Can the Golden Knights be fixed in the offseason or will 2026-27 be a lost year?

Recently, I made a Reddit post on the Golden Knights subreddit discussing whether next year can be a good one, or if it'll be punted on in favor of long-term moves. While I'd prefer not to link my Reddit account right now, it's out there if you look for it. The point is, though, that things are not great on the Strip right now.

The Golden Knights have had a difficult year, beginning with inconsistency and recently transitioning into outright bad play. Seemingly everything has gone wrong, with the goaltending remaining bad, the offense drying up, and the defense playing disjointedly. While this season seems over already, even if they make the playoffs, can Kelly McCrimmon fix things come this summer, or is next season already a lost one?

In favor of a lost season: Bad goalies, age, and a semi-concerning cap crunch

Let's start with the bad. First off, the elephant in the room is Adin Hill and his five years remaining at a $6 million annual average value. Needless to say, Hill has not been good this year, outside of a brief stretch in mid-March. In fact, of the 54 goaltenders to equal or exceed his 24 games this season, he currently sports the second-lowest save percentage of that group, only surpassing the Flyers' Sam Ersson (and only by .001).

Although he only has a ten-team no-trade list, it's a virtual guarantee that no team is taking on his contract as it stands, and buying him out is more expensive than keeping him both short and long-term. In summary, he's here to stay, which means that barring a bounce-back, Vegas is stuck with him for the next while. Making things worse, Carter Hart is the only other goalie under an NHL contract for next season, and being polite, he did not impress prior to his injury.:

We also are confronted with the simple reality of age. Here's what the Golden Knights' roster currently looks like. Not counting the basically-retired Alex Pietrangelo and the various UFAs on the roster, there's seven guys on the team at 30 or older, with three more guys hitting that mark either in the summer or next season. That's not even including Rasmus Andersson, who may or may not be extended long-term, and turns 30 next October. By comparison, Kaedan Korczak and Braeden Bowman stand as the only guys at 25 or under. To be blunt, this team is old, and getting older.

Finally, we get to the dreaded cap crunch. It's familiar territory for us, but this year comes with its own new twists and turns. Per Puckpedia, Vegas will have approximately $3.8 million in cap space next year, which becomes a bit over $12.5m when incorporating Pietrangelo's contract on LTIR. With that money, Vegas needs to decide whether it can afford to retain Pavel Dorofeyev (who's due for a massive extension), Rasmus Andersson (who wants a massive extension), and a host of depth players on expiring contracts.

It's fair to say most of the said depth guys won't be back due to underperformance, but the concern becomes the big two listed there. Doro can probably command upwards of 7m, and Andersson allegedly wants 7-9m, meaning it would be difficult to afford both without shipping someone else out. There have been rumblings about William Karlsson being the odd man out dating back to last summer, but that just opens another hole down the middle with not a lot of money to fix it. After signing both, Vegas still needs two defensemen and another forward in the starting lineup, so simply affording them doesn't get them out of the woods.

In favor of contention: The core, bounce-back opportunities, and a youth invasion

Time for some positivity! Simply put, the core pieces are still there. Jack Eichel is still elite, Mitch Marner is around for the long-haul, Mark Stone is having one of the best seasons of his career, and Ivan Barbashev is having a virtual career year. The core components of Vegas' roster have succeeded in years past, and are still having individually good seasons even if the full product on the ice isn't. There's no reason to believe any of these guys will slow down anytime soon, and for that, there's still hope that the Golden Knights will always be a threat.

And on that note, there's plenty of bounce-back opportunities. It's very possible this is just a rough season for Adin Hill owing to the injury that kept him out for three months, and he'll be back to normal form next season. Noah Hanifin is having a poor year scoring-wise, and Shea Theodore's down as well, but both have dealt with injuries and the Olympics, so an offseason completely off should do them some good. Who knows, maybe even a full offseason and training camp post-extension will get Rasmus Andersson into his true form.

Finally, there's a real potential for a youth infusion into the lineup next season. With the lack of cap space, cheap contracts are needed to fill the gaps. Braeden Bowman has effectively already won a roster spot for next season, and it's very possible that a flaming-hot Trevor Connelly joins him in the lineup. The fact he wasn't sold at the deadline last year or this year indicates to me that the org views him as a keeper rather than a trade chip.

Anyways, all of this is just speculation, but we'll see what happens over the next few months!