Rangers’ Dorofeyev relishes pressure of living up to big new contract
Pavel Dorofeyev experienced one of the lowest lows an NHL player can reach. Then, at least in theory, things got worse.
It was late June, and he was feeling the fresh sting of losing in the Stanley Cup Final, his Vegas Golden Knights winning 14 of the 16 games required to lift the chalice but falling to the Carolina Hurricanes. He’d done his part to help the championship push to the best of his ability, scoring 12 goals in 22 games, but it wasn’t enough.
“It’s a tough break. I don’t know what to say. It sucks to lose, and you’re thinking, ‘Maybe I hate this sport,’ and, ‘I don’t want to play for a while,’ for a couple of weeks,” Dorofeyev said with a laugh, speaking to a small group of reporters at the NHL Player Media Tour in September. “But when things settle down, you realize that was a great experience, even if you did not win. It was a tough battle, and it was worth it to go all the way down and fall short.”
Before he could finish processing the defeat, however, came the difficult conversation with Golden Knights GM Kelly McCrimmon and president of hockey ops George McPhee in the days leading up to the 2026 NHL Draft.
Dorofeyev, 25, was the team’s top goal scorer two years running, one of just 12 NHL players to bulge the twine at least 35 times in both the 2024-25 and 2025-26 seasons. He was due a massive raise on his $1.84-million salary-cap hit. The Golden Knights were tight against the cap, however, and wanted to re-sign pending UFA defenseman Rasmus Andersson. Dorofeyev was an RFA and a legitimate offer-sheet candidate. The Golden Knights understood they could only afford to keep one of Dorofeyev and Andersson. They made their choice and traded Dorofeyev to the New York Rangers June 26 for a 2026 first-round pick, 2026 third-round pick and 2028 conditional first-round pick. He immediately signed a seven-year extension at an $11-million AAV with the Blueshirts.
The life-changing contract had to make Dorofeyev smile. Yet the trade must’ve felt like a shiv between the ribs given what Dorofeyev had done for the Golden Knights across the previous couple seasons. They were punting away their top goal scorer in his prime. Were it any other franchise doing so, the news would’ve been shocking, but the Golden Knights are the NHL’s most ruthless wheeler-dealers, so coldly calculating that they even traded goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury – for pretty much nothing – less than a month after he won the Vezina Trophy in 2021.
Dorofeyev was the latest big-name casualty for a franchise that has jettisoned so many, and he didn’t take the news too personally. But not even the slightest chip settled onto his shoulder that day?
“No, not really,” Dorofeyev told Daily Faceoff. “I had a conversation with Kelly, George, so we just talked to each other about it, and sometimes it’s just part of the business. We said a warm goodbye to each other and said, ‘Thank you for everything,’ and appreciate each other.”
Even if the Vegas brass felt justified in re-signing Andersson over Dorofeyev, the other remaining Golden Knights, particularly Dorofeyev’s 2026 postseason linemate Jack Eichel, understood the void would be challenging to fill on the wings.
“Pav was a huge part of our team, there’s no question,” Eichel told Daily Faceoff at the Player Media Tour. “He was our leading goal scorer the last few years. [He has the] ability to score not only a lot of goals, but timely goals, and he had a huge impact on our group. But it’s part of the league – you see guys come in, you see guys go out, you move on. Pav, he’s an awesome teammate. I really enjoyed playing with him, getting to know him. I know he’s going to do great in New York.”
After the pain of losing and the blow of being dealt by the team to which Dorofeyev contributed so much came the transition of moving from a Pacific Division winner to the team who finished dead last in the Metropolitan Division last season.
Not that the Rangers planned on staying there. General manager Chris Drury, perhaps understanding his runway is getting shorter, had a busy offseason. On top of adding Dorofeyev and his blistering 93rd-percentile shot to bolster the Blueshirts’ scoring, he augmented the team’s D-corps, landing Marcus Pettersson from the Vancouver Canucks and, as part of a trade that cashed out veteran center Vincent Trocheck, Sean Durzi from the Utah Mammoth. With prospect center Cole Beaudoin also coming over in that deal, and 2026 first-round pick Alberts Smits making the team, the Rangers are trying to get younger and faster as they retool. They’re now the third-youngest team in the league by average age at 26.04.
They’ve roared to a 4-1-0 start in 2026-27. But their under-the-hood defensive metrics show they’re being pretty badly outchanced and relying on superstar goaltender Igor Shesterkin to carry them. If he falters or gets hurt, they’ll have to score their way out of trouble.
That’s where Dorofeyev will come in. He’s started slowly, with one goal and two points through five games. But the opportunities have been there; he leads the team in shots and shot attempts, and he’s second in individual scoring chances. The goals will pour in as long as he doesn’t press, and he’s not the type to buckle under the weight of his new contract.
“To me, it probably sucks as an athlete if you fear that type of challenge,” he said. “You just have to be a man and accept the challenge and do your best to just be the same way and not have to change much.”
Dorofeyev is excited to be a Ranger. Not only does he have a Russian contingent of teammates to help with the transition – he explained to Daily Faceoff that he already knew Shesterkin and Vladislav Gavrikov before the trade – but he’s relied on veteran forwards J.T. Miller and Mika Zibanejad for support.
“I think nobody will say no if I ask something,” Dorofeyev said.
And the Rangers couldn’t say no to the opportunity he provided them, even at a high cost. If Drury is to pull off the retool and put the Rangers on the path to matching the glory of their sibling, the NBA’s New York Knicks, the influx of new talent will be crucial. They believe Dorofeyev is a difference maker, and it seems he welcomes the idea that they’re right.
_____
POST SPONSORED BY bet365
_____