Golden Knights Activate Shea Theodore
The Vegas Golden Knights have activated defenseman Shea Theodore off the LTIR (CapFriendly) as he is set to return from a 34-game absence. The 28-year-old was on a tear to start the season but suffered an upper-body injury and has not played since November 22nd. Theodore didn’t play today but could dress tomorrow night when the Golden Knights take on the Nashville Predators. To make room for Theodore the Golden Knights have moved Jack Eichel to the LTIR (CapFriendly).
Theodore had four goals and 14 assists in 20 games to begin the season and looked poised to have a big year before the injury. Vegas has missed having Theodore in their top four as they have posted a 17-13-4 record in his absence.
His return will be a big addition for a team that currently holds a 31-17-6 record and sits in second place in the Pacific Division. Theodore has typically averaged between 21-23 minutes a game over the past few seasons and will likely move back into his role in the Golden Knights top four as well as on the team’s top power-play unit.
Theodore is in the sixth year of a 7-year, $36.4MM contract and has remained very productive throughout the deal but has dealt with injuries over the last two seasons. If he can remain healthy over the next year he will be in line for a massive payday in the summer of 2025.
Golden Knights Recall Grigori Denisenko
The Vegas Golden Knights have recalled forward Grigori Denisenko from the Henderson Silver Knights of the AHL. The 23-year-old has appeared in 29 career NHL games split over four seasons, having also spent time with the Florida Panthers.
After suffering through a few injury-riddled seasons with the Panthers, the former 15th overall pick was claimed off waivers by Vegas on October 7th. He has been a solid AHL contributor thus far this season as he has posted 14 goals and 26 assists in 45 games, surpassing the 12 goals and 24 assists he registered last season in 56 games with the Charlotte Checkers.
Denisenko had an audition with the Golden Knights in early January as he spent a week in the NHL, dressing in three games and posting no points. He averaged 10:36 of ice time during that recall and had a decent showing at even strength as he took the bulk of his zone starts in the defensive zone and had decent underlying numbers.
The Golden Knights are currently without forwards Pavel Dorofeyev, Jack Eichel, and William Carrier and could be in line for a move for a forward before the NHL trade deadline. Denisenko didn’t dress today against the San Jose Sharks and will likely serve as the team’s 13th forward for the time being. However, if he keeps up his AHL scoring numbers he could get a longer look in the NHL sooner than later.
Pacific Notes: Eichel, Canucks, Kokko
After placing forward Jack Eichel on injured reserve only two days ago, the thought was that the injury was not serious, and Eichel would only be missing a maximum of three games with the Vegas Golden Knights. However, the organization announced today that Eichel underwent successful lower-body surgery, and would be out on a week-to-week basis.
This injury news will certainly change the trajectory of the Golden Knights’ season for some time, as it would for any team operating without their top option at the center position. Moving forward, with Eichel for at least the next week or two, Vegas will continue to operate with Chandler Stephenson and Nicolas Roy centering the top two offensive lines.
Scoring at a point-per-game pace for the second straight year with the Golden Knights, Eichel joins a growing list of injured players in Vegas, a reality that has led to a rough patch in the season for the organization. As the injuries continue to pile up, after starting the year as the top team in the NHL, the Golden Knights are 6-9-0 in their last 15 games, being outscored by a margin of 11 goals over that stretch.
Other notes:
- Having already been one of the most aggressive teams on the trade market this season, the Vancouver Canucks are still looking to add at this year’s trade deadline. In a quote reported by Iain MacIntyre of Sportsnet, the General Manager of the Canucks, Patrik Allvin, stated, “I think I owe it to the players. We know that they are capable of playing at this high level. And if they continue to do that, it’s on me to support them and give them opportunities to be successful”. Even though another trade could put Vancouver over the top in the Western Conference playoff race, Allvin will have to get creative in any move, as the team only has a projected $1.22MM available in deadline cap space.
- In a confirmed transaction according to EliteProspects, the Seattle Kraken have loaned goaltender Niklas Kokko to the Lahti Pelicans of the Finnish Liiga. Kokko was originally a second-round selection of the Kraken in the 2022 NHL Draft and suited up for Team Finland U20 in the 2023-24 World Junior Championships only a few weeks ago.
Vegas Golden Knights To Place Jack Eichel On Injured Reserve
Although nothing has been officially confirmed by the team, Jesse Granger of The Athletic is reporting that the Vegas Golden Knights have placed Jack Eichel on injured reserve. Since Eichel has not played a game since January 11th against the Boston Bruins, he will be able to return on January 20th against the Pittsburgh Penguins, only missing three games in total.
Currently, the Golden Knights have not reported exactly the exact injury that Eichel is dealing with, but it will be the first time he has been placed on the injured reserve since December 12th, 2022. In another largely healthy season for Eichel, he is leading Vegas in scoring, putting up 19 goals and 44 points in 43 games.
