The Vegas Golden Knights have locked in center William Karlsson on a two-year extension with an AAV of $6.75 million, the club announced on Wednesday. That will keep Karlsson -- one of Vegas' original "Golden Misfits" -- with the team through 2028-29.
Karlsson, 33, joined the Golden Knights from Columbus in the 2017 expansion draft. He dressed in 570 regular season games for the franchise and ranks second in goals (156) and points (403) for the organization since their inaugural 2017-18 campaign. Karlsson helped the Golden Knights to a Stanley Cup victory in 2023, appearing in 22 games with 17 points.
Vegas has missed Karlsson for chunks of the last two seasons due to various injuries. He was limited to just 53 games in 2024-25 and then was sidelined after just 14 games in 2025-26 with a lower-body injury that kept Karlsson sidelined for the final 68 regular season tilts.
He was able to return for the playoffs though and suited up in 15 games to push Vegas into another Stanley Cup Final -- but Karlsson was injured in Game 5 and did not dress for Game 6, where the Golden Knights lost to Carolina.
When Karlsson is healthy, he's been a strong two-way performer for Vegas with great defensive upside and is perennially one of the club's most dangerous penalty killers. While Karlsson's offensive stats have lagged since a career-high 43 goal showing in 2017-18, he remains a good complement to Mitch Marner and Brett Howden on Vegas' second line heading into the just-launched 2026-27 campaign.
