Golden Knights Make Several Roster Moves
The Vegas Golden Knights have made a flurry of roster moves today as they try and shake up their roster after being shutout for the fifth time this season last night. Jesse Granger of The Athletic is reporting that defenseman Lukas Cormier and forward Grigori Denisenko have been reassigned to the Henderson Silver Knights of the AHL, while forward Jonas Rondbjerg and defenseman Kaedan Korczak have been recalled to Vegas.
21-year-old Cormier had an assist during his NHL debut on January 6, was +1 and averaged almost 15 minutes of ice time in two games. He is in his second year in the AHL and has a goal and 11 assists in 27 games. The former third-round pick was a good offensive option for the Silver Knights last year as he had ten goals and 25 assists in 62 games.
Denisenko was held pointless in three games during his most recent recall. His AHL numbers on the other hand have been solid this year, in 31 games the former 15th overall pick has 12 goals and 18 assists. In four years as a professional, Denisenko has played 29 NHL games and has seven assists and no goals.
Rondbjerg is looking to get back into the Golden Knights lineup for the first time in almost two months, the 24-year-old had a recall earlier in the season and had a goal and two assists in six games. The 2017 third-round pick has had a decent offensive season in Henderson with four goals and 10 assists in 24 games this season.
Korczak showed promise during a two-month recall earlier in the season and will get another look with Vegas. The 22-year-old is typically known as a physical defensive defenseman but has shown some offensive upside in a limited sample size as he has a goal and six assists in 15 NHL games this season.
Vegas currently sits in second place in the Pacific Division with a 23-13-5 record. Despite the good start to the season, the Golden Knights have struggled as of late with a 3-7 record in their last ten games. They have also struggled on the road with a 9-9-3 record.
Vegas Golden Knights Recall Jonas Røndbjerg, Jiří Patera
The Vegas Golden Knights have recalled forward Jonas Røndbjerg and goalie Jiří Patera in advance of their game tomorrow against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Additionally, Sin Bin Vegas reports that defenseman Kaedan Korczak has been placed on injured reserve. Korczak suffered a lower-body injury in the Golden Knights’ game on December 10th, and has not played since. Korczak has played in 15 games this season and has scored seven points, averaging 16:29 time-on-ice per game.
Røndbjerg last played in the NHL on November 14th, while Patera got the start in the Golden Knights’ victory over the San Jose Sharks a little over a week ago. Patera was actually reassigned to Vegas’ AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights, late last night, but today’s move has reversed that original decision.
Save for his one start against the Sharks, Patera has spent the year as the number-one goalie in Henderson. He’s currently sporting a 6-6-2 record with a .900 save percentage. Last season, he played 31 games with the Silver Knights and went 14-15-1 with a .911 save percentage. He’s now relatively established as Vegas’ third goalie, and will fill in on the NHL roster whenever a member of the team’s Adin Hill – Logan Thompson tandem is unavailable.
Røndbjerg is the team’s call-up at the forward position, and he’s a relatively experienced depth player for the Golden Knights. He has 49 career NHL games on his resume, all coming with Vegas over the last three seasons. The six-foot-two, 200-pound Danish forward has experience playing both center and the wing, though he has been preferred as a winger at the NHL level. He’s been a solid scorer at the AHL level (he has 11 points in 16 games this season) and has contributed offense sporadically in the NHL. So far this season, he has three points in six NHL games.
Sin Bin Vegas has indicated that forward Keegan Kolesar “may be ailing,” and therefore may be the player Røndbjerg replaces in the lineup if he does indeed dress for a game. That’s not an official confirmation of any unavailability for Kolesar, though, and it’s worth noting that the 11:19 time-on-ice he registered in last night’s game is right around his average ice time on the year.
Pacific Notes: Sharks, Benning, Golden Knights, Hamblin
While the Sharks snapped their season-long losing streak at 11 games yesterday with a win over the Flyers, clearly, there’s a lot of work to be done still. However, don’t expect any reinforcements coming from the minors. Speaking with Curtis Pashelka of The Mercury News, GM Mike Grier indicated that while they’ve thought about bringing up some of their better prospects from the minors (including defensemen Henry Thrun and Shakir Mukhamadullin plus forward Daniil Gushchin), they’d like to see things get more stabilized first over putting those youngsters into a less than ideal situation from a development perspective. Getting captain Logan Couture back would help on that front but with him suffering a recent setback in his recovery lately, there’s no timeline for when he’ll be able to join the lineup.
Elsewhere in the Pacific Division:
- Still with the Sharks, Pashelka reports in a separate piece that blueliner Matt Benning has resumed skating as he works his way back from an undisclosed injury. The 29-year-old is coming off a career year offensively but, like many San Jose players, is off to a rough start this year with just a single point in his first eight appearances while averaging 18:29 per night. Benning is on injured reserve but has already been on there for more than a week, meaning they’ll be able to activate him as soon as he’s cleared to return.
