Training camp is around the corner for the Vegas Golden Knights. Before the veterans report, rookies get first dibs.
The Knights’ brief but annual rookie camp begins Friday at City National Arena. They’ll fly to San Jose right after for two scrimmages, then come home before training camp gets going.
The Knights will have one practice on Friday at City National Arena before flying to San Jose for the Rookie Faceoff at TechCU Arena.
It’ll be a two-day business trip before flying back to Las Vegas. They’ll face the Utah Mammoth on Saturday, then the Colorado Avalanche on Sunday.
They’ll immediately fly home and get some of the rookies ready for main training camp that will start some time next week.
Here are three players to keep an eye on:
Trevor Connelly
Connelly’s appearance here is more for appearance. The Knights’ top prospect doesn’t need to prove anything when it comes to on-ice work against other rookies.
This is the warm-up to getting Connelly ready for what will be his first training camp since being taken in the first round in 2024. Injuries have kept him away from skating with the top club for the last two years.
Now that he’s healthy and coming off a stellar second half of the season with the Henderson Silver Knights, Connelly is on the fringe of making the Knights’ opening roster.
Given the makeup of the roster, it’s not a given that Connelly is there for the Sept. 29 season opener. He’ll get a lot of leeway during preseason to show that he’s ready for that step if need be.
Ben Hemmerling
Of those who took a leap last season in the AHL, Hemmerling was arguably the most surprising.
The sixth-round pick from 2022 exploded with 50 points in 68 games and was a plus-26 at five-on-five. Hemmerling was fourth on the Silver Knights in scoring as one of four players to score at least 50 points.
The talent isn’t out of the question for Hemmerling. He had 91 points in his final year of juniors with Everett of the Western Hockey League. Injuries derailed his first professional year in 2025, limiting him to 17 games.
With Connelly getting an extended look, Hemmerling might be seeing an increased role under first-year coach Joel Ward.
Pavel Moysevich
The Knights’ strength in development remains in the net. This will be the first look at Moysevich after playing the last two seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League and the All-Russian Hockey League.
Moysevich was selected with a third-round pick in the 2024 draft that was acquired from the Washington Capitals in the trade for former starting goalie Logan Thompson.
The 21-year-old is a big body (6-foot-6) who has put up tremendous numbers in every stop he’s been. He went 3-2-2 with a 1.25 goals-against average and .942 save percentage in 2023-24 with SKA St. Petersburg in the KHL.
The save percentage is the highest in a single KHL season for a goalie under 20 years old.
Moysevich joins a loaded goalie prospect room. With Carl Lindbom as the full-time No. 3 goalie and an NHL future in sight, that opens the door for competition in the AHL.
Cameron Whitehead, the Knights’ other talented prospect out of Northeastern, is the likely backup to Lindbom in Henderson.
Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.
