The Vegas Golden Knights placed defenseman Lukas Cormier on waivers Wednesday, and the move lands with a thud for anyone who watched Henderson last season.
Cormier put up 47 points in 49 games for the Silver Knights in 2025-26. Thirty-nine of those were assists.
And now every other NHL club gets a free look at him. A puck-moving blue liner sitting on the wire in October rarely sits there long.
The timing is strange. The Golden Knights are 8-3-0 and lead their division, but they just got torched 6-2 at home by Tampa Bay on Tuesday night.
Parker Wotherspoon is also sidelined with an upper-body injury, expected out until at least Nov. 8. So the organization's defensive depth just got thinner on paper.
The 24-year-old from Sainte-Marie-de-Kent, New Brunswick, was a third-round pick, 68th overall in 2020. He's been chasing a full-time NHL job ever since.
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Kelly McCrimmon risks losing a puck mover for nothing
Money isn't the problem here. Cormier carries an $850,000 cap hit through 2026-27, then becomes a restricted free agent.
His NHL resume is two games and one assist, both from 2023-24. That's a tiny sample for a player who keeps producing a level down.
It hasn't been a straight line, though. He went minus-30 across 58 AHL games in 2023-24, then appeared in only 19 games the following season.
Then came last year's breakout. Picture a restaurant that finally nails its signature dish, then pulls it off the menu the same week the reviews come in.
He added five points in six playoff games, too. The offensive instincts go back to Charlottetown, where he posted 81 points in 62 QMJHL games in 2021-22.
So what does Vegas know that the AHL scoresheet doesn't?
The current group offers a hint. Jeremy Lauzon has no points through 11 games, while Brayden McNabb carries a +13 rating at 35 years old.
Ryan Craig took over behind the bench in June. Through the first month, his blue line leans heavily on veterans who defend first and ask questions later.
This is a bad gamble. A left-shot defenseman coming off the best pro season of his career, on a near-minimum deal, is exactly what a contender should be stashing.
The Golden Knights open a two-game road trip Thursday in St. Louis, with Columbus up next on Saturday.
If Cormier clears, nobody else wanted him at that price and McCrimmon looks smart. If he doesn't, some rival walks away with the defenseman Henderson spent four seasons building.
Are the Golden Knights making a mistake by exposing Lukas Cormier to waivers?
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