Pavel Dorofeyev game-time decision for Golden Knights’ season opener
Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy provided an update on Pavel Dorofeyev’s status on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s home opener against the Los Angeles Kings.
Cassidy says he anticipates Pavel Dorofeyev will play tomorrow but still considers him a gametime decision.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) October 7, 2025Cassidy told the media on Tuesday that he anticipates that Dorofeyev will play tomorrow. However, with his injury not fully healed, he’s still considered a game-time decision.
Dorofeyev has missed a majority of the preseason after playing just four shifts and 4:07 of ice time in a 3-1 loss to the Kings on September 23rd. His timeline has been day-to-day since then, so his status for Wednesday’s season opener was still in doubt.
Dorofeyev had no points in his lone preseason appearance.
It’s unclear who will play alongside Tomas Hertl and Brandon Saad on the third line while Dorofeyev is out of the lineup. Among the three players who got ice time of note on that line in the preseason, Braeden Bowman and Raphael Lavoie did not make the Golden Knights’ roster, while Alexander Holtz is currently without a contract, as he was playing on a professional tryout contract during the preseason.
Dorofeyev is coming off of a breakout season in 2024-25, where he had a team-leading 35 goals, along with 17 assists and 52 points, in 82 games last season. He was excellent defensively that season as well, with a -0.151 5v5 regularized adjusted plus-minus expected goals against per 60 minutes, which was second among Golden Knights forwards and 37th among all forwards with 500 minutes of ice time.
Dorofeyev also had one goal and one assist for two points in eight playoff games as the Golden Knights were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the Edmonton Oilers.
Dorofeyev is entering the final year of a two-year contract with a $1.835 million cap hit, and is set to become a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next summer. According to AFP Analytics, he’s expected to get around $7.25 million a year for five years with his next deal.
The Golden Knights’ season opener against the Kings kicks off at 7 p.m. PST on Wednesday.