Former Stanley Cup champ keeps ‘the dream alive,’ signs with Knights

The 32-year-old ventured to Las Vegas by himself after joining the Golden Knights on a professional tryout agreement. His wife Meaghan and their two kids, Tucker and Poppy, stayed back in Kitchener, Ontario.

That meant Pearson spent almost a month without his family and had to adjust to the three-hour time difference between them.

“(It was) a lot of FaceTime,” Pearson said.

But not anymore. Pearson’s family will soon join join him in Las Vegas after he signed a one-year, $775,000 contract with the Knights on Friday.

“It’s nice to, you could say, keep the dream alive,” Pearson said. “It’s a lot of hard work and being positive throughout the way. I thought I’ve done a good job of that, but it’s nice to stick around.”

Pearson earned his way onto the Knights’ roster.

He arrived to camp ready to compete for the vacant spot at fourth-line left wing and stood out from the jump. He was a natural fit playing with center Brett Howden and right wing Keegan Kolesar.

Pearson does many of the things that left wing William Carrier, who signed a six-year deal with the Carolina Hurricanes in the offseason, used to do for the Knights. Pearson brings a north-south mindset, battles for the puck and is willing to get to the front of the net.

He has two goals and an assist in four preseason games. Pearson is set to play in the Knights’ final exhibition game Saturday against the San Jose Sharks at T-Mobile Arena.

“Being paired up with (Howden and Kolesar) from the get-go, I was asking a lot of questions, trying to help myself out as much as I could, selfishly,” Pearson said. “They’ve done a great job communicating with me. Hopefully we can just play simple hockey and wear teams down and create chances that way.”

A long road

Pearson, who has 285 points in 644 NHL games, has been through a lot the past few years. But he never thought about quitting.

He had three surgeries after breaking his hand in the 2022-23 season with the Vancouver Canucks. He was then traded to the Montreal Canadiens in September 2023. Things didn’t get much better. He broke both his hands and only appeared in 54 games last season.

“I think the Vancouver situation, I just took it day by day and see what the next day entailed. Got to the point where you can do more things than the day before, and it’s just been progressing,” Pearson said. “I always wanted to play again.”

Pearson spent the summer rehabbing and feels the best he has in two years. Now the former Stanley Cup champion with the Los Angeles Kings in 2014 gets to play for a contender again.

“Part of the reason he came here is because of what we’re trying to accomplish, and that’s win a Cup,” coach Bruce Cassidy said. “He wants to be part of that mix.”

Cassidy said one thing that’s stood out so far is Pearson’s pace.

Cassidy knew the two-time 20-goal scorer could finish, but he didn’t know how good Pearson’s conditioning would be after so much time off. Now Cassidy is excited to see what Pearson can do on the fourth line.

“I have a lot of value for the fourth line, so to speak. He’s been a really good fit there, and we’ve been looking to replace that,” Cassidy said. “It’s not just, ‘OK, who’s the last guy and we’ll shove him in there and play him six minutes.’ It’s an important part. He’s done a good job in that role.”

Roster almost set

The Knights’ four lines are set with Pearson signed. That means the only major decision they have left before submitting their initial roster Monday is who their 13th forward will be.

The extra forwards at Friday’s practice were Zach Aston-Reese, Tanner Laczynski and Jonas Rondbjerg. All three must go through waivers if the Knights want to assign them to Henderson in the American Hockey League.

Cassidy said the team will have a better idea of what it wants to do after Saturday’s game.

“We’re going to get through another exhibition game, and we’ll have to make a decision,” Cassidy said.

Pearson won’t have to go into the game worried about earning his spot. He’s secured his contract and kept his NHL dreams afloat.

His next task? Getting his family to town.

“I’ve missed them a whole bunch,” Pearson said. “To see them again will be great.”

Contact Danny Webster at dwebster@reviewjournal.com. Follow @DannyWebster21 on X.