Craig on Golden Knights' mindset entering season: 'We're starting over'
New coach expects internal competition during shortened camp in order to figure out 'who we are'
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The NHL has shortened training camp and added two games to the regular season, and Vegas has a lot of work to do to compete for the Stanley Cup again.
Expect tweaks under the 44-year-old, who landed his first NHL head coaching job June 17, three days after the Golden Knights lost to the Carolina Hurricanes in Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final.
The plan includes playing both goalies, putting a puck-mover on each defense pair, involving the defense more in the offense and making center Jack Eichel more of a shooter on the power play. There will be internal competition.
“We’re starting over,” Craig said. “It’s a new year. Everything’s left to be accomplished now. It’s a different group. We’re not the exact same group that finished, and nobody is. Us, like everybody else, we’ll go through a different training camp. We’ll go through an 84-game schedule.
“We will stack, we will build, we will harden ourselves in the areas we need to, so that when the things get hard and the season gets harder and the time of year gets harder, we’re ready for it, and we know who we are.”
The Golden Knights will have two days of practice before opening the preseason at the Los Angeles Kings on Saturday (9 p.m. ET; SCRIPPS). Like the rest of the NHL, they are limited to four preseason games. Veterans of 100 NHL games are limited to two.
That’s especially challenging for a team with a rookie head coach. The Golden Knights open the regular season against the Chicago Blackhawks at T-Mobile Arena on Sept. 29 (10:30 p.m. ET; ESPN).
“I think just the urgency to get your work accomplished early is going to be a priority for our team this year,” Vegas general manager Kelly McCrimmon said.
Inside look at the Vegas Golden Knights ahead of the 2026-27 season
That said, Craig has been with the organization since it joined the NHL in 2017-18, spending the first six years as a Vegas assistant and the past three as the head coach of Henderson of the American Hockey League.
He has relationships with players from his Vegas and Henderson days, and he has spent time in the offseason developing relationships with others, like forward Mitch Marner, who is entering his second season with the Golden Knights.
“I’ve been able to talk to ‘Craiger’ quite a bit throughout the summer, so I’m excited to get to work with him and see what he can do,” Marner said.
Craig implemented the same system in Henderson that the Golden Knights used to win the Stanley Cup in 2023. Much will remain the same.
“I believe in the way that we’ve played here,” Craig said. “Our players believe in how we play here.”
John Tortorella tweaked some things after taking over for Bruce Cassidy with eight games to go last season, and Craig will too.
Carter Hart finished the regular season strong under Tortorella and was the only goalie to play for Vegas in the playoffs. Adin Hill, who had 14 starts during the championship run in 2023 but struggled last season, sat on the bench.
Although Hart enters this season in the driver’s seat, Craig declined to use terms like “starter” or “backup” -- or even 1A or 1B. He said each goalie had a good offseason and should come back motivated.
“Both goalies are going to play,” Craig said. “We’re going to see that early. They’ve added two games to the schedule. It’s not an Olympic year with a condensed schedule. But for us to get to where we want to go, it means playing over a hundred games, and most goaltenders aren’t playing 60-plus games anymore, even 50-plus games. You want to be at your best, just like we want our team to be at our best at the right time of the year. We need both guys to play. We believe we have two very good goalies here.”
The Golden Knights lost forward Pavel Dorofeyev, who led them with 72 goals, including 33 on the power play, over the past two seasons and signed a seven-year, $77 million contract with the New York Rangers on July 1. But there are reasons to think Vegas can replace his production.
Forward Victor Olofsson, who set an NHL career high with 28 goals in 75 games for the Buffalo Sabres in 2022-23 and had 15 goals for the Golden Knights in 56 games in 2024-25, signed a one-year, $1.64 million contract July 2.
Center William Karlsson and captain Mark Stone are healthy after missing 68 and 22 games last season, respectively.
After playing different positions with different players throughout his first season in Vegas, Marner eventually settled in with Karlsson and Brett Howden in the playoffs, when he led the postseason with 29 points (10 goals, 19 assists) in 22 games.
“Mitch will be given an opportunity to build on the chemistry he has developed with those guys, and hopefully we can stay with it,” Craig said.
Howden has never scored more than 23 goals in the regular season, but he led Vegas with 14 goals in 22 playoff games and might be able to take another step with Marner.
Eichel had 27 goals last season but only one on the power play, and it didn’t come until the second-to-last game, a 6-2 win against the Winnipeg Jets on April 13. McCrimmon indicated without Dorofeyev on the power play Vegas could put Eichel in position to be more of a shooter.
On defense, the Golden Knights likely will deploy puck-movers Shea Theodore, Rasmus Andersson and Noah Hanifin on different pairs, complemented by the more defensive-minded Brayden McNabb, Parker Wotherspoon and Jeremy Lauzon. McCrimmon said the defense likely will be more involved in the offense.
“The game has become so much more of a five-man attack and support everywhere,” Craig said. “I think just with the skill level there is and how teams defend, how teams check, that you need everybody involved in that.”
Forward Braeden Bowman, who had 26 points (eight goals, 18 assists) in 54 games in Vegas and 26 points (12 goals, 14 assists) in 20 games in Henderson last season, signed a six-year, $20.4 million contract ($3.4 million average annual value) that will begin with the 2027-28 season Thursday.
A group of players will be fighting for the final three or four forward spots.
“We’ve got a number players in Henderson we think are going to be NHL players at some point,” McCrimmon said. “Ryan will have a real good understanding of what those players are all about.”
Especially with camp so short, the internal competition will continue into the season.
“There’s only going to be a certain number of spots when we break camp, but there’s lots to play for, whether it’s making sure you solidify your spot in our organization or leaving here with the coaches saying, ‘Well, we’ve got to see this guy again when an opportunity arises,’” Craig said. “Our guys understand that. They do. You don’t always break camp and end up in the NHL.
“We saw that with Braedan Bowman last year. This is his first time coming into training camp trying to solidify himself as a full-time NHL player. Each guy has their own individual story and what they’re trying to accomplish or get. Everyone should come in here trying to make our team.”
