Everyone appreciates a hard worker. They love a man who goes after their craft with the utmost gusto. creating an incredible product. That's what draws people towards these hard workers.
The good news for Vegas Golden Knights fans is that they have plenty of hard-working players. The team has a decorated history of getting to work, making seven Stanley Cup appearances. In fact, they've made two Stanley Cup Final appearances and won a Stanley Cup! Now that's hard work!
Of course, that comes with a front office dedicated to finding the best options in the NHL. Bill Foley had a vision to bring fans a Stanley Cup and Kelly McCrimmon had the motivation to make it happen. It's no wonder Vegas is in the Mitch Marner sweepstakes!
In fact, two players come to mind when it comes to working hard. These players took their play to another level, giving the Golden Knights some extra oomph during the 2024-25 season. Be sure to buy these gentlemen a beer if you see them around town, eh?
Pavel Dorofeyev
If I told you that Pavel Dorofeyev would lead the Vegas Golden Knights in goals scored in 2024-25, you would've laughed at me. You would've told me that I needed to be institutionalized and sent to Circus Circus in hotel purgatory.
But scoring 35 goals in a single season is an accomplishment unto itself. But that's not all. He also scored 13 goals on the power play this season.
His overall stats show a significant improvement from 2023-24. It shouldn't surprise fans that Dorofeyev took the next step to becoming a Golden Knights great (stats courtesy of MoneyPuck).
Season | Goals | Assists | Expected Goals | Takeaways | Shooting Percentage | Shooting Percentage On Unblocked Shots | High Danger xGoals |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024-25 | 35 | 17 | 28.1 | 24 | 13.8% | 9.9% | 10.35 |
2023-24 | 13 | 11 | 11 | 19 | 13.4% | 9.2% | 3.5 |
When you allow a 24-year-old to shoot the puck more, magical things happen. If he can translate that over to the postseason, he can become one of the most important Golden Knights ever.
That's why he needs a bigger role with Vegas next season. Getting a taste of what's to come from the biggest stars will help Dorofeyev grow his game. That's especially true during the postseason, where he's still raw.
What does that look like? Why not give him a top-line spot with Eichel and play on his left wing? You add more speed and shiftiness to the top unit and can cap it off with Marner if you play your cards right.
Kaedan Korczak
Recent news broke that the Vegas Golden Knights are listening to calls about Nicolas Hague. The restricted free agent is due a new contract and is estimated to earn a deal worth around $4 million. That's a tough ask for a team with $9.615 million in cap space (according to PuckPedia).
That leaves an open spot in a loaded defenseman group. Who will take that open spot and thrust themselves into the six-man group? Could it be Ben Hutton, who carries a $975,000 cap hit?
Or maybe it's Kaedan Korczak, who has a cap hit of $825,000? The defenseman was solid in limited time with the Golden Knights, scoring 10 assists in 40 games. The 24-year-old established himself as a promising puck-moving defenseman during his limited time, making him a threat on the attack.
Looking at Hutton, he's also 32 years old. McCrimmon should look at getting younger on the blue line. That's especially true with names like Alex Pietrangelo (35 years old) and Brayden McNabb (34 years old) carrying the bulk of the work.