Golden Knights’ Jonas Rondbjerg Ruled Out Of Olympics
2/8: Denmark has announced their replacement following Rondbjerg’s injury. They’ve added left-defenseman Malte Setkov, bringing the roster to a conventional 14 forwards and seven defenders after Denmark originally rostered 15 forwards. Setkov has spent the last four seasons in Denmark’s top league. He has 13 goals and 30 points in 39 games this season, a career-high scoring pace.
2/6: Team Denmark will enter the 2026 Winter Olympics without one of their five NHL forwards. Vegas Golden Knights winger Jonas Rondbjerg has been ruled out due to a lower-body injury sustained during Vegas’ Sunday loss to the Anaheim Ducks, Denmark general manager Morten Green told local news channel TV 2 Sport.
Rondbjerg was placed on Vegas’ injured reserve on Monday. He missed the Golden Knights’ last two games before the Winter Olympics break, replaced by rookie forward Kai Uchacz.
Now, Rondbjerg will lose his first chance to represent Denmark at the Olympic Games. He joined the country at the Olympic Game Qualifiers in 2025 and scored one goal in three games. That chip, and his physical presence, helped lift Denmark to the top of Group F.
Rondbjerg was one of only seven NHL players on Denmarks 2026 Olympics roster. His peers include the Hurricanes’ Nikolaj Ehlers, Lightning’s Oliver Bjorkstrand, Senators’ Lars Eller, and Kraken’s Oscar Fisker Molgaard on offense.
That bunch will make up the bulk of Denmark’s top lines, while Rondbjerg was set for a pillaring role in the team’s bottom-six. The 6-foot-2 forward has split the season between the NHL and AHL, netting one point in four games with Vegas and 23 points in 36 games with the Henderson Silver Knights. He offers a reserved, physical presence that could have boosted Denmark’s odds against physical teams like Finland and USA.
Who Denmark will choose to replace Rondbjerg will be an interesting question to answer. Winger Felix Maegaard Scheel, 33, joined Denmark’s national team for three games earlier this season. He has served an extra forward role at the last four World Championships and currently has 11 points in 29 games in Germany’s DEL. Denmark could also opt for Viktors Čubars, who leads the country’s top league in scoring with 57 points in 40 games. Other local options could include Patrick Bjorkstrand or Oliver True, Ehlers’ cousin.
Or, if Denmark wants to maintain their NHL connection, they could opt for former Chicago Blackhawks draft pick (2016 fifth-round) Mathias From, who has 53 points in 42 games in Austria’s IceHL.
Golden Knights Place Jonas Rondbjerg On IR
2/2/26: The Golden Knights have placed Rondbjerg on injured reserve, according to Sin Bin Vegas.
Additionally, both Coghlan and Laczynski have been reassigned to AHL Henderson. Rondbjerg is out with an undisclosed injury, presumably suffered during yesterday’s game against the Ducks. Coghlan didn’t get to dress for any games during this recall, while Laczynski was able to get into the Golden Knights’ game yesterday. He played 7:35 in Vegas’ loss to the Ducks.
1/30/26: The Vegas Golden Knights have brought two players up to the NHL club with four games remaining before the Winter Olympics break. Forward Jonas Rondbjerg and defenseman Dylan Coghlan have both been recalled, while forward Tanner Laczynski has been reassigned.
Coghlan was assigned to the AHL just hours before the Henderson Silver Knights’ Wednesday game. The defenseman went on to score both goals in the team’s 2-1 overtime win. He has alternated between the NHL and AHL lineups over his last four games, after earning his first call-up of the season earlier this month. He ranks third on the Silver Knights’ blue-line in scoring with 18 points in 30 games. Coghlan hasn’t scored yet in two NHL games this season. The pair of games were his first with Vegas since the 2021-22 season, when he scored 13 points in 59 games with the Golden Knights. Coghlan spent the last three seasons with the Carolina Hurricanes and Winnipeg Jets, where he combined for three points in 24 NHL games.
Rondbjerg has also rotated between lineups throughout the season. He ranks second on Henderson in scoring with 12 goals and 23 points in 36 games. He has also scored one assist in two NHL games this season. Rondbjerg has served as one of Vegas’ go-to call-ups for the last five seasons. He has notched 11 points and eight penalty minutes in 78 NHL games in that span, to go with 142 points and 54 PIMs in 269 AHL games.
Coghlan and Rondbjerg will bring some assured depth to the Golden Knights’ roster in their last slate before an extended break. Vegas is currently facing injuries to William Karlsson, Brett Howden, Brandon Saad, and Colton Sissons – leaving notable holes in the forward group. That should be enough to earn Rondbjerg a fourth-line role in place of Laczynski, while Coghlan will likely serve as the team’s extra defenseman. Meanwhile, Henderson will welcome the return of top-scorer Laczynski, who has 35 points in 32 AHL games this season.
