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Kaedan Korczak

Golden Knights Sign Ilya Samsonov; Extend Pavel Dorofeyev, Kaedan Korczak

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The Golden Knights have found Logan Thompson’s replacement on the open market, inking Ilya Samsonov to a one-year pact today, per a team release. They’ve also re-signed RFA forward Pavel Dorofeyev ($1.835MM AAV) and defenseman Kaedan Korczak ($825K) to two-year deals (per PuckPedia). It’s a $1.8MM cap hit for Samsonov, GM Kelly McCrimmon confirmed.

Vegas may have honored a reported trade request by dealing Thompson to the Capitals for a pair of third-round picks over the weekend, but they’ve now had to settle for a more expensive and arguably worse replacement on the open market. Samsonov costs more than twice as much as Thompson, whose cap hit was in the $700K range, and is coming off a roller-coaster-like 2023-24 campaign with Toronto that saw him finish with an underwhelming .890 SV% and 3.13 GAA in 40 games.

Samsonov started in Game 1 of the Maple Leafs’ first-round series against the Bruins but struggled to the tune of a .896 SV% and 3.01 GAA in the series. He was briefly pulled for the younger Joseph Woll, who was nearly instrumental in Toronto’s Games 5 and 6 wins, but an injury to Woll forced Samsonov back into action for the Leafs’ Game 7 loss.

A quick look at Samsonov’s stats indicates he’s also been yo-yo-like from year to year, something Vegas is banking on with this signing. A rebound year could end up proving to be a good value for his cap hit, but it’s certainly more of a gamble than retaining Thompson. He’ll likely start the season as a pure backup to Adin Hill but could work his way into tandem consideration. Barring injuries, it’s unlikely he’ll play 40+ games like he has with Toronto the past two years. Samsonov had previously expressed a desire for a multi-year deal this summer, too, so settling for a one-year pact likely indicates there wasn’t much of a market.

Dorofeyev returns and will be relied upon heavily to provide cheap depth scoring over the course of his two-year bridge deal. The 23-year-old Russian was limited to 47 games last year and was routinely the 13th forward on a deep Vegas offense, but was a great tertiary scoring option when in the lineup. Going back over the last three years, Dorofeyev has 20 goals and 33 points through his first 67 NHL games – a 40-point pace. He’s proven he can handle third-line minutes, although with the Knights losing all of Michael Amadio, Jonathan Marchessault and Chandler Stephenson today, he may find his way into top-six duties by the end of the season.

Korczak should also be considered for a regular NHL role next season after Alec Martinez departed for the Blackhawks today. The 2019 second-round pick is still only 23 and was solid in major league action last year, accumulating nine points and a +12 rating in 29 games for Vegas. He’ll be in sure contention for a roster spot out of the gate.

Image courtesy of USA Today Sports.

Golden Knights Add Nine Players To Playoff Roster

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Now up 2-0 in their first-round series against the Stars, the Golden Knights have recalled nine players from AHL Henderson to serve as Black Aces for the remainder of their playoff run, per CapFriendly’s transaction log. Forwards Brendan Brisson, Grigori Denisenko, Byron Froese and Mason Morelli; defensemen Kaedan Korczak, Dysin Mayo and Christoffer Sedoff; and goaltenders Isaiah Saville and Jesper Vikman are now all immediately available to Vegas if injuries force them to reach deep into their pool of depth players.

There was no postseason action in store for any of these players in the minors. Henderson failed to qualify for the 2024 Calder Cup Playoffs after going 28-36-3-5 in the regular season, missing out for the second year in a row.

Many of these players, including all of the forwards mentioned and Korczak on the blue line, played in NHL games with the Knights this season. Mayo had 82 NHL games of experience across 2021-22 and 2022-23 with the Coyotes but didn’t suit up for Vegas in 2023-24. Saville, Sedoff and Vikman have yet to make their NHL debuts.

Brisson, 22, is the most likely of these recalls to see game action in the playoffs. The 2020 first-round pick did well in his first NHL season, recording two goals and six assists for eight points in 15 games across a spattering of late-season recalls. Averaging 12:20 per game, he played a handful of different units but spent most of his time on the wing with William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault. The trio controlled 65.2% of expected goals in 43 minutes together, per MoneyPuck. The former University of Michigan standout also had 19 goals and 38 points in 52 contests with Henderson, his second full season in the pros.