- Ben Gotz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal relays (Twitter link) that Vegas center Chandler Stephenson will miss at least the next two games with an upper-body injury. The 29-year-old is off to a strong start in his contract year with 10 points in his first 12 games, good for fifth on the Golden Knights in scoring. Jonas Rondbjerg was recalled yesterday for the fifth time in less than a month and is expected to take Stephenson’s spot in the lineup. Meanwhile, Gotz adds that blueliner Zach Whitecloud is with Vegas on the road and could potentially be back as soon as Friday. The 26-year-old has yet to play this season due to an upper-body injury and is currently on LTIR but is eligible to be activated as he has missed both 10 games and 24 days.
- PuckPedia notes (Twitter link) that the Oilers have converted forward James Hamblin’s emergency exception recall into a regular one. When they sent Jack Campbell and down and recalled Calvin Pickard earlier today, Edmonton had enough cap space to fit Hamblin into its cap structure, meaning they were no longer eligible for the cap exemption he was recalled with. The 24-year-old logged nearly 11 minutes in his season debut back on Monday.
Golden Knights Reassign Jonas Røndbjerg To AHL
The Vegas Golden Knights reassigned forward Jonas Røndbjerg to the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights on Monday, per the team’s Twitter/X account.
Røndbjerg, 24, does not require waivers for the time being after he passed through unclaimed during the preseason, and the team is taking full advantage of his temporary exempt status. The Danish winger was on his fourth recall of the season, two of which have come in the last week.
A third-round pick of the Golden Knights in their inaugural 2017 draft class, Røndbjerg is inching ever closer to becoming an everyday NHL option for the Knights. He’s in the second season of a three-year, $2.3MM extension signed in 2022 that converts from a two-way deal to a one-way pact starting this year.
The strong-bodied winger was off to a strong start this season, recording a point in each of his first two appearances for Vegas back in mid-October. He last played in a game on November 2, logging a shot on goal in 10:20 of action in a 5-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets.
Since then, he’s been on the roster as needed for the team to have an extra body around. The team has been without center Nicolas Roy for nearly two weeks with an undisclosed injury, and he remains on injured reserve.
In six appearances with AHL Henderson, Røndbjerg has three assists and a +2 rating. Ideally, he can get some sustained action in the minors for the next while to continue his development, although it’s likely he may get recalled again before the Knights face the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday. Røndbjerg can stay on Vegas’ NHL roster for up to 30 days (or play in ten NHL games) before he requires waivers to head to Henderson again.
Golden Knights Recall Jonas Rondbjerg, Place Nicolas Roy On IR
10/29: Vegas has sent Rondbjerg back to the minor leagues.
10/28: The Golden Knights have brought up some extra forward depth in advance of their game tonight against Los Angeles, announcing (Twitter link) that they’ve brought up winger Jonas Rondbjerg from AHL Henderson.
The 24-year-old had a brief stint with Vegas earlier this month, picking up a goal and an assist in two appearances. It’s the third straight season that Rondbjerg has seen action with the big club. Combined, he has 45 games with the Golden Knights where he has three goals and six helpers.
Rondbjerg has also played in five games with the Silver Knights this season where he has three assists. He has been more productive at that level, tallying 32 goals and 39 assists in 137 games over parts of five years. He’s in the second season of a three-year contract which actually carries a cap hit below the NHL minimum salary, checking in at just under $767K.
He will be taking the place of Nicolas Roy on the roster as the Golden Knights have placed the center on injured reserve on Friday. The 26-year-old missed Thursday’s game with an undisclosed injury and had already been ruled out through the weekend. Roy is off to a nice start to his season with three goals in seven games but that will be on hold, at least for a few days. He’ll have to stay on IR for seven days but Vegas can back-date the placement to Wednesday if they so desire.
Waivers: 9/30/23
With the start of the NHL season now just ten days away, daily waiver activity will be continuing league-wide. Here is a listing of the players that are on the wire today per various team announcements and TSN’s Chris Johnston (Twitter link).
Buffalo Sabres
G Devin Cooley
F Justin Richards
G Dustin Tokarski
Edmonton Oilers
F Drake Caggiula
F Greg McKegg
Montreal Canadiens
D Nicolas Beaudin
F Lucas Condotta
D Brady Keeper
F Mitchell Stephens
Nashville Predators
F Anthony Angello
D Kevin Gravel
G Troy Grosenick
D Jordan Gross
New York Rangers
Ottawa Senators
F Josh Currie
D Dillon Heatherington
F Garrett Pilon
D Lassi Thomson
While Ottawa’s players were announced as being waived on Friday, it was after the 1 PM CT cut-off which means their waiver clock starts today.