Golden Knights Re-Sign Raphael Lavoie, Jonas Rondbjerg, Cole Schwindt
The Golden Knights announced they’ve re-signed RFA forwards Raphael Lavoie, Jonas Rondbjerg, and Cole Schwindt to one-year deals. Lavoie’s deal pays him $775K in the NHL and $235K in the AHL with a $300K guarantee, per Renaud Lavoie of TVA. Meanwhile, PuckPedia reports that Rondbjerg gets $775K in the NHL and $250K in the AHL with a $375K guarantee. PuckPedia also has Schwindt’s terms which check in at $825K on a one-way agreement.
Lavoie, 24, began last season in the Oilers organization. He’ll hope for more stability this year after being waived by Edmonton, claimed by Vegas, waived by Vegas, re-claimed by Edmonton, waived again by Edmonton, and finally re-claimed by Vegas before being sent directly to AHL Henderson in a matter of days last October.
Many thought the Oilers would lose Lavoie on waivers after the 6’4″ winger potted 28 goals and 50 points in 66 games for AHL Bakersfield in 2023-24. Injuries limited Lavoie’s effectiveness somewhat in 2024-25, but he still put together a decent 17-10–27 scoring line in 42 games on an underwhelming Henderson squad.
He got into nine NHL games with the Knights throughout the year but went pointless, averaging 10:05 per game. It was his second taste of NHL action after also going pointless in seven games with Edmonton the year before.
After not taking a meaningful step forward last season, the 2019 second-rounder is likely destined for waivers and a minor-league role again in the fall. He’ll battle for an extra forward spot but isn’t a candidate to begin the year in the opening night lineup unless more injuries happen, thanks to Vegas’ much-improved forward depth.
Rondbjerg, a Golden Knights draft pick in the third round of their inaugural 2017 class, is the only player from that group still with the organization. The Denmark-born winger has topped out as a serviceable fringe NHL forward, recording 10 points in 76 games for the Knights in a spattering of recalls over the past four years.
He’s cleared waivers without incident before and should do so again in the fall. The former captain of Denmark’s World Junior team is now an alternate with the Silver Knights, where he had 11 goals and 26 points with a minus-six rating in 53 appearances last year.
Schwindt is the likeliest of the trio to end up on the 23-man NHL roster in October. Vegas claimed the 24-year-old off waivers from the Flames during training camp last year, and while he wasn’t an everyday piece in the lineup, he was a serviceable extra forward for the entirety of the campaign. He made 42 appearances after seeing only seven games of NHL action over the previous three years, scoring his first NHL goal in the process and adding seven assists for eight points.
The 6’2″ Ontario native can slot in at center if needed, taking over 200 draws last season and winning 50.5% of them. A three-time 30-point scorer in the AHL, Vegas seems to like his game enough to keep him around as a 13th or 14th forward for at least one more year.
William Karlsson And Jonas Rondbjerg To Play In World Championship
While the Golden Knights saw their playoff run come to an end when they were eliminated by Edmonton earlier this week, at least two of their players will see their season continue for at least a few more days. The team announced (Twitter link) that center William Karlsson will join Sweden and winger Jonas Rondbjerg will join Denmark for the rest of the World Championship.
Karlsson is coming off a particularly rough year, both in terms of injuries and from a production standpoint. The 32-year-old was limited to just nine goals and 20 assists in 53 games during the regular season. He produced at a similar rate in the playoffs, picking up three goals and three helpers in their 11 contests. With Sweden co-hosting the event this year, they have a strong roster and Karlsson will certainly give them a boost heading into the medal round.
As for Rondbjerg, he spent the bulk of the year with AHL Henderson but did get into 13 games with Vegas where he was held off the scoresheet. While he hasn’t been able to crack their lineup full-time, he has seen action with the Golden Knights for the last four years, spanning 76 games in total. Meanwhile, with the Silver Knights, the 26-year-old had 11 goals and 15 assists in 53 games. While pending free agents often don’t play in this event, Rondbjerg will be an exception as he’ll be eligible for Group Six unrestricted free agency this summer. He wasted little time flying over for the event as he scored today against Norway.
Earlier today, it was revealed that center Tomas Hertl had hoped to play for the Czechs but didn’t receive medical clearance from team doctors. It remains to be seen if any other Golden Knights will head over for the final half of the tournament with the medal round set to start on Thursday.
