Ex-Knights star center returns to Las Vegas with Kraken

It won’t be Chandler Stephenson’s first time in a return game Saturday against the Golden Knights, but this one might carry more weight.

Stephenson will make his first visit to T-Mobile Arena since signing a seven-year contract with the Seattle Kraken in the offseason.

The 30-year-old from Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, will face his former team for the second time this season. Stephenson joined Seattle on July 1 by signing a $43.75 million contract after spending the past 4½ seasons with the Knights.

“I imagine he’s going to have a great reception,” Knights center Jack Eichel said. “He deserves one.”

Stephenson played 327 games with the Knights as a top-six fixture. He totaled 237 points and was an All-Star in the 2021-22 season.

Seattle and Stephenson will carry a three-game losing streak into the matchup. The Kraken lost 3-1 to the Chicago Blackhawks on Thursday at United Center.

The Kraken were set to practice Friday at T-Mobile Arena, but the team had to stay overnight in Chicago because of airplane issues and Stephenson was not made available for comment.

But Stephenson found his groove before the losing streak with eight points in his last 10 games.

“Chandler just does everything well,” Seattle general manager Ron Francis said. “We ask him to play five-on-five and produce offense. He’s done that. We ask him to kill penalties. He’s done that. We asked him to be on the power play. He’s done that. For important faceoffs, he’s the guy that goes over the boards for our coaching staff and our team in those situations.”

This will be the fifth time this season the Knights welcome back former players from last season. They did so with William Carrier (Carolina), Michael Amadio (Ottawa), Logan Thompson (Washington) and Anthony Mantha, Brayden Pachal and Daniil Miromanov (Calgary).

Stephenson already shook off the nerves from facing his former team and came out on the winning side with Seattle’s 4-3 overtime victory Nov. 8 at Climate Pledge Arena.

He will make his first appearance at T-Mobile Arena as a visiting player for the first time since Dec. 4, 2018, when he was with the Washington Capitals.

Stephenson isn’t foreign to the tribute video. He received one in his first game back to Capital One Arena on Jan. 24, 2022 — more than two years after the Knights traded for him in December 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stephenson received a warm welcome and was remembered as the fourth-line winger who was part of Washington’s Stanley Cup-winning team in 2018, when the Capitals defeated the Knights in five games.

This time, Stephenson will be remembered as that fourth-line forward who turned into a No. 1 center with the Knights and was instrumental in helping them win the Stanley Cup in 2023.

“He was a huge part of our team for all the years he was here,” Eichel said. “Huge part of us winning.”

The Knights will spend postgame catching up with their former teammate, but there’s still the matter of winning the game first. The Knights have won six of their last seven games and are coming off a 3-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.

“It was definitely tough to see him leave, but so happy for him,” Eichel said.

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