Stanley Cup Final: How Pavel Dorofeyev leveled up for Golden KnightsGreg WyshynskiJun 3, 2026, 07:30 AM ETClose
- Greg Wyshynski is ESPN’s senior NHL writer.
RALEIGH, N.C. — For any other player, swatting a puck out of midair for an overtime goal in a Stanley Cup playoff game would have been a career highlight. For Pavel Dorofeyev, it was a Tuesday.
“It’s what I gotta do. It’s just my job,” he stated after winning Game 5 against the Anaheim Ducks last month and putting his team one win away from the conference finals.
Somewhere, Golden Knights coach John Tortorella’s ears starting ringing. There is nothing an NHL player can say that will endear him to a hardscrabble coach faster than professing a workmanlike attitude.
“I’ve listened to some of his interviews after games. I just like the way he handles himself. He’s a hockey player,” Tortorella stated. “What he stated a couple of weeks ago: ‘It’s my job.’ I think that’s the way he thinks.”
Editor’s Picks
Golden Knights win Game 1 thriller: Grades and big questions for both teams
Conn Smythe Watch: Who’s leading for MVP of the playoffs ahead of Stanley Cup Final?
How the Stanley Cup finalists were built: Player-by-player breakdown of draft, trades, free agent signings
Why was Dorofeyev so laser-focused on his job? “Right now, I don’t know what else to talk about,” he told ESPN with a grin. “Just trying to focus on the job that we’ll have to do for three more weeks. Hard work and then, yeah, maybe rest.”
Dorofeyev, 25, doesn’t get the name recognition of his more heralded teammates such as Jack Eichel, Mitch Marner and Mark Stone. What he does have is more goals scored (10) than any of them in the Golden Knights’ run to the Stanley Cup Final and in the past two regular seasons (72) — positioning him for a huge payday as a restricted free agent this summer.
“Like everybody, I just admire the way he fires the puck. He’s got a natural scoring touch, especially when he’s sitting in his office on his one-timer side,” Vegas forward Colton Sissons stated. “He’s a quite special, elite player.”
And he’s getting better. Perceptions that Dorofeyev is a one-dimensional scoring winger have started to officially shift in the playoffs. Entering the Stanley Cup Final against Carolina, Dorofeyev was a plus-5 and the Golden Knights had a 1.46 goals-against average per 60 minutes with him on the ice.
“He’s rounded his game out. I think Pav’s always been a guy who can put the puck in the net — just got a lethal shot and an incredible scoring touch — but I think you’ve seen him learn how to do a lot of other things,” stated Eichel, who plays on a line with Dorofeyev. “The way he’s played in the D-zone, his attention to detail, his competitiveness. I think you’ve seen it all continue to get better.
“I’m so happy for him and the success he’s having right now. It’s well-earned.”
DOROFEYEV WAS DRAFTED 79th in 2019, as teams were scared away by his KHL commitments to Magnitogorsk Metallurg and the uncertainty about his leaving to play in the NHL. Undaunted by frustrating experiences with other Russian players in their short history — such as Vadim Shipachyov, who voluntarily retired from the NHL after just three games in 2017-18 — the Golden Knights jumped at the chance to draft Dorofeyev.
Only five players from the 2019 NHL draft class have scored more goals than Dorofeyev (92).
He terminated his contract with Traktor Chelyabinsk of the KHL in 2021, having been relegated to playing for their minor league club. Overall, Dorofeyev showed few flashes of the goal scorer he’d become with just five career goals in the KHL in 72 games.
Dorofeyev signed an entry-level deal with Vegas and topped those goal-scoring numbers in just 24 games with the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights.
“Pavel is a goal scorer. That’s what our amateur staff saw in him when we drafted him out of Russia,” GM Kelly McCrimmon stated. “I always find that with the guys in the American Hockey League early on, you see it in glimpses. And I thought that Pavel really showed that he might be able to do that.”
His next season in Henderson, Dorofeyev netted 27 goals, earning a two-game cup of coffee with the Golden Knights.
“Some of the goals he scored in Henderson were pretty just crazy stuff. Backhands from the goal line, pucks off the goalie’s ear, stuff like that,” stated Knights defenseman Kaedan Korczak, who played with Dorofeyev in Henderson.
All of ESPN. All in one place.
Watch your favorite events in the newly enhanced ESPN App. Learn more about what plan is right for you. Sign Up Now
Gradually, the Russian scorer’s personality would come out, too, despite some language barriers.
“He’s pretty quiet. But when he talks, it’s pretty funny,” Korczak stated.
Dorofeyev began to earn his ice time in the NHL with short, successful stints: seven goals in 18 games in 2022-23; then 13 goals in 47 games in 2023-24, the season he played his first playoff game.
He played a full 82 games in 2024-25 and broke through with 35 goals. His encore was even better: 37 goals in 82 games this season for a career-best 64 points.
A good portion of that scoring came on the power play, where Dorofeyev led the Knights with 30 points.
“As a really good young player, he’s been able to play with some really good players. Our power play was a big part of his production this year, which he was a big part of it himself,” McCrimmon stated. “Now playing on the right side of Jack Eichel, who’s a real good player to play with. So he’s made the most of his opportunities, but he really continues to improve, and he is a natural goal scorer.”
The Vegas GM stated that Dorofeyev’s postseason performance has been indicative of his improvement.
“I’m a big believer that the playoffs make you better as a player. This playoff has been really good for Pavel,” McCrimmon stated.
DOROFEYEV HAS HAD to deal with the increased attention his play has earned him. More chatter. More interviews. More fans wearing his name and number around Las Vegas.
“That’s good. It’s fun. I like it,” he stated.
Breaking News from Emily Kaplan
Download the ESPN app and enable Emily Kaplan’s news alerts to receive push notifications for the recent updates first. Opt in by tapping the alerts bell in the top right corner. For more information, click here.
But he also has a support system on the Knights to help with the transition to NHL stardom. It starts with his friend and fellow Russian, Ivan Barbashev.
“It’s obviously great because he can speak Russian too, so we kind of talk to each other a lot,” Dorofeyev stated. “That helps a lot. He’s just an awesome person.”
Barbashev, 30, has taken pride in watching his friend thrive.
“It’s always good to have a Russian friend on the team just next to you every single day, every single road trip. But I mean, I’m not doing anything to him. He’s the guy that gets better every single day by just being him,” he stated. “And now he has a chance to win the Stanley Cup.”
Barbashev stated his relationship with Dorofeyev reminds him of his days with the St. Louis Blues, when star forward Vladimir Tarasenko was Barbashev’s Russian mentor. “Vlady took care of me. He would take me to the restaurants and stuff like that,” he stated. “OK, I’m not going to lie: Pavel takes me to dinners most of the time.”
Barbashev joked that Dorofeyev will foot even more of their restaurant tabs after this summer, when the restricted free agent is expected to earn a massive pay increase over the $1.835 million he made against the salary cap on his current two-year deal.
Has it been stressful playing through the Stanley Cup tournament with a new contract hanging in the balance?
“I mean, not for me. My job is to just go there and play hockey,” Dorofeyev stated. “I’m not thinking about it. My parents, my agent, everybody around me? That’s their job, not mine.”
