There’s a longstanding belief that many of the most important business deals happened on the golf course. For the Golden Knights, the business hasn’t actually happened on the course, but instead when Paul Cotter steps up to a specific hole.

I was actually on Hole 12. 12 seems to be the one for me I guess. Extension with Vegas on 12, hole-in-one on 12, and now the trade on 12. -Paul Cotter

So much so that it threw off his entire round, which he admitted wasn’t going well in the first place anyway.

I didn’t end up finishing, I think I was shaken the rest of the round. I was just flying around in the cart making calls. So, I might be skipping 12 for a little while. -Cotter

Cotter signed his extension with the Golden Knights on August 15th, 2022 after playing just seven NHL games at the time. He went on to play 131 games in the next two seasons with Vegas and established himself as a reliable piece up and down the lineup.

For whatever reason though, Cotter couldn’t ever find a place in Bruce Cassidy’s playoff lineup which may have been a reason for the eventual trade to New Jersey that returned Alexander Holtz and Akira Schmid. In the 2023 playoff run, Cotter participated in every practice and attended every game home and away but never made an appearance. The same was true for the seven-game series against the Stars this past postseason.

That shouldn’t take away from the accomplishments Cotter achieved while in Las Vegas though. The former 4th round pick is one of just two Golden Knights draft selections to reach 100 games with the team that selected him (Nic Hague is the other). His name is engraved on the Stanley Cup for his contributions in the 2022-23 regular season, and he was eventually flipped in a two-for-one trade in which Cotter, the 115th pick in 2018 was swapped for the 7th overall pick in 2020 and #138 in 2018.

Vegas drafted me and they saw something in me and now that I’ve shown and progressed as a player the Devils have seen that and for them to reach out and make a trade for me and want me is awesome. You want to go where you are wanted. They’ve put the belief in me and now it’s time to give back. -Cotter

Cotter will certainly be missed in the locker room. He’s one of the most personable players ever to wear a Golden Knights uniform and his competitiveness and comical attitude were always lauded by teammates.

He didn’t take long to prove that in New Jersey either…

@paulcotter47 @NJDevils Realistically I would like to be the first devils fan with a cotter jersey. I will legitimately rep it to every game. How many retweets to send me one???🫢🙂‍↕️🤔

— Dom (@di1499) June 30, 2024