The Vegas Golden Knights are keeping a restricted free agent around for another year. After trading Pavel Dorofeyev and Akira Schmid away to avoid massive overpays, the Golden Knights announced that Lukas Cormier got a one-year deal on Monday.
Golden Knights tidy up their RFA business, signing Lukas Cormier to a 1-year deal.
— Danny Webster (@DannyWebster21) July 6, 2026
The defenseman scored eight goals and 39 assists in 49 games with the Silver Knights last season. He took a major step forward in his development, boosting his numbers from the previous season. Here, he scored just nine assists in 19 games for the Silver Knights. However, he does have prior NHL experience (albeit just two games), scoring an assist in 2023-24.
The Golden Knights will have a solid puck-moving defender as a depth piece. They've needed some blue line players to step up in their farm system and the 24-year-old answered the call last season. Now, he gets one more year to prove his worth within the organization.
Does it mean that there's a long-term spot for Cormier? Probably not. He is relatively undersized and is best-suited for the seventh-defenseman spot. However, the Golden Knights haven't exactly been exempt from injuries during their franchise history. Therefore, it's always best to have extra protection and depth going into the season.
The good news? The Golden Knights have defensemen coming in as reinforcements. Drafting Juho Piiparinen and Sean Burick helps this group, making them deeper. Of course, having Lukas Cormier helps, too.
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