel.
Eichel finished 3rd behind Theodore and Hanifin. Missed it by over a minute.
Call me crazy, but Mark Stone will set career highs in goals, assists, points, and shots on goal.
28 goals (most as VGK, 2nd high in career), 45 assists (2nd highest), 73 points (tied for career high in 17 fewer games), 130 shots (not even close to 199 high)
Call me crazy, but there will be at least 4 different forwards in VGK’s lineup for Game 1 of the playoffs compared to Opening Night.
Only 2, C. Smith and Dowd. Bowman played in the Stanley Cup Final.
So, there you have it. We aren’t very good at predictions.
We’ll see you before next season for a new round of predictions!
We also asked for submissions from fans for “Call Me Crazy, But” and most of them were a complete train wreck. However, a few were spot on. Here are some of my favorites that hit or missed miserably.
Salming
Call me crazy, but Cassidy won’t be a VGK head coach at the end of the season. (Wow)
WolFronkSeravalli
Call me crazy, but Mitch Marner continues the trend of hated ex-Leafs shining with other teams and wins the Conn Smythe Trophy. (So close!)
M@
Call me crazy, but William Karlsson will score 40+ goals in the regular season. (He scored 4)
Everett
Call me crazy, but the Golden Knights will have both a top 10 PP and PK this season. (6th in PP% at 24.6%. 7th in PK% at 81.4%)
