Everyone knows how good Trevor Connelly is as a hockey player. The Vegas Golden Knights wundekind scored on Opening Knight, fulfilling a promise made by Jack Eichel. Guess what? Connelly did it again on Tuesday, scoring on a one-timer feed from Noah Hanifin in the third period.
Trevor Connelly is on FIRE 🔥 pic.twitter.com/IfkjE2k4JC
— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) October 14, 2026
Make that three goals as the young winger continues to shine for the Golden Knights. He's building off his impressive 2025-26 campaign with the Henderson Silver Knights, when he scored 14 goals and 35 assists with the AHL club.
People are already forgetting about a certain Russian winger who scored 20 power play goals last season (a franchise record). It's like Kelly McCrimmon knows when not to pay a guy $11 million per year to be a power play merchant. Mind you, Connelly has shown that he's more than a guy who blasts one-timers on the power play. He's a guy who blasts one-timers on even-strength opportunities, too.
With Connelly's strong start, it begs the question of whether he'll be the first Calder Trophy winner in Vegas Golden Knights history. Yes, I know that it's only eight games into the season. But are there any other rookies, aside from Roman Kantserov of the Chicago Blackhawks, who have more goals than Connely (three entering Wednesday?)
When it comes to the Calder Trophy race, why not Trevor Connelly?
Look, I know that the talk will be centered around Gavin McKenna of the Toronto Maple Leafs. He's going to be the focus of a franchise that has all of the attention on it (at least, in Canada). He is the first overall pick from the most recent NHL Draft, after all. That'll warrant you all sorts of bias, even if you start off slow.
But why not Connelly? The Golden Knights have thrusted the rookie into key roles, ranging from a spot on Tomas Hertl's line to responsibilities on the first power play unit. So far, he's passed each test with flying colors, scoring three goals and two assists.
Considering there were massive question marks surrounding who would score goals during the 2026-27 season, there's a good case for Connelly to grab the Calder Trophy. He has a goal and an assist on the power play and has a shooting percentage of 17.6% to go with it. As mentioned before, he's also making Golden Knights fans forget about Pavel Dorofeyev, which wasn't an easy task to do.
He even has a shootout goal to go with it, which beat... Gavin McKenna and the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mind you, that was the game-winning goal, while McKenna couldn't even figure out Adin Hill by firing his backhand wide. It tells you plenty about who really deserves the Calder Trophy.
Of course, there will be other names, including James Hagens of the Boston Bruins. But you can bet your bottom dollar that Connelly's name will be considered in the Calder Trophy race if he continues his current pace (Rhymes Like Dimes!) Don't sleep on Twiggy this season!
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