Pavel Dorofeyev has tied for the NHL playoff goal lead with 10 goals just as the Vegas Golden Knights head into the Stanley Cup Final, giving them a scorer who has arrived at the biggest moment of the year. Game 1 against the Carolina Hurricanes is set for Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET at Lenovo Center in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The 24-year-old forward said he is enjoying every game and leaning on veteran teammates while his postseason keeps growing. Dorofeyev finished the regular season with 37 goals and 20 power-play goals, numbers that helped establish him as one of Vegas’s most dangerous finishers before the playoffs even began.
His run also puts him in view for reasons that go beyond this series. Dorofeyev is in the final season of a two-year, $3.67 million contract he signed with Vegas on July 1, 2024, and he is a pending restricted free agent this summer. That has fueled speculation in Las Vegas media that he could become a candidate for an offer sheet from another team, a possibility that would only grow more realistic if he keeps adding to his playoff total while the Golden Knights are still chasing another championship.
Dorofeyev said the chance to play this deep into the spring has been as valuable as the goals themselves. He described the team as experienced and said the older players have shown him how to handle pressure and every situation that comes with it, whether things are going well or not. He also said that has helped him on and off the ice.
For Vegas, the timing is ideal and awkward at once. Dorofeyev’s scoring gives the Golden Knights another edge as they try to win the Stanley Cup for the second time in franchise history, but it also makes him harder to ignore once the Final ends. If the goal total keeps climbing, the summer conversation around him could move quickly from breakout story to contract fight.
