Reilly Smith Inks Deal To Stay With Golden Knights

Reilly Smith Inks Deal To Stay With Golden Knights

Insert Wolf of Wall Street meme here. After successfully re-acquiring Reilly Smith at the trade deadline, the Vegas Golden Knights are keeping him in the fold. Smith was set to hit free agency, but instead will stay with the club for another year.

Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet was the first to report the news. Smith re-signs with the VGK on a one-year deal worth $2 million, and even gets a no-trade clause with the deal.

1x$2M

— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) June 25, 2025

In the team-building post I did, I had Smith pegged for a three-year deal worth an AAV of $2.5 million. So we were pretty close in the estimate, the only difference is, there’s less term to drop the number. Every penny is going to count in the pursuit of Mitch Marner. I guess the only difference here is that Kelly McCrimmon may be planning a bonus-type structure once Smith hits age 35, which would be the case next offseason. Can’t hate the approach there.

Reilly Smith Thought ‘Career Was Over’ Before Joining Expansion Golden Knights

Smith, 34, posted 40 points in 79 games a year ago with a +10 rating. He was actually a +11 with the Golden Knights and a -1 with the Rangers. That should give you an indicator of how last season went. Smith looked out of place with the Penguins and Rangers, but he immediately started to find his groove once he got back to Vegas. Playing with his good buddy William Karlsson again on the third line seems to be the right place for him at this stage of his career.

A great start to the offseason for the VGK. Still work to be done.

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