As the Vegas Golden Knights took the ice for practice this morning in preparation for their upcoming game against the Minnesota Wild on Monday, they issued a plethora of updates regarding key players. The team announced that Mark Stone, Zach Whitecloud, and Jonas Rondbjerg would all miss practice due to illness, indicating that there may be a bug making its way around the team. In the same announcement, the team has also sent defenseman Kaedan Korczak to their AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights.
Outside of those missing practice, the team also announced that defenseman Shea Theodore was back at practice in a non-contact jersey, indicating that he may be close to returning. Out for much of the season, Theodore has scored four goals and 18 points in 20 games for the Golden Knights this year before an upper-body injury took him out of the lineup back on November 22nd.
Given that the team does not play until after the weekend, it would be reasonable to assume that Stone, Whitecloud, and Rondbjerg could all return without missing any games. However, it is important to note that Vegas has dealt with several injuries to key players throughout much of the season, and losing three players from illness would severely limit their depth moving forward.
In Korczak, this transaction will mark his third demotion of the season, with the other two coming in early January and early November, respectively. In December, Korczak suffered an undisclosed injury keeping him out of the lineup for nearly a month, limiting his play in Henderson to only five games on the year.
At the NHL level, Korczak has skated in 26 games for the Golden Knights this year, marking a career-high in terms of games played over the last three seasons. Averaging 16 and a half minutes of ice time a game, Korczak has scored one goal and nine points while also sporting a productive 50.4 CorsiFor% and a 94.2% On-Ice Save Percentage in All Situations.