Vegas Golden Knights
F Byron Froese
D/F Mason Geertsen
D Dysin Mayo
F Gage Quinney
F Sheldon Rempal
F Jonas Rondbjerg
Most of the forwards on this list have cleared waivers in the past with Condotta being the lone exception as this is his first time eligible for waivers. He spent most of last season in the minors but scored in his lone NHL appearance. Quinney and Rempal were productive in the minors last season, averaging just shy of a point per game while Caggiula had over 50 points as well.
Among the defensemen, Thomson could be one to keep an eye on for a potential claim. The 23-year-old was the 19th overall pick in 2019 and is still on his entry-level contract. He hasn’t had much success at the NHL level so far but as a young right-shot defender, a rebuilding team or two might be inclined to take a flyer on him.
Mayo logged nearly 21 minutes a night on the back end for Arizona back in 2021-22 but cleared waivers last season and was eventually traded to Vegas in exchange for Shea Weber’s LTIR-eligible contract. He has two years left on a one-way deal worth $950K per season which could scare teams off. Beaudin is a former first-rounder himself back in 2018 (27th overall) but has just 22 NHL games under his belt, none of which came last season between Montreal and Chicago.
Grosenick and Tokarski are no strangers to the waiver wire. Tokarski has cleared all five times while Grosenick has cleared six out of eight times he has been waived over the years. This will be Cooley’s first time on waivers but while he had a decent season in Nashville’s system last season (posting a .909 SV% with AHL Milwaukee), it would be surprising to see him picked up.
Each player will be available to teams until 1 PM CT on Sunday.
Golden Knights Recall Jonas Rondbjerg
With William Carrier being out with an upper-body injury, the Golden Knights needed to bring up a replacement. As Ben Gotz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports (Twitter link), that replacement is winger Jonas Rondbjerg who has been recalled from Henderson of the AHL on an emergency basis.
It’s the fifth recall in less than six weeks for the 23-year-old who hasn’t yet been able to establish himself as a regular in the lineup for Vegas. Rondbjerg has played in nine games with the Golden Knights this season and has been held off the scoresheet while averaging just over ten minutes per night. He cleared waivers back in training camp which is notable here as once he plays in that tenth game, he’ll require waivers to go back down.
However, that hasn’t been the case with the Silver Knights. Rondbjerg has ten goals and nine assists in 29 games at the minor league level, sitting second on Henderson in goals. He put up similar numbers last season with 14 goals and 13 helpers in 39 contests so it’s just a matter of finding a way to bring that to the NHL.
Vegas now has a full 23-man roster. However, if they need to free up a spot, they can do so by shifting Mark Stone to injured reserve with the veteran set to be out on a week-to-week basis.
AHL Shuffle: 12/27/22
With the NHL’s roster freeze coming to an end today, a number of teams made immediate call-ups after sending a number of players, even some of their regulars, down to the AHL for salary cap purposes before the break. While most of those recalls were formally announced by their teams today, a few players appear to have been recalled, absent an announcement. According to the AHL’s Transactions page, the following players have been recalled from the AHL by their NHL squads.
Of note, both Raty and Fasching are playing in tonight’s game, and though Drury is not playing tonight, he is listed on the Hurricanes’ roster. Vegas faces off against the Los Angeles Kings later tonight at 7:30 pm PT/10:30 pm ET, so more may be known on their players at that time.
Carolina Hurricanes:
New York Islanders:
Vegas Golden Knights:
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.
Vegas Golden Knights Recall Jonas Rondbjerg, Place Brett Howden On LTIR
5:00 pm: Forward Brett Howden was also moved to long-term injured reserve to make the roster space for Rondbjerg, per CapFriendly. Pietrangelo will be away from the team indefinitely as he deals with an illness in the family and has been given a non-roster designation. Howden has missed six games with a lower-body injury.
12:31 pm: The Vegas Golden Knights have completed just their second recall of the season, adding Jonas Rondbjerg to the NHL roster. Alex Pietrangelo, who hasn’t played since November 26 as he continues to deal with a personal matter, is no longer listed on the official roster.
Vegas is also without Jack Eichel for the time being, after suffering a lower-body injury a few days ago. His absence could open up some playing time for the 23-year-old Rondbjerg, who suited up 30 times for the Golden Knights last season. A third-round pick from 2017, the Danish forward has seven goals and 14 points in 22 games with the Henderson Silver Knights this season.
The Golden Knights have continued to win despite these important subtractions, including a statement victory over the Boston Bruins on Monday. The club is now at home for three in a row, including a rematch with the Bruins on Sunday. Third in the league with 39 points, Vegas has allowed just 71 goals through 27 games and are getting offensive contributions from all over. Six different players have at least 20 points on the year, with Reilly Smith and William Karlsson about to join that group.
Rondbjerg will try to jump on that moving train and contribute, though it isn’t clear how much actual playing time he’ll receive on this recall. Last year, he averaged almost exactly 10 minutes a night in his 30 appearances, scoring six points.