The 2025-26 regular season was the most taxing the Golden Knights have ever gone through. The schedule itself was crammed into a tighter space than ever before because of the Olympics. Then the way the season actually went, with ups and downs, trades, injuries, the coach firing, off-ice storylines, and probably 10 other things I’m forgetting, it was exhausting to follow along, let alone play through.
Watching night in and night out, it was easy to see and feel. It was a grind from Opening Night all the way to Game 82. Then, the real season began, and everything changed for a team that looked beaten up physically and beaten down mentally.
The Golden Knights went from a team that lost more games than it won to the juggernaut many expected when the season began. Obviously, it’s a chicken-and-egg situation, but they started to have fun again. Once they got through the Utah series, you could feel a shift in the energy of the team, and there was genuine joy back in the locker room for the first time in a while.
Fast forward through the end of the postseason, albeit coming up two wins short, and just about every player said they’d remember the run fondly when they have a chance to look back.
The past two months was some of the most fun I’ve ever had. I would kill to have gotten two more wins with the guys but still it was so much fun and went through so many things. It’s a season I will remember for a long time but hopefully there are even more exciting ones coming. -Tomas Hertl
There’s a great power in enjoying the game, and the Golden Knights need to find a way to harness what happened in May and June and learn from what occurred from October to April.
The team that ripped through three rounds of the playoffs was loose. They enjoyed the gauntlet of the playoffs in a way they clearly did not during the 82-game regular season.
Now, as they head into the first 84-game season in franchise history, they must find ways to keep the fun alive. There are going to be massive swings of emotion between the first game on September 29th and the start of the playoffs nearly seven months later. To succeed and reach the summit they came so close to last year, fun has to be a constant theme.
The grind is inevitable; the misery that came with it in 25-26 doesn’t have to be. When they didn’t embrace enjoying the game, the Golden Knights looked as average as can be, but when they did, they were the best team in the league. That’s an important lesson that must stick with them as they embark on Season 10.
hdbiker7851
Ken – you pointed out the problem ( NO FUN) during the regular season – what do you feel was the reason for that? The fans could see that just looking at the bench most nights and I am certain many have their own idea but didn’t have the availability to the club that you have. The game has as much to do mentality as physicality so it would be a great article on your part if you identified the problem and the difference that happened during the playoff. It was more noticeable upon Karlsson’s return looking from the outside in. When you’re winning it’s more fun but there has to be more to it than that.
Abdullah
It’s no fun when every goalie in the system stinks
Pistol Pete
Looking forward to 2028-29 when both McDavid and Mathews will become free agents the cap should increase $18m from 2026-27 and by that that time I expect Stone who will be 36 (37 at he end of the 2027-28 season) and Karlsson who will be 35 (36 in February of the 2027-28 season) to both potentially be gone ($15.3m). The cap increase plus Stone and Karlsson is $33.3m. I would say if they can find a additional cap space via Hill and/or Hertl, then not extending Stone and sign the UFA Jason Robertson (assuming he walks from Dallas July 1, 2027) is possible. Even with Robertson there would still be room for McDavid or Mathews assuming they want to walk. McDavid if he leaves Edmonton might choose Toronto instead of Vegas. Let’s face it this FO’s forte has always been signing star players in their prime.
Steve
Oh definitely for sure the front office has done a great job of signing players in their prime, let’s see , there is Hanifin, there is Hill and let’s not forget their latest prized acquisition Andersson! Sheesh!
Pistol Pete
That is not my point buddy. Those players are not Stone, Pietrangelo and Eichel and Marner. Really, you put Hill, Hanifin and Andersson in that class? So just to clarify we are talking about Robertson, McDavid and Matthews in chronological order of availability. Then I would put Larkin above the players you complain about but below the latter. I mean if you are McCrimmon who reports to McPhee who reports to Foley you can not not be looking towards the free agency of these guys excepting Larkin who would be a trade. They won their Cup by acquiring Stone, Petro and Eichel. I assume you get that. Elite veteran talent.
Steve
And my point was this, the front office signed these 3 players I mentioned who are supposedly entering their prime to these ludicrous contracts, and please don’t tell me they saw the future and knew those contracts would be bargains down the road because soon players would start to get overpaid and they will look like geniuses for signing them on the relative cheap.
Pistol Pete
Time will tell. I suggest for now focusing on potential Stone/Petro/Eichel/Marner-level acquisitions i.e. Robertson/McDavid/Matthews because those are the type players that along with depth win championships.