As we covered last week, a good chunk of the Vegas Golden Knights’ forward corps will be in need of new contracts come July 1. As it stands now, six forwards, representing 94 goals from this season’s club, are set to become free agents. And there’s uncertainty over the Vegas futures of nearly all of them.
Some, such as Jonathan Marchessault and Chandler Stephenson, may be able to earn bigger contracts than the Golden Knights can offer. Some, including William Carrier, Michael Amadio and Anthony Mantha, reportedly already know that they won’t be back with the organization next season. That likely leaves multiple spots to be filled up front, and addressing them internally with talented but inexperienced young forwards like Brendan Brisson, Paul Cotter and Jonas Rondbjerg will only go so far.
So, after focusing on the team’s own free agents, now we shift to available free agents who Vegas could bring into the fold to help fill some of these potential gaps. Here are four forwards who could be possible fits for the Golden Knights:
Elias Lindholm
Chances are, Vegas will need to fill a top-six slot this summer. While high-volume goal scorers like Steven Stamkos and Sam Reinhart will surely be tempting targets and worth checking in on, Elias Lindholm makes an awful lot of sense. Even amidst a difficult season split between the Calgary Flames and the Vancouver Canucks thanks to a mid-season trade, the 29-year-old Swede demonstrated his value as a versatile center in what was a down year.
Although 15 goals represented his lowest-scoring campaign in the past seven years, Lindholm still showcased elite face-off abilities (58.7%) and stellar two-way instincts as a defensive-minded forward. As one of the top forwards in the 2024 free agent class boosted by a rising cap, he still could be in for a considerable payday, but – fortunately for the Golden Knights – probably not the one he could’ve earned after his 42-goal campaign in 2021-22.
Tyler Toffoli
Look, those 94 goals aren’t exactly going to replace themselves. Sure, you can probably anticipate some additional goals from a full season of Tomas Hertl and internal development from the likes of Brisson, Cotter and Pavel Dorofeyev, who is a restricted free agent in his own right. Ultimately, though, outside help will surely be needed.
Enter Tyler Toffoli. The well-traveled 32-year-old has now played for a whopping six teams since the start of the 2019-20 season, but one constant amidst four trades and one free-agent signing has been his ability to put the puck in the net. Over that stretch, the 12-year veteran scored between 20 and 34 total goals each season while also recording 11 playoff goals in that time. There are higher-scoring wingers on the market, but Toffoli comes with the added benefit of likely being affordable (he earned $4.25 million last season).
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Sam Lafferty
The potential departures of Amadio and Carrier would create a void in the bottom-six, demanding the addition of some depth forwards. But as we saw with the failed Mantha acquisition, fit matters here too. That’s where Sam Lafferty could offer major value.
A critical part of the bottom-six (and occasional top-liner) with the Canucks this past season, Lafferty managed 13 goals and 24 points despite averaging less than 12 minutes of ice time per game. The 29-year-old offers the type of speed and physical edge that the Golden Knights would need to replace in the absence of Carrier while also enhancing some of the scoring balance throughout the lineup.
Warren Foegele
Talk about a contract year. Warren Foegele has opened eyes across the league thanks to a career-best 2023-24 season with the Stanley Cup Final-bound Edmonton Oilers. The 28-year-old reached the 20-goal mark for the first time this season and notched a career-high 41 points. Those totals should be taken with a grain of salt, however, as much of Foegele’s offense was buoyed by often playing with Leon Draisaitl.
Even if Foegele isn’t likely to reach 20 goals again without being flanked by Draisaitl, it may not matter. The Markham, Ontario native scored in the very first game of the club’s 2024 playoff run and hasn’t scored again. Yet he continues to contribute through the use of his 6-foot-2, 198-pound frame, delivering hits, blocking shots and protecting the puck, all key traits for bottom-six forwards. Even without the scoring, that would be a much-coveted skill set for the Golden Knights.
For a club known for their ambitious talent acquisition and star-hunting, the Golden Knights have historically been rather quiet in luring free agents from outside the organization, preferring to add via trade (with Alex Pietrangelo serving as the notable exception, of course). But Vegas is expected to have numerous holes to address and will likely need to use free agency as a tool to reconstruct what they hope to be another Cup-contending roster. It’s going to be an interesting summer.
