The Vegas Golden Knights have activated defenseman Ben Hutton off of injured reserve ahead of their Monday night loss to the Minnesota Wild. Hutton served as a healthy scratch for the outing, but he’s now poised to make his return from an upper-body injury that had him designated as week-to-week. The Golden Knights have also moved forward Pavel Dorofeyev onto injured reserve with an upper-body injury that’s held him out of Vegas’ last four games. No update was provided on Dorofeyev’s timeline, though the team has recalled forward Sheldon Rempal, as well as goaltender Jiri Patera, for additional depth. Both recalls were made to address illness on Monday, with Rempal filling in for Paul Cotter and Patera filling in for Logan Thompson.
Vegas swaps out a depth forward and a depth defenseman with their IR moves. Hutton has played in 31 games on a bottom-pair role this season, scoring one goal and nine points – one point more than he recorded in as many games last year. Dorofeyev has found similar success, scoring 14 points, split evenly, through 29 games in Vegas’ bottom six. It’s Dorofeyev’s official rookie season, though he did appear in 20 NHL games prior to this season. He’s up to 23 points across 49 career NHL games.
To help mend the lineup in the face of injury, the Golden Knights bring up two players who have each played in five NHL games this season. Forward Rempal has scored two goals in his outings, appearing in some of the first NHL games of his career. He currently ranks second on the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights in scoring, with 21 goals and 33 points through 43 games. Goaltender Patera will be approaching this call-up looking for more, setting a 1-3 record and .901 save percentage this season. Patera is also a rookie, with his only NHL experience prior to this season coming through just two games last year. He’s served as Henderson’s starter when he’s in the minors, recording seven wins and a .903 save percentage in 17 games.