Deadline Status<\/p>\n
Buyers<\/p>\n
Deadline Cap Space<\/p>\n
$4.653MM on deadline day (all LTIR space), 0\/3 retention slots used, 50\/50 contracts used, per PuckPedia<\/a>.<\/p>\n Upcoming Draft Picks<\/p>\n 2026: VGK 2nd, VGK 3rd, VGK 5th, VGK 6th, VGK 7th Trade Chips<\/p>\n A lot of their current cap space is inflated by LTIR placements for William Karlsson<\/a> and Brayden McNabb<\/a>.\u00a0 Once they return, they\u2019ll be much closer to a money-in, money-out situation.\u00a0 Accordingly, defenseman Jeremy Lauzon<\/a> could be a casualty.\u00a0 His $2MM price tag isn\u2019t particularly prohibitive but if they need a money balancer or simply need to spend less on the third pairing, he\u2019s another NHL piece who could be in play.\u00a0 On an expiring contract, he\u2019d have some standalone interest if they need to clear his salary.<\/p>\n As a result of trading away a lot of draft picks and prospects, the Golden Knights don\u2019t have a particularly deep system to further deal from.\u00a0 But one player who would garner some inquiries is winger Trevor Connelly<\/a>.\u00a0 \u00a0Injuries have limited the 2024 first-rounder to just 17 games in his first full professional campaign but he has done relatively well when healthy and is still viewed as carrying NHL upside.\u00a0 Braeden Bowman<\/a> has spent the bulk of the year in Vegas and is establishing himself as a full-timer so he\u2019s someone they won\u2019t necessarily be looking to move but will receive inquiries on.\u00a0 Kai Uchacz<\/a> recently made his NHL debut and is the type of secondary piece that could be moved in a trade to add a depth piece to the roster as well.<\/p>\n One of the more intriguing wild cards for Vegas this deadline is winger Alexander Holtz<\/a>.\u00a0 The seventh-overall pick in 2020, he has not lived up to that billing with both New Jersey and now Vegas; he has been in and out of the lineup this season with limited results.\u00a0 On the other hand, he just turned 24 a few weeks ago and has another cheap year on his contract after this one with an AAV that will be below the minimum salary next season.\u00a0 The demand probably won\u2019t be too high but it\u2019s possible that a rebuilding team or two might want to take a look at him and would accept him instead of an equivalent draft pick or prospect in a deal.<\/p>\n Team Needs<\/p>\n 1) Contract Space: The Golden Knights are the only team in the NHL with the maximum of 50 active contracts.\u00a0 San Jose was in a tight spot earlier this year and had to take a draft pick downgrade to clear a slot.\u00a0 If GM Kelly McCrimmon wants to add a piece or two, they will need to open up some contract space first, either by including a player in a trade or moving someone else out elsewhere.<\/p>\n 2) Improve Depth Scoring: Assuming that Andersson is the key move on the back end, their next need to fill is probably up front.\u00a0 Their top six has been productive this season with all players having at least 16 goals and 41 points.\u00a0 But the output drops off quickly after that.\u00a0 No other forward has 10 goals yet while Bowman is the only one with 20 points (and he\u2019s just at 20).\u00a0 Reilly Smith<\/a> and Brandon Saad<\/a> have underwhelmed, in particular, while Karlsson\u2019s injury has limited him to just 14 games so far.\u00a0 A player who could play on the third line to start but move into the top six when needed would give their attack a nice boost.\u00a0 That, and Karlsson\u2019s possible return closer to the playoffs, could be enough of an improvement to their scoring to get them back near the top of the league in that department.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of Brett Holmes-Imagn Images.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With the Olympic break upon us, the trade deadline is under a month away. Where does each team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":229875,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5129],"tags":[54005,149,5317,5,4,697,74,39,5316],"class_list":{"0":"post-458491","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-vegas-golden-knights","8":"tag-deadline-primer-2026","9":"tag-golden-knights","10":"tag-goldenknights","11":"tag-hockey","12":"tag-nhl","13":"tag-pro-hockey-rumors-originals","14":"tag-vegas","15":"tag-vegas-golden-knights","16":"tag-vegasgoldenknights"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116072401856750028","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=458491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/458491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/229875"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=458491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=458491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=458491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
2027: VGK 2nd, SJ 3rd, VGK 4th, VGK 5th, VGK 6th, VGK 7th<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/akira-schmid-vegas-200x300.jpg\")
<\/a>Being a team that\u2019s likely to be buying, it\u2019s quite possible that there won\u2019t be any more players moved off the NHL roster.\u00a0 But one player who could be worth keeping an eye on is goaltender Akira Schmid<\/a>.\u00a0 Adin Hill<\/a> is back from his long-term injury and Carter Hart<\/a> is due back sometime after the break as well.\u00a0 While Hart has struggled this season, the extra year on his deal suggests that he\u2019s viewed as a part of the picture beyond 2025-26.\u00a0 Schmid, meanwhile, is a pending RFA due a sizable raise in the midst of a good showing this season that has seen him post a 2.53 GAA and a .895 SV% in 29 games.\u00a0 With a lot of teams believed to be looking around for goaltending options and an affordable contract at $875K, Schmid should generate some strong interest.<\/p>\n