Rangers finalize Pavel Dorofeyev's 7-year, $77M deal
Rangers' Pavel Dorofeyev, formerly of the Vegas Golden Knights, speaks to the media ahead of the 2026 Stanley Cup Final at Lenovo Center on June 1, 2026 in Raleigh, NC. Credit: Getty Images/Bruce Bennett
Four days after acquiring him in a blockbuster trade from the Vegas Golden Knights, and less than 24 hours before NHL free agency begins on Wednesday, the Rangers announced Tuesday night that they have signed winger Pavel Dorofeyev to a seven-year contract. According to a source, the deal carries an average annual value of $11 million.
The contract makes Dorofeyev, a 6-1, 194-pound left wing, the Rangers’ second-highest paid player, behind goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who earns an average of $11.56 million per year.
Although Dorofeyev’s contract terms were leaked at the time of the trade, final details still needed to be resolved. Consequently, when the Rangers announced the trade on Friday, the signing was not yet official. Because Dorofeyev, 25, was a restricted free agent, the Rangers extended him a qualifying offer on Monday to retain his negotiating rights before finalizing the seven-year deal 24 hours later.
Dorofeyev played all 82 games and scored 37 goals for Vegas in 2025-26, then added 12 more in 22 playoff games. He had 35 goals in 2024-25, his first full season with the Golden Knights, and has scored 92 goals in 231 games in his career.
With the Golden Knights struggling to stay under the $104 million salary cap — leaving them with just $7.38 million in available space according to PuckPedia— they were unable to retain Dorofeyev. The Rangers, on the other hand, possessed ample cap flexibility. On Friday, the teams finalized a deal sending three draft choices to Vegas: a first- and third-round pick from last weekend's draft, alongside a top-10 protected 2028 first-round selection.
The Golden Knights traded Friday’s first-round pick (No. 26 overall) to Montreal for pick No. 28, then flipped that selection to Anaheim for pick No. 29, where they selected Finnish defenseman Juho Piiparinen. With the third-round pick (No. 92), they drafted center Ben Wilmott.
Dorofeyev, a native of Nizhny Tagil, Russia, will instantly upgrade the Rangers’ top-six forward group and provide the scoring punch the team sorely lacked last season.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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