The Vegas Golden Knights have signed restricted free agents Cole Schwindt, Jonas Rondbjerg and Raphael Lavoie to one-year contracts, the club announced Sunday.
The deals come one week after Vegas extended qualifying offers to all three forwards on June 30.
Schwindt signed a one-year, $825,000 contract, while Ronbjerg and Lavoie signed one-year, two-way deals with cap hits of $775,000 at the NHL level, according to Puck Pedia.
Cole Schwindt
Schwindt is coming off his first season with the Golden Knights after Vegas claimed him off waivers last October.
Before joining Vegas, the 6-foot-2, 203-pound 24-year-old had just seven games of NHL experience under his belt (three with Florida, four with Calgary).
But Schwindt — who was traded by Florida to Calgary in 2022 as part of the Jonathan Huberdeau and MacKenzie Weegar for Matthew Tkachuk trade — quickly earned Bruce Cassidy’s trust and played 42 games on Vegas’ fourth line, scoring one goal and eight points.
Schwindt made his playoff debut in Game 5 against the Oilers; he played just 5:54 in the elimination game.
Schwindt likely will serve as the 13th forward to start the season.
Jonas Rondbjerg
Rondbjerg was drafted in the third round (No. 65 overall) of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft and is now the longest tenured Vegas draft pick remaining in the system, as Cody Glass, Nick Suzuki, Erik Brannstrom, Nicolas Hague and Jake Leschyshyn were all selected before Rondbjerg but have all been traded).
The 26-year-old recorded zero points in 13 games with Vegas this past season and has three goals and 10 points in 76 career regular-season games, all with the Golden Knights. Rondbjerg scored 11 goals and 26 points in 53 games with the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights last season.
He will represent Denmark in the winter Olympics in February after being named as one of the first six players on the preliminary roster released last month.
Rondbjerg should continue to be one of the first call-ups for the Golden Knights.
Raphael Lavoie
Lavoie played ping-pong on waivers last year after getting claimed by Vegas, waived by Vegas, claimed by Edmonton, waived by Edmonton and then claimed again by Vegas.
When all was said and done, he skated in nine games for the Golden Knights but did not record a point. However, he was effective in limited time with the big club, using his 6-foot-4, 215-pound frame as another bottom-six option for Cassidy.
Despite not yet recording a point at the NHL level, Lavoie led Henderson last year in goals with 17 while adding 10 assists for an output of 27 points in 42 games.
Like Rondbjerg, Lavoie likely will be one of the first call-ups for the Golden Knights next season.
Forward Alexander Holtz and defenseman Lukas Cormier are the only remaining restricted free agents on Vegas’ roster.