Eichel joins a growing list of Golden Knights who are missing time due to injury, as Adin Hill, William Karlsson, and William Carrier all find themselves on the team’s injured reserve, and Shea Theodore is still placed on the long-term injured reserve. Staying relatively healthy for most of the beginning of the season, Vegas’ incredible 11-0-1 start has turned into a still respectable 24-14-5 record on the year.
Fortunately for the Golden Knights, the team just recently passed the halfway point in the season, and all players currently injured are still expected back by the end of the season. Reminiscent of last year’s Colorado Avalanche, Vegas is having its organizational depth challenged only a year removed from winning the Stanley Cup.
With Chandler Stephenson likely sidelined for the team’s game tomorrow night against the Nashville Predators with an illness, the Golden Knights may have to rely on Nicolas Roy and Michael Amadio to center the top two lines unless they are comfortable moving Ivan Barbashev off of the wing.
NHL Names Western Conference All-Stars
Sportsnet is reporting that the NHL has named the first 16 selections from the Western Conference who will appear in the NHL All-Star Game that will take place February 3rd in Toronto.
The game will be held in Canada for the first time since 2012, when it was held in Ottawa. Toronto hasn’t hosted the game since 2000 and this year will be the first time that the NHL uses a four-team, three-on-three format in combination with the fantasy draft format that was used from 2011-2015. The league will name four captains, one for each team, who will take part in a draft to select their teams on February 1st.
The initial players named from the Western Conference are as follows:
Central Division
Arizona: LW Clayton Keller (4th appearance)
Chicago: C Connor Bedard (1st appearance)
Colorado: C Nathan MacKinnon (3rd appearance)
Dallas: G Jake Oettinger (1st appearance)
Minnesota: LW Kirill Kaprizov (3rd appearance)
Nashville: C Filip Forsberg (1st appearance)
St. Louis: C Robert Thomas (1st appearance)
Winnipeg: G Connor Hellebuyck (3rd appearance)
Pacific Division
Anaheim: LW Frank Vatrano (1st appearance)
Calgary: C Elias Lindholm (1st appearance)
Edmonton: C Connor McDavid (7th appearance)
Los Angeles: G Cam Talbot (1st appearance)
San Jose: C Tomas Hertl (1st appearance)
Seattle: RW Oliver Bjorkstrand (1st appearance)
Vancouver: D Quinn Hughes (1st appearance)
Vegas: C Jack Eichel (1st appearance)
The initial announcements of 32 players (one player to represent each team) tonight will be followed by the naming of the final 12 all-stars in the coming weeks. Those 12 players will be decided by a fan vote on NHL.com as well as several of the NHL’s social media platforms.
Shea Theodore Close To Returning For Vegas Golden Knights
Jesse Granger of The Athletic tweeted today that defenseman Shea Theodore has started skating with the team for the first time since his injury in late March. Theodore has missed seven games with the undisclosed injury and is travelling with the team according to Ben Gotz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal. While Theodore skating again is certainly encouraging, he did practice in a non-contact jersey leading one to believe that he has a few more hurdles to clear before he returns to game action.
Theodore is having another strong offensive season, albeit in limited action. The usually durable defenseman has missed 27 games this season but has still managed to put up 41 points in 54 games. Theodore hasn’t dealt with injuries often in his career and hasn’t missed significant time since joining Vegas for the 2017-18 season.
While Theodore’s powerplay time and production have dropped, the 27-year-old has never been better at even strength. Theodore has 28 points at five on five in 54 games, which is one off his career high that he set last year in 78 games. Despite his injuries this season, Theodore remains a strong offensive defenseman and would likely see significant time on the Golden Knights second unit when he does make his return.
Vegas appears to be getting healthy at exactly the right time as both Jack Eichel and Mark Stone also skated this morning. Stone was also in a blue non-contact jersey, while Eichel took the optional skate in a regular practice jersey. The Golden Knights have overcome an awful lot of injuries this season including long term injuries to Robin Lehner, Nolan Patrick, and Stone. Despite the man games lost the Golden Knights still find themselves as one of the favorites to come out of a wide-open Western Conference.
West Notes: Eichel, Marchment, Shaw
The Golden Knights have a chance to clinch the Pacific Division for the third time in their six-year history today but had to try to do so without their top center in the lineup. The team announced (Twitter link) that Jack Eichel is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury which kept him out of the lineup against Dallas. The 26-year-old has had a good first full season with Vegas, notching 27 goals and 38 assists in 66 games to lead the team in scoring but this will be the third separate instance that he’ll miss time due to injury after dealing with a pair of lower-body issues earlier in the year.
