It’s not a new season without being called crazy. However, after this year’s submissions, I’m starting to believe I might be clinically insane. Here’s why. Since we began making our unlikely predictions, sadly I’ve jinxed one original Golden Knight year after year. I’m bound to curse one player on this list; let’s hope it’s not him again.
So, let’s kick it off with my first crazy 2026-27 predictions:
Call me crazy, but Tomas Hertl will be VGK’s only 30-goal scorer this season.
It’s not crazy to expect 30 goals from Hertl. He’s reached that mark three times in his career and averages 26 goals per season. The 2025-26 campaign was not Hertl’s best. Let’s be honest, last season was somewhat of a disaster for the 32-year-old Czech. It shouldn’t need saying, but I expect the club and the player to have higher expectations going into 2026-27.
11 5-on-5 goals just won’t cut it from Hertl. I still forecast 10-12 power play goals from him, possibly more with the current power play plan. However, his even-strength goals must increase. Call me crazy but Hertl will lead the Golden Knights this season with 20 EV goals and 34 tallies overall. No one else will reach 30.
Understandably, Mitch Marner hogged most of the headlines following his legendary Game 3 performance. He scored the fastest hat trick in Stanley Cup Final history, beating Rocket Richard, the man the scoring title trophy is named after. He became the first player ever to record four points in the same period, and he became the highest point scorer in playoff history in his first season with a new team.
Marner loudly wrapped his figurative arms around the Conn Smythe while he and the rest of the Golden Knights exhaled following a double overtime epic that will go down as one of the best games in NHL history.
#93 isn’t doing it alone, though. Just about every time he’s hopped over the boards since the Anaheim series, he’s been the right wing on a line with William Karlsson and Brett Howden. That trio has now amassed an unbelievable 25 goals and 52 points in a combined 51 games (19 for each of Marner and Howden, 13 for Karlsson).
This is all while being Vegas’ most dominant shutdown defensive line as well. Marner leads all players in the postseason with a +16 rating. Howden’s +13 is only behind teammate Shea Theodore, and Karlsson is in the top 10 with a +10 despite missing an entire round.
In 13 games, since the opener of Round Two, the trio of Karlsson, Marner, and Howden has shared the ice for 128:31. They’ve been out there for eight goals, including the double OT game-winner in Game 3, and have conceded just three times. That’s an average of 1.4 goals against per 60 while scoring 3.7. In other words, because forwards only play about a third of the game at most, they score a little more than one goal per game while allowing only one per three games.
William Karlsson’s return to the lineup has made a massive impact in the look and feel of the Golden Knights’ top six. It took him a few games to get there and to find the correct wingers to have that impact, though.
When Karlsson first returned from the injury that sidelined him for nearly six months, he was slotted in with Tomas Hertl and Keegan Kolesar for Games 1 and 2 against the Anaheim Ducks in the Second Round. And while Vegas won one of those games, it wasn’t necessarily pretty, and it led to head coach John Tortorella mixing things up as the games went on.
It was late in Game 2 that he found a combination that seemed to click almost instantly. In the 3rd period, with VGK trailing by two goals, Karlsson was swapped onto a line with Mitch Marner and Mark Stone. They quickly started to generate chances and looked like Vegas’ most dangerous line in a game they struggled to create much as a team.
When Bill (William Karlsson) came back, we tried it, and yeah, I don’t know. Coaches just try different things and if something sticks, it’s usually two guys that can play well with one another. That one kind of had some glue to it right away. -John Tortorella
Tortorella stuck with Karlsson and Marner together for the third game of that series, opting to use Brett Howden on the left wing. It has stuck since as they’ve played every one of the last five games together, turning into one of the best lines still going in the postseason.
It may have taken the Golden Knights 85 minutes to win Game 5, but the signs for success were apparent from the initial puck drop. In the opening moments of Game 5, the Golden Knights decided to use their experience, force, and will to intimidate the less seasoned Mammoth. Beginning 24 seconds into the match, VGK’s Nic Dowd landed two brutal body checks, and Ivan Barbashev and Nick Howden each recorded one hit each. The quick flurry of hits slowed down the Mammoth’s preplanned fast start and shook one of their best offensive weapons. While it started over a week ago, Dowd hadn’t forgotten about his promise from Game 1.
(Credit: NHL Stats)
Vegas’ early dedication to physicality frustrated Utah, which led to errant passes, missed shots, and poor body language. The Golden Knights brought back the hit parade later in the frame, and the Mammoth let their emotions get the best of them and took three straight penalties. The three minors committed weren’t for a haphazard high-stick, an unfortunate trip, or an overzealous hockey play. Nope, they were emotional, physical, and retaliatory types of infractions. Sure, Utah scored first, but their lead only held for two minutes.
It took just 1:12 into Game 4 for Vegas coach John Tortorella to look like a genius. Immediately, the coach’s preplanned top-six shakeup paid off and led to an early game offensive breakout. Although it took nearly four full periods, the recipe worked out for the Golden Knights. Last night, Vegas’ top player aptly led the way and four others scored their first goals of the postseason.
