The Vegas Golden Knights have some good news for their fans on Tuesday afternoon. It involves a certain Golden Misfit and his whereabouts for the 2025 summer.
Hearing Reilly Smith, who was traded back to Vegas this season, will re-sign with the Golden Knights and avoid free-agency
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 25, 2025
According to Elliotte Friedman, Reilly Smith will re-sign with the Golden Knights and avoid free agency. Chris Johnston reports that the deal is for one year and will be worth $2 million. It will also include a no-trade clause. The winger scored 13 goals and 27 assists in 2024-25, splitting time between the New York Rangers and the Golden Knights.
Overall, he's had an illustrious career with Vegas, scoring 127 goals and 170 assists. He got 28 goals and 29 assists on the power play during his stay in Las Vegas, while 12 goals and nine assists came on shorthanded opportunities.
What getting Reilly Smith means for the Vegas Golden Knights
First, the "lack of loyalty" narrative gets shattered into a million pieces. Whatever lingering doubts and skepticism opposing fans had about Kelly McCrimmon's business practices were put to rest on Tuesday.
People still had thoughts of Marc-Andre Fleury finding out about his trade on Twitter and Jonathan Marchessault leaving town. But a quick session of extending Shea Theodore, Brayden McNabb, and Adin Hill (among others) disproved that.
Now? A Misfit sticks around for a bit longer. Fans are happy that their fan favorite is playing with the Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena. Everything is right in the world.
It also helps William Karlsson since he gets his favorite buddy back. The two created magic in the 2024-25 season, bringing back numerous memories. Just look at their stats, according to Natural Stat Trick.
Duo | CF% | FF% | SF% | GF% | xGF% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
William Karlsson and Reilly Smith | 55.59% | 54.91% | 57.82% | 81.82% | 58.41% |
The duo outperformed expectations and will continue to provide a middle-of-the-lineup spark that McCrimmon is desperately searching for. Now that's awesome.
What's even better is that fans get to see one of their favorite Misfits stick around. No egos. No worrying about your kid's peewee hockey dreams. Just playing more hockey with the Golden Knights.
That's the dream, baby.