The National Hockey League announced on Monday that Vegas Golden Knights forward Pavel Dorofeyev has been named the NHL’s First Star of the week.
Dorofeyev scored five goals in three games to kick off the 2025-26 season.
He currently leads the NHL in goals as well as power-play goals, as four of his five tallies have come on the man-advantage.
Dorofeyev is a huge reason why the Golden Knights have four points (1-0-2) despite winning just one of their first three games of the year.
He opened the season with a hat trick in the second period of Vegas’ 6-5 shootout loss to Los Angeles on Oct. 8, and he scored in Vegas’ 4-3 overtime win against San Jose on Oct. 9 as well as in its 2-1 overtime loss against Seattle on Oct. 11. He has scored at least one power-play goal in all three games.
Doroeyev is coming off a career-best 35-goal campaign, which led the team and set a franchise record for most goals by a Vegas draft pick. It is the third-highest goal total in team history, trailing William Karlsson’s 43 from the inaugural season and Jonathan Marchessault’s 42 from 2023-24.
Dorofeyev set career highs across the board last year, improving from 13 goals, 11 assists and 24 points in 2023-24 to 35 goals, 17 assists and 52 points in 2024-25.
Thirteen of Dorofeyev’s 35 goals last season were scored on the power play, which ranks second in club history behind only Tomas Hertl’s 14, also scored in 2024-25. The previous record was a tie between Erik Haula (11 in 2017-18) and Jack Eichel (11 in 2023-24).
Dorofeyev is currently on pace for 136 goals and 109 power-play goals this season. That rate is obviously not sustainable, but he’s on his way to putting together another impressive campaign in what happens to be a contract year.
Dorofeyev is in the final year of a two-year deal carrying an average annual value of $1.835 million, which has proven to be great value for Vegas. However, the soon-to-be 25-year-old (Oct. 26) is due a hefty pay raise on his next contract as a pending restricted free agent. Now that the Eichel deal is done, the Golden Knights’ next order of business will be re-signing the league’s hottest player.
Dorofeyev was originally drafted by Vegas in the third round (No. 79 overall) of the 2019 NHL Entry Draft. He has 60 goals and 90 points in 152 career games.
Shane Pinto of the Ottawa Senators was named the NHL’s Second Star of the week with two multi-goal performances for a total of four goals and five points in two games.
Florida’s Sergei Bobrovsky was named the Third Star after kicking off the season with a 3-0-0 record, a 1.67 goals-against average and a .925 save percentage. He helped the Panthers defeat the Blackhawks (3-2), Flyers (2-1) and Senators (6-2). Bobrovsky has backstopped the Panthers to back-to-back Stanley Cup championships.
Correction: The article previously misstated that Dorofeyev’s 35 goals set a franchise record; Dorofeyev’s 2024-25 goal total ranks third in team history behind William Karlsson, who scored 43 in 2017-18, and Jonathan Marchessault, who recorded 42 in 2023-24.