Hannah Kirkell
The 2026 NHL Trade Deadline is less than 24 hours away, and the excitement— and panic— around the league is palpable. There have been 12 trades so far this week, but everyone knows that Friday is the real main attraction. The Vegas Golden Knights haven’t shied away from the moment and have made two deals this week.
On Tuesday night, they acquired Cole Smith from the Nashville Predators; on Thursday morning, they brought in Nic Dowd.
The Golden Knights very well could be done making moves. On paper, their roster looks pretty set. However, the nature of these additions sets the stage for the possibility of something bigger.
The Golden Knights used these forward combinations in Wednesday’s game against the Detroit Red Wings:
Ivan Barbashev — Jack Eichel — Braedan Bowman
Reilly Smith — Mitch Marner — Pavel Dorofeyev
Brandon Saad — Tomáš Hertl — Cole Reinhardt
Cole Smith — Colton Sissons — Keegan Kolesar
Then, on Thursday, the Golden Knights placed Cole Reinhardt on waivers along with Alexander Holtz. That freed up the roster spot— and the salary cap space— necessary to acquire Nic Dowd.
There are, of course, two forwards who weren’t in the lineup because of injuries: Brett Howden and William Karlsson. Both are currently on LTIR, and the next 23 hours will probably give some kind of indication of when the Golden Knights expect them to return.
If Howden and Karlsson don’t return this season, the Golden Knights will be worse for it; however, they would find themselves with ample salary cap space. Because of the changes to the CBA, teams won’t receive full salary cap relief for injured players unless they’re ruled out for the remainder of the season. And to this point, neither Karlsson nor Howden has been ruled out.
So, for the sake of the argument, let’s say that both Karlsson and Howden will return from injury this season. If that is the case, it creates an interesting problem. Putting aside the issue of salary cap space, the Golden Knights would simply have too many bottom-six forwards. Really, it would be an embarrassment of riches.
The addition of Cole Smith and Nic Dowd can mean one of two things.
The first option is that they want to spark some internal competition. The Golden Knights haven’t gotten enough offense from their bottom-six, and head coach Bruce Cassidy said as such after the team’s 3-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres.
“In general, our secondary scoring has kind of been an issue for us. We need that to win games,” said Cassidy on Tuesday. “I think there’s some guys in our lineup, at the bottom of the lineup, that have typically scored more. So far, that hasn’t happened.
“That’s how one-goal losses happen, right?” Cassidy continued. “You get a goal here or there, all of a sudden you’re getting one-goal wins… We’ve seen that quite a bit this year, and we need some guys to get to their level offensively. It’ll make it easier on everyone else.”
Is it a coincidence that the Golden Knights brought in the first of two new bottom-six forwards mere hours after Cassidy’s comments? Maybe. But probably not.
The second– and more intriguing– option is that the Golden Knights are preparing to make another trade.
Over the past few years, general manager Kelly McCrimmon has earned a reputation for bold, unexpected moves at or around the Trade Deadline. He made one just over a month ago, when the Golden Knights won the Rasmus Andersson sweepstakes.
Andersson hasn’t yet lived up to his full potential, but it would be fair to say no one on the team has. Despite leading the Pacific Division, this 2025-26 iteration of the Golden Knights is frustratingly inconsistent. They entered the season as favorites to contend for the Stanley Cup, but so far, they’ve played like a team destined to lose in the second round.
Maybe acquiring Andersson won’t be McCrimmon’s only big move. Maybe, just maybe, he has something diabolical up his sleeve, something no one expects.
It would hardly be the first time.
By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes...
