Golden Knights’ perfect trade target amid 2026 NHL Free Agency

The Vegas Golden Knights made a run to the Stanley Cup Final in the 2025-26 season. It was a wild ride for the Golden Knights, firing Bruce Cassidy and hiring John Tortorella late in the season. It paid off for the team, as they finished 39-26-17 and won the Pacific Division before making a run to the Cup Final. They would lose in six games to the Carolina Hurricanes in the Cup Final, and then the changes began. The Golden Knights moved on from Tortorella, bringing in Ryan Craig, who had been the coach of the AHL affiliate Henderson Silver Knights.

Then, they lost some key players in the offseason. Keegan Kolesar was moved to the Detroit Red Wings. Colton Sissons signed a deal with the Toronto Maple Leafs, while Cole Smith signed with the Chicago Blackhawks. The biggest move of the offseason was shipping out Pavel Dorofeyev to the New York Rangers. Dorofeyev was a restricted free agent, and the Golden Knights did not have the cap space to keep him.

Regardless of the financials, the team lost one of their best scoring options. In the past two seasons, he has found the back of the net 72 times while adding 44 helpers. He was also great in the playoffs this past season, scoring 12 times while adding four assists in 22 games. The team made just one move to replace Dorofeyev. The team brought in Marc Gatcomb. He played just 49 games with three goals and four assists with the New York Islanders.

The Golden Knights, while winning their division last year, still had just the fourth-best record in the Western Conference. Further, with young teams such as the Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks in the division, not improving the roster may not be an option.

Dylan Larkin would be perfect, but not possible

Dylan Larkin was the 15th overall selection of the 2014 NHL Draft by the Detroit Red Wings. He broke into the NHL with the Wings in 2015-16, and has since become a consistent scoring presence in the NHL. In 808 regular season games, he has scored 276 goals while adding 367 assists. In the last five seasons, he has scored 20 or more goals and added 30 or more assists in each season.  Still, Larkin has requested a trade away from the Red Wings. Larkin gave a list of teams he would be interested in moving to, and one of those is the Golden Knights.

The Red Wings star would be a great replacement for Dorofeyev. Larkin has not scored as many goals in the last two years, scoring 64 goals, while Dorofeyev has 72. Still, Larkin has more helpers, with 73 as opposed to Dorofeyev’s 44.

While Larkin would be a perfect fit for the Golden Knights, the financial ramifications for trying to bring in Larkin may make the deal impossible. The Red Wings forward still has five years left on his deal, with an AAV of $8.7 million. The team currently has less than $2 million in cap space. They would need to clear nearly seven million in cap space in order to bring in Larkin, unless Vegas can convince the Wings to keep some of his salary. With some contracts coming off the books in 2027-28, including those of Mark Stone and William Karlsson, they have the future space, but not currently.

Shane Wright needs to be targeted by the Golden Knights 

If the Golden Knights are looking for a less expensive option, Shane Wright could be a perfect fit. Wright has yet to live up to his billing as a member of the Kraken. Ahead of the 2019-20 OHL season, he was granted exceptional player status, becoming just the sixth player to be granted that status. Wright joined players such as John Tavares, Aaron Ekblad, and Connor McDavid to receive that status. He was then drafted by the Seattle Kraken with the fourth overall selection of the 2022 NHL Draft.

Wright made his debut with the Kraken in 2023-24, playing in just eight games, scoring four goals and adding an assist. In the two seasons since, he has played 153 games, scoring 31 goals and adding 40 assists. While he has not played to the level that he expected and the franchise, which could make him available, per Elliotte Friedman of SportsNet.

“I can confirm that we have had positive conversations with GM Jason Botterill, and he has agreed to move Shane this summer to a team in need of a top young centre,” Wright’s agent, Kurt Overhardt, said.

This could be a perfect buy-low spot for the Golden Knights. The 22-year-old is set to be a restricted free agent at the end of the season and is making just $900 thousand, which fits under the cap for Vegas. Putting Wright around other solid scoring options could help his development, and it would be a low-risk move for GM Kelly McCrimmon to make.

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