The Athletic highlights the Golden Knights' growing prospect problem

Just a few months ago, Pavel Dorofeyev represented the future of the Golden Knights. After his trade to the New York Rangers in June, Trevor Connelly now sits atop Vegas' prospect rankings. On September 3, The Athletic's top prospect writer, Scott Wheeler, gave us his Top 145 NHL Prospects, with Connelly as the lone Golden Knights representative.

The Athletic considers Connelly a Support player

Wheeler broke down his prospects in five tiers: MVP, Franchise, All-Star, Star, and Support. Right now, Connelly, 19th overall in 2023,  is just one of four first-round picks the Golden Knights have made this decade, along with Juho Piiparinen (29th - 2026), David Edstrom (32nd - 2023), Zach Dean (30th - 2021), and Brendan Brisson (29th - 2020), with Brisson the only one to skate in the NHL thus far.

Meanwhile, Piiparinen, the club's 2026 first-round pick, will spend another season developing with Tappara in Finland after signing his entry-level contract. The rest of Vegas' recent first-round picks have already been moved to bolster the NHL roster.

David Edstrom was traded to the San Jose Sharks as part of the Tomas Hertl deal; Zach Dean was shipped to the St. Louis Blues for Ivan Barbashev, and Brendan Brisson was later dealt to the New York Rangers in the trade that brought Riley Smith back to Vegas. Those moves have helped keep the Golden Knights in Stanley Cup contention, but they've also left Connelly as the organization's top prospect.

After a few solid seasons in the USHL with Tri-City Storm, he played one year at Providence College, where he saw a significant drop in points as a freshman. However, a short season allowed him to debut with the Henderson Silver Knights, where he has scored 15 goals and 53 points in 52 games over the past two seasons.  

In addition to winning a Bronze Medal at the Hlinka Gretzky Cup, he followed that performance with a Silver Medal at the U18 WJC and a Gold Medal at the U20 WJC, proving he could contribute on championship-caliber teams at the junior level, but in secondary roles.

Are the Golden Knights in prospect trouble?

As one of the top teams in the NHL, one that came within two victories of a second Stanley Cup title in four seasons, the Golden Knights are in a win-now mode. Much like several other contending teams, such as the Florida Panthers and Colorado Avalanche, who had no prospects in Wheeler's Top 145, these organizations all have one thing in common. They have sacrificed the future for hopes of winning today.

However, one day in the future, when these teams' cores have aged out - especially in Vegas's case with Mitch Marner, Jack Eichel, and even Mark Stone - future elite prospects will be the only thing to keep them competitive. As with the Panthers last year, who went from back-to-back Stanley Cup champions to the bottom of the Atlantic Division, injuries sabotaged the season, and no one could fill the gaps.

Unfortunately, that same situation could play out in Vegas if the team's stars all went down with significant injuries. It's the risk that Kelly McCrimmon has chosen to take, and there is a certain level of success that comes with that gamble. But it can also derail the future.