The Golden Knights needed a massive game out of Jack Eichel. It almost went the other way on him, but he battled through it and was VGKs best player.
3 points 6 shots on goal +3 29:22 on 35 shifts 1:51 on the kill
The guy did everything and VGK needed every ounce of it.
It was a sigh of relief for Vegas fans after regular season goal leader Pavel Dorofeyev snapped his playoff scoring drought 72 seconds into Game 4, placing immediate pressure on the Mammoth. However, the three-point performance from Jack Eichel ignited a fast start and a strong finish for Vegas. It was the star center’s clutch assists that sent the game into overtime and his team into an overjoyed locker room.
All in all, the Golden Knights received nine points from their top six. Oddly enough, Mark Stone was the only premier forward to come up empty. The coach’s line mixer triggered an early scoring spree and allowed Eichel to create the game-tying and game-winning goals in Game 4.
Eichel also led all forwards with 29:22 demanding minutes of ice time.
One of the Golden Knights’ biggest focal points in the offseason was getting back to having an “identity line” at the bottom of the lineup. They want more forecheck, more physicality, more matchup flexibility, and ultimately more balance.
The acquisition of Colton Sissons, along with health further up the lineup, will allow for a trio of Brett Howden, Keegan Kolesar, and Sissons to be the group that the Golden Knights hope brings all of it.
When you have a glue line like that, guys that know their role and accept their role and excel in their role that bodes well for your group. I’ve always felt if you have a line like that it’s really good for your team. -Bruce Cassidy
When the Golden Knights won the Stanley Cup, their 4th line of William Carrier, Nic Roy, and Kolesar handled the role extremely well. GM Kelly McCrimmon has mentioned the loss of Carrier has been noticeable over the last two years, and the hope is that Sissons will bring some of that style of game back to the fourth line.
But they have to be a threat to go the other way. Otherwise, teams will cheat against your checking line, knowing they can’t finish. If you look at it as it’s made up today, Keegan and Howden both had career years offensively last year. So those guys can hurt you as well. -Cassidy
The challenge for VGK will be keeping that line together. As it’s currently constructed, as Cassidy mentioned, the line has a trio of players who have scored double-digit goals in a season. However, the moment there’s an injury up the lineup, literally any player on any line in any position, the first place Vegas will look to promote a player will be from the 4th line.
Last year, Howden spent more than two-thirds of the season playing further up the lineup. Even Kolesar played about a third of his games on the right wing of the first, second, or third lines.
There’s no question that the combination of Howden, Sissons, and Kolesar appears to be one of the better fourth lines the Golden Knights have ever rostered. The depth below them may cause problems, though.
Last year, players like Alexander Holtz, Brendan Brisson, Victor Olofsson, and even Tanner Pearson all had much more offensive upside to be able to insert further up the lineup. The collection of Cole Schwindt, Raphael Lavoie, Tanner Laczynski, Cole Reinhardt, and Jonas Rondbjerg, this year’s “next man up” group, is much more suited to fill 4th line roles. So, when there’s an injury up the lineup, Howden or Kolesar will certainly be the first choice to go up.
So, that means a lot will fall on Sissons’ shoulders. Can he help keep the identity of that line no matter who his linemates happen to be night in and night out? If he can, the flexibility Howden and Kolesar offer will keep the currently dominant top-nine looking that way even amidst injuries. If he can’t, though, the problem VGK hoped they fixed this summer will still be in need of a solution.
There’s no secret that the Golden Knights are blessed with center depth. It’s unquestionably their deepest position. This week, TSN ranked Vegas with six other clubs in the top echelon of center units. The other half dozen teams shouldn’t surprise anyone.
(Courtesy: TSN)
Each organization in Tier 1 are legitimate Stanley Cup contenders, with four of them winning championships in the last five seasons. Each team in the top tier is blessed with a superstar center, Sasha Barkov, Leon Draisaitl, Jack Eichel, Nathan MacKinnon, Auston Matthews, Connor McDavid and Brayden Point.
As Vegas fans are aware it doesn’t just end with Eichel. Since 2017, William Karlsson has more than proven his two-way center impact, and Tomas Hertl is slated as one of the best third-line centers in the NHL. Even the added depth of Brett Howden and Colton Sissons contributes to TSN’s high rating for VGK.
The Golden Knights finished fifth in league scoring last year and the biggest reason why was the playmaking ability of Jack Eichel. Eichel has become one of the league’s deadliest players with the puck on his stick and his 66-assists last year were sixth best in the NHL. One of the five players ahead of him? That would be new teammate and likely linemate Marner (75). –Travis Yost on TSN.ca
While Eichel might steal the national headlines, Vegas fans appreciate the effort from all of the Golden Knights middlemen.
Top-tier centers are hard to come by, but they can truly elevate teams into the elite class. Vegas’ defensive corps was listed in Tier 2 for all defensive units across the league. While only a notch below, it’s important for Vegas to have a nice, balanced lineup. Like they have drawn up for the 2025-26 campaign. Now, if VGK’s centers take more shots on net this season, TSN will have to create an even higher tier.