Depth Wingers Will Define Golden Knights’ Summer
The Vegas Golden Knights are back in familiar ground – bounced from a hardy playoff run that didn’t have the legs, and gearing up for a summer with minimal cap space. It’s a situation the young franchise has already landed in, and weaseled out of, multiple times before – but the 2025 summer will offer a particular challenge. Vegas is only projected to have $9.62MM in cap space this summer, per PuckPedia. They’ll have to use that money to redefine the bottom-six, with seven different depth wingers all set to hit the open market this summer.
Some of those pending free agents should be easy to re-sign. Jonas Rondbjerg has averaged just 19 NHL games a season over the last four years, and has just 10 points in 76 career games to show for it. He’s a bump-and-grind AHL winger who shouldn’t cost more than league-minimum to re-up. Much of the same can be said for Cole Schwindt, who seemed mounted for a breakout with 42 NHL games this year, but ended the year with only eight points.
But the mission quickly gets complicated as Vegas looks to parse through the remaining names. Original Golden Knight Reilly Smith seems destined on re-signing with the club, after making a return from the New York Rangers at the 2025 Trade Deadline. He scored 69 points in 134 games in one-and-a-half seasons away from Sin City, and closed the season with 15 points in 32 games in a muddied role with the Golden Knights. Smith had a career-year in his last full season with Vegas – netting 26 goals and 56 points in the Cup-winning 2022-23 season – and age hasn’t seemed to slow him down one bit. With only a few years left in his career, a modest deal for both sides could ensure Smith plays his 1,000th career game, and retires, in the city he’s spent the bulk of his NHL career.
Victor Olofsson also seems worthy of another trial run. He wasn’t nearly as productive as Vegas might’ve hoped for last summer, but 15 goals and 29 points in 56 games is still a commendable season. That put Olofsson on an 82-game pace of 22 goals and 42 points, which would have been the most he’s scored since notching his career-high 49 points in the 2021-22 season. Olofsson also made the first playoff appearance of his career this season, and managed a commendable four points in nine games. Those are impressive results for a man receiving a $1.08MM salary. An assured role will likely require a boost in pay, but Vegas could hold onto good value even with a slight raise.
Smith and Olofsson could take up the bulk of what Vegas is hoping to spend on building out their bottom-six. That could leave a tough decision between Brandon Saad and Alexander Holtz, with pros and cons underlining each. Saad is a true veteran of the NHL and managed 14 points in 29 games with the Golden Knights while battling around routine injuries. He’s scored more than 20 goals and 40 points in two of the last four seasons – intercut by a season of 37 points and 30 points. Those aren’t bad numbers for a 32-year-old winger, especially one with Stanley Cup precedent and game-1,000 nearing.
Holtz is on the other side of his career, with just 46 points in 163 career games and a career-high of 28 points set last season. He only scored 12 points in 53 games this year, as he continued to struggle for ground in the lineup through a move to the Golden Knights. But Holtz was a seventh-overall pick just five years ago, and is still anticipating a breakout season. He’s under more team control as a restricted free agent, and would be a cheaper buy than Saad, but also brings plenty more risk to a Golden Knights club closer to another Stanley Cup run than any sort of rebuild.
Three modestly priced extensions, and a pair of league-minimum deals, will give Vegas plenty to work with as they build a lineup for next season. It also leaves just enough room for a cheap free agent addition. Any re-signed wingers would bolster the flanks behind Pavel Dorofeyev, Ivan Barbashev, Nicolas Roy, and Brett Howden – giving Vegas a very similar makeup to what they’ve rolled out for the last few seasons. But in deciding who to bring back, the Golden Knights will be laying out their preferences between original heritage, shooting luck, veteran presence, and young potential. What they make of those profiles could go a long way in defining Vegas’ chances at maintaining their yearly playoff presence in the seasons to come.
Photo courtesy of Sergei Belski-Imagn Images.
Morning Notes: Pietila, Rondbjerg, Klingberg
Pittsburgh Penguins defensive prospect Chase Pietila has signed an ATO with their AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (as per Seth Rorabaugh of Tribune-Review Sports). Pietila is fresh off signing a three-year ELC with Pittsburgh earlier this week and will finish out the year getting his first taste of professional hockey in the AHL.
The Penguins drafted Pietila in the fourth round (111th overall) of the 2024 NHL Entry Draft. The 21-year-old spent this past year in the NCAA with Michigan Tech where he registered seven goals and 15 assists in 36 games. Pietila spent two years in the NCAA after spending the previous three seasons in the USHL.
