The Vegas Golden Knights have acquired forward Reilly Smith from the New York Rangers in exchange for centre Brendan Brisson and a 2025 third-round draft pick.
Smith Returns to Sin City After Hoisting Cup There in 2023
Smith, a veteran left-shooting right winger, will return to Vegas for another Stanley Cup run. He was one of the original “Misfits” in their inaugural 2017-18 season, being traded there by the Florida Panthers at the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft and played there for six seasons through 2022-23, when he hoisted the Cup. Most notably, he scored the Cup-clinching goal in Game 5 versus the Panthers.
Smith has 10 goals and 19 assists for 29 points in 58 games this season for the Rangers, who acquired him last July from the Pittsburgh Penguins for a pair of picks. He is in the final season of a three-year contract that pays him $5 million annually he signed with the Golden Knights in 2022, which he only played one season of in Vegas before being dealt to the Penguins. The 33 year old, originally drafted in the third round (69th overall) by the Dallas Stars in 2009, will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
Related: 2025 NHL Trade Deadline Tracker
In 898-career games between the Stars, Boston Bruins, Panthers, Golden Knights, Penguins, and Rangers, Smith has 223 goals and 319 assists for 542 points and 79 points in 106-career playoff games. He’s someone general manager Kelly McCrimmon will hope can be seamlessly integrated into his team’s lineup as they attempt to remain in the top spot in the Pacific Division until the end of the season to get the most-favourable first-round playoff matchup.
Rangers Sell Off Likely Departing Asset for Future Ones
The Rangers, who have had a disappointing campaign overall but are still in the hunt for a wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference, likely weren’t going to re-sign Smith this offseason, so flipping him for a prospect and future asset makes sense.
Brisson, a 2020 first-round Golden Knights pick (29th overall), has five goals and 14 assists for 19 points in 45 games with the Henderson Silver Knights this season and zero points in nine games for the Golden Knights. In 24-career NHL games, the 23-year-old has two goals and six assists for eight points. The Rangers assigned him to their American Hockey League affiliate, the Hartford Wolf Pack.
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The third-round 2025 pick is the one the Golden Knights received from the San Jose Sharks as part of the deal that brought Tomas Hertl to Vegas at last year’s deadline.