Expectations Keep Rising For 25-26 Golden Knights

The Golden Knights are coming off another Pacific Division crown, their fourth in eight seasons, and won their 12th playoff series in 18 tries. After making yet another big-time splash by bringing in Mitch Marner, Vegas will be in the spotlight once again to open the 2025-26 season.

The first round of predictions is starting to come along as media outlets search for content during hockey’s dead season, and with them VGK’s expectations continue to rise.

NHL Network recently asked two of its former player analysts to predict the standings in the Pacific Division. Both Mike Rupp and Stu Grimson not only listed the Golden Knights to win the division, but they spent almost no time on it, basically writing it off as a foregone conclusion.

And they aren’t the only ones. The Athletic polled its entire NHL staff, and the Golden Knights ruled the West. Of the 23 writers that voted, eight selected Vegas to win the Stanley Cup, tied for the most with Florida. No other team received more than three votes (Dallas) and only Colorado, Edmonton, and Winnipeg got a vote from the Western Conference. VGK were the most picked team to win the West and they received multiple votes to win the Presidents’ Trophy.

Finally, I was just scrolling through the forums on HFBoards and ran across a thread asking for the Top 5 and Bottom 5 teams in the league this season. I looked through three pages of comments and could not find a single person who left Vegas out of the Top 5. Plus, most people had VGK either in the top spot or at worst in the top three. Remember, these are NHL fans, not necessarily Golden Knights fans, and they all think VGK are among the best teams in the league.

Simply put, expectations on this year’s Golden Knights team could not be higher. A playoff berth is essentially considered a formality; failing to win the Pacific would be a letdown, and anything short of the Cup would quite frankly be a failure.

Historically, VGK have enjoyed the role as the underdogs (we’ve even picked on Mark Stone about it), but this year, they’ll reassume the role of the hunted.