In other morning notes:
- The Vegas Golden Knights have assigned forward Jonas Rondbjerg to the Henderson Silver Knights of the AHL (as per SinBin.vegas). Rondbjerg was recalled earlier in the week and dressed in the Golden Knights’ loss to Pittsburgh on Tuesday night but played just 6:02 and was held scoreless. The demotion is no surprise given that Vegas just welcomed back Brett Howden and Ivan Barbashev to their lineup. The 25-year-old Rondbjerg has no points in 12 NHL games this season and has averaged just 9:21 of ice time per game.
- Edmonton Oilers defenseman John Klingberg didn’t play in last night’s game against the New Jersey Devils as he continues to deal with an undisclosed injury. The 32-year-old hasn’t played since March 4th after signing a one-year deal with the Oilers in mid-January. Klingberg has produced offense when healthy, posting a goal and three assists in 10 games. The Oilers are back in action tonight against the New York Islanders and given the tight timeline it seems unlikely that he will play. However, he did re-join the Oilers yesterday at practice and has been travelling with the team (as per Sportsnet).
Golden Knights Place William Karlsson on LTIR, Recall Three
The Vegas Golden Knights are spending their final days before the 4-Nations Face-Off break by jumping through salary cap hoops. They’ve announced a litany of roster moves intended to maximize their cap space accrued from long-term injured reserve, all captured by PuckPedia. Vegas first recalled winger Alexander Holtz and goaltender Akira Schmid, then reassigned center Raphael Lavoie. Those moves placed them $135K under the cap ceiling. Vegas then placed top center William Karlsson on long-term injured reserve and recalled forward Jonas Rondbjerg, which they wouldn’t have been able to afford without shelving Karlsson. By recalling two players and getting as close to the cap ceiling as they could before moving Karlsson, Vegas maximized the amount of LTIR cap relief they were provided. They now sit with $5.133MM in available cap space, but will be one contract’s worth of cap over the limit when Karlsson is back to full health.
The string of moves were a great exercise in how to leverage the NHL’s LTIR policies, but Vegas will still be worse for wear without Karlsson. The 32-year-old centerman hasn’t played since January 20th, when he sustained a lower-body injury against the St. Louis Blues. He was immediately ruled out week-to-week, and the team still didn’t have a clear timeline for his return 10 days later. An LTIR placement will now force him out of the lineup through at least February 24th, the second game after Vegas returns from break.
Karlsson has continued to serve as a top center for the Golden Knights, but his season has been filled with abnormal scoring struggles. He has just 18 points in 38 games on the year, and was amidst a seven-game scoring slump prior to his injury. Karlsson has one assist in 10 games since the start of 2025. He’s still provided strong performances for the Golden Knights away from the scoresheet. He currently sits with a fantastic 58.9 percent faceoff win-rate that ranks Karlsson fifth among all NHL centers. Karlsson has also recorded 89 shots on goal and a plus-seven, respectively ranking him third and fifth among the team’s forwards.
Those numbers represent an impact that’ll be hard for Vegas to replace. Their flurry of moves leaves the task of filling in up to Rondbjerg and Holtz. The latter has far-and-away been the more popular fixture of Vegas’ lineup. Holtz has scored 11 points in 49 games this season, while Rondbjerg hasn’t yet scored through 10 appearances. The duo should both earn ice-time on Vegas’ left wing while the team deals with absences to Karlsson, Lavoie, Cole Schwindt, and Tanner Pearson.
Golden Knights Place Tanner Pearson On Injured Reserve
The Golden Knights have placed left-winger Tanner Pearson on injured reserve, per Sin Ben Vegas. Pearson, who missed Tuesday’s loss to the Islanders with an undisclosed injury, has been ruled out for the team’s final two games before the 4 Nations Face-Off.
The Knights now have an open roster spot – they previously had one before the transaction, but recalled Jonas Røndbjerg from AHL Henderson today to replace Pearson on the active roster, per the NHL’s media site. He’ll join the team for tonight’s game in New Jersey and have to suit up unless they plan on dressing 11 forwards and seven defensemen.
Pearson, 32, landed a PTO with Vegas and eventually signed a one-year, league-minimum deal a few days before the start of the regular season. The 12-year veteran started the season on a high note with seven points in 11 games, but he’s been colder since then, with 12 points in 42 appearances since the beginning of November. He’s been especially cold lately, posting an assist and a minus-eight rating in his last 14 showings. He’s lost ice time and been pushed down the depth chart after the team inked Brandon Saad following his mutual termination with the Blues last week.
The 2014 Stanley Cup champion has a 9-10–19 scoring line in 53 games for Vegas on the whole, his best offensive showing since he scored 14-20–34 in 68 GP with the Canucks in 2021-22. Pearson lost most of the 2022-23 season with Vancouver due to a lingering hand injury and struggled to the tune of 5-8–13 in 54 games with the Canadiens last year.