Elsewhere in the Western Conference:
- Stars winger Mason Marchment returned to practice for the first time yesterday as he works his way back from a knee injury, reports Saad Yousuf of The Athletic (subscription link). Head coach Peter DeBoer indicated that he’s hopeful that the 27-year-old will be able to play at least once before the playoffs start. With Dallas in the middle of a three-way battle for seeding in the Central, his return would certainly be a welcome one. Marchment has 12 goals and 19 assists in 67 games this season, his first in Dallas.
- Wild winger Mason Shaw will have his ACL surgery next week, relays Michael Russo of The Athletic (Twitter link). It will be the fourth such procedure that the 24-year-old has had. The recovery timeline is typically eight to nine months which means he won’t be available for training camp in the fall but will be tendered a qualifying offer this spring. Shaw finished with 17 points and 87 hits in 59 games this season.
Vegas Golden Knights To Activate Jack Eichel
Though the team has not formally announced anything just yet, it appears the Vegas Golden Knights have activated forward Jack Eichel off of IR, says Danny Webster of The Las Vegas Sun. A closer look at the team’s roster on their website shows Eichel is listed as healthy, forwards Jonas Rondbjerg and Byron Froese as well as defenseman Kaedan Korczak and Brayden Pachal are no longer listed on the roster.
Eichel had been out of the lineup for nearly a month, last playing December 9th against the Philadelphia Flyers before hitting IR. The team has done alright since then, going 6-4-1 in the process, but having their superstar back in the lineup should give the team the boost it needs not only with on-ice production, but with its overall confidence. Despite missing the time, Eichel’s 29 points place him third on the team, playing in just 27 games.
When finding out Eichel was injured, many held their breath after his neck issues the past few seasons. Though the injury wasn’t exactly good news, it being lower-body allowed many to breathe a sigh of relief. Now with Eichel back in the lineup, the team becomes a bit more complete, though injury issues still loom after the recent placement of defenseman Alec Martinez on IR.
Zach Whitecloud Out Month-To-Month
The Vegas Golden Knights had last season completely derailed by key injuries, and the only thing keeping it from happening again is the big lead they built up at the beginning of the year. The club issued updates on three key players today, indicating that Jack Eichel is day-to-day, Shea Theodore is week-to-week, and Zach Whitecloud is out on a month-to-month basis. The latter has been moved to long-term injured reserve, joining Shea Weber, Robin Lehner, Brett Howden, and Nolan Patrick with that designation.
One of the things that made Vegas so dangerous early on was their defensive depth, with some calling the duo of Whitecloud and Nicolas Hague the best third pairing in the league. Now, that depth will be seriously tested, given the injuries and absence of Alex Pietrangelo for personal reasons.
In Sunday’s game against the Boston Bruins, Ben Hutton ended up playing more than 20 minutes due to Whitecloud’s early departure, something that the team probably doesn’t want to see every night. Young Kaedan Korczak and Brayden Pachal were recalled yesterday to give the group some additional help on the back end, though asking either of them to fill Whitecloud’s shoes will be difficult.
The 26-year-old Whitecloud has turned into a very reliable member of the Golden Knights blue line, recording six points in 30 games during the first season of a six-year extension signed last fall. He was supposed to be the player they could lean on in the absence of Pietrangelo and Theodore but now it looks like a huge chunk of his year will be spent rehabbing. Vegas can ill afford more injuries on the back end, while they try to hold off the surging Seattle Kraken in the Pacific Division.
Vegas Golden Knights Place Jack Eichel On Injured Reserve; Recall Three Players
The Vegas Golden Knights are dealing with several injuries, and have made a few changes to the roster in preparation for their upcoming road trip. Jack Eichel and Zach Whitecloud have been moved to injured reserve, while Jonas Rondbjerg, Brayden Pachal, and Kaedan Korczak have been recalled from the AHL.
Eichel missed last night’s game against the Boston Bruins. Though he was skating recently, his IR stint will be retroactive to his last appearance on December 9, meaning he’ll be forced to miss both of the team’s upcoming road games. The club is headed to Winnipeg and Chicago this week, before returning home for a game against the New York Islanders on Saturday night. Eichel would be eligible to come off IR by then, if healthy enough to do so.
Whitecloud, meanwhile, left last night’s game clutching his leg after fewer than nine minutes of ice time. The 26-year-old defenseman had been averaging huge minutes of late while Alex Pietrangelo is away from the team for personal reasons, but now looks like he’ll miss some time. No timeline has been given to this point, but an IR placement means he’ll miss at least a week.
Rondbjerg has already played one game this season with the club but Pachal and Korczak have been limited to AHL duties. Korczak, 21, was the 41st overall pick in 2019 and has six points in 24 games this season for Henderson. The 6’3″ defenseman has just one NHL game under his belt and is one of the team’s most interesting prospects. Whether all three will enter the lineup remains to be seen.