His injury did force Vegas to roll 11-7 against the Isles, and it’s still unclear when he sustained it. Pending RFA Alexander Holtz should get a look in the top nine with Pearson out, as he’s projected to skate alongside Pavel Dorofeyev and Tomáš Hertl tonight against his former club. He’s back with the club after the team quietly assigned him to Henderson over the course of the past couple of weeks, although he never suited up for the minor-league club.
Røndjberg has played fourth-line spot duty again for Vegas this year, entering the lineup nine times. He’s still looking for his first point of the year but has secured his fourth straight season of NHL playing time with the Knights, who drafted him 65th overall back in 2017. The Danish winger has 7-8–15 in 32 games with Henderson.
Golden Knights Expected To Activate Ivan Barbashev
The Golden Knights will likely activate winger Ivan Barbashev off injured reserve before Saturday’s game against the Rangers after he was a full participant in practice on Friday, SinBin.vegas reports. The club opened up a roster spot in advance by assigning winger Jonas Røndbjerg to AHL Henderson, according to a team announcement.
Barbashev, 29, last played nearly one month ago and has missed 10 games with an upper-body injury. Both he and Nicolas Roy left a Dec. 15 win over the Wild prematurely and haven’t played since, and the latter still has a bit to go in his recovery before he’s ready to return.
The league-leading Knights took the loss of one-third of their top line in stride, managing an 8-2-0 record without Barbashev in the lineup while outscoring opponents 35-19. Victor Olofsson assumed Barbashev’s spot alongside Jack Eichel and Mark Stone, notching a pair of goals and three assists in nine games in the interim.
The Barbashev-Eichel connection this season has been lethal at even strength, contributing to the former tracking right around a point per game through the first half of the year – by far the best pace of his career. He has 15 goals and 30 points in 31 appearances, with just one of those points coming on special teams.
Barbashev is now in his third season in Nevada after the Knights acquired him from the Blues ahead of the 2023 trade deadline. He played a key role in Vegas’ first-ever Stanley Cup in 2023, posting 18 points in 22 playoff games, and has also managed 91 points in 136 regular-season contests since arriving with the Knights.
Needless to say, he’s providing important positive value on his $5MM cap-hit contract for Vegas this season. He’s in the second season of that five-year extension, which he signed weeks after winning the Cup.
Røndbjerg, 25, had played in the Knights’ last five games after being recalled from Henderson shortly before New Year’s. He added those onto two appearances earlier in the year, bringing his season totals to no points and a minus-one rating in seven appearances while averaging a paltry 8:57 per game.
It’s the Danish winger’s fourth year of seeing NHL ice, and he’s posted 10 points in 70 career games while serving in a depth call-up role. A third-round pick in Vegas’ first draft in 2017, he also has 103 points in 205 NHL games since arriving in North America in 2019.
Golden Knights Recall Jonas Røndbjerg, Assign Tanner Laczynski
The Vegas Golden Knights have recalled forward Jonas Røndbjerg from the Henderson Silver Knights. In a corresponding move, the Golden Knights have also assigned forward Tanner Laczynski to the minor leagues. This marks Røndbjerg’s third call-up of the year. He’s spent four days on the NHL roster this season, stepping into two games on Vegas’ fourth-line.
Røndbjerg has been a go-to call-up over the last four seasons. He was originally the sixth pick in Vegas’ franchise history, hearing his name called in the third round of the 2017 NHL Draft after a strong season with the Vaxjo Lakers’ U20 squad. The Denmark-native spent the next two seasons working his way up to Vaxjo’s SHL lineup. He totaled 17 points in 80 games with the club before moving to the AHL full-time in the 2020-21 season. He scored 40 points through his first 78 games, and three seasons, in the AHL – just enough to earn a routine role in the mix of Vegas’ bottom-six. Since then, Røndbjerg has established a pattern of a role-based impact in the NHL coupled with high production in the minor leagues. The 30 NHL games he received as a rookie in 2021-22 stand as his single-season high, though he has totaled 65 NHL appearances and 10 points in the three seasons since. He’ll return to the top flight once again, on the back of 10 points through 25 AHL games this season.
Meanwhile, Laczynski will head back to the minors after just 11 days on the NHL roster. The 27-year-old center stepped into five games during his recall, recording six penalty minutes and a -1 but not managing any scoring. He’s been far more productive in the minor leagues, netting 19 points in 17 games – still a team-lead in scoring, despite the Henderson Silver Knights playing 10 games without Laczynski. His return will prove significant help for a young Henderson lineup.