Denisenko, 23, was picked up in the first round by the Panthers two years before Brisson. After failing to crack Florida’s opening night roster, he was nabbed off the waiver wire by Vegas in October. He was assigned to Henderson after there were no takers for him on waivers a second time – including his former team. The 5’11” winger still doesn’t have an NHL goal to his name in 32 appearances, six of which came in a Golden Knights sweater this season. However, he did have a breakthrough campaign in the minors, recording career-highs across the board with 20 goals, 36 assists and 56 points in 65 games. That led the club in assists and points, and only veteran Sheldon Rempal had more goals (27).

Froese, 33, recorded an assist in 16 appearances for Vegas this year, marking his first time playing in back-to-back NHL seasons since playing in three straight from 2015-16 to 2017-18. The longtime farmhand has suited up 141 times in parts of six seasons for the Canadiens, Flames, Golden Knights, Maple Leafs and Lightning. An alternate captain with Henderson, Froese finished fifth on the club in scoring with 31 points (13 goals, 18 assists) in 53 games.

Morelli, 28, earned his first NHL contract with the Golden Knights last July after spending three years on minor-league deals with the Hershey Bears, the Capitals’ AHL affiliate. Fresh off a Calder Cup win in 2023, Morelli made his NHL debut in February while injuries decimated the Knights’ forward group. He put up a goal and an assist on his first try against the Sharks and finished his callup with four points in nine games. The North Dakota native also had a career-high 13 goals in 56 games with Henderson, adding 16 assists for 29 points on the year.

On the blue line, Korczak will be head coach Bruce Cassidy’s first choice to insert into the lineup if Vegas needs to reach past the two extra defenders they entered the postseason with. The 23-year-old was a second-round pick in 2019 and played a career-high 26 games for the Golden Knights this year, posting nine points and a +12 rating while averaging 16:30 per game. He mirrored those stats in Henderson with a goal and eight assists in 26 games there and still carries significant NHL upside as a smooth-skating, 6’4″ right-shot defender. His entry-level contract is up this summer, but his next deal shouldn’t cost more than $1MM just yet and will be a cheap, reliable call-up option with an outside chance to crack next year’s opening night roster.

Mayo, 27, was picked up by the Knights in a February 2023 trade with Arizona that sent a fifth-round pick and the contract of defenseman Shea Weber, who won’t play again due to various injuries, to the Yotes. An adept shutdown defender with depth NHL upside, Mayo had a career-high 25 points in 67 games with the Silver Knights this season with a -6 rating and 79 PIMs, his most in a single season since his junior hockey days.

Sedoff, 22, was an undrafted free-agent signing by Vegas from the Western Hockey League’s Red Deer Rebels last year. The Finnish blue-liner managed to stick in the AHL the whole season, avoiding a demotion to the ECHL, but didn’t score in 46 appearances. He tallied 10 assists for his first-ever professional points and posted a -1 rating, the second-highest on the team behind Brisson among qualified skaters.

Saville and Vikman split backup duties for Henderson behind the more experienced Jiří Patera, although neither won the job outright. The 23-year-old Saville had slightly better numbers, going 7-12-1 with a .893 SV%, 3.27 GAA and one shutout in 22 appearances. The Alaska native was a Vegas fifth-round pick in 2019. Vikman, 22, was a fifth-round pick a year after Saville. The 6’3″ Swede split the year between Henderson and ECHL Savannah, failing to cross the .900 SV% plateau at either level.

Vegas Golden Knights Updates

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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.

Golden Knights Make Several Roster Moves

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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 Activate, Reassign Kaedan Korczak

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The Vegas Golden Knights have announced that defenseman Kaedan Korczak has been activated off of injured reserve and subsequently reassigned to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights.

The 22-year-old last played in a December 10th contest against the San Jose Sharks, skating nearly 19 minutes in a 5-4 shootout victory. He suffered a lower-body injury during that game and was placed on injured reserve shortly afterward. Although Korczak has played in 15 NHL games this season compared to just five in the AHL, it’s understandable that the Golden Knights would want to see Korczak build back to full strength after his injury at the AHL level before throwing him back into the NHL lineup.

The six-foot-three right-shot defenseman plays with a lot of physicality, so some time in the AHL is likely required before he’ll feel comfortable re-engaging in that aggressive playstyle against NHL competition. The Golden Knights’ defense has been dealing with quite a few injuries, so it may not take too long before Korczak finds himself back in the NHL, perhaps on the team’s second pairing next to Brayden McNabb.

In the meantime, that spot is occupied by two-time QMJHL defenseman of the year Lukas Cormier, who picked up an assist in his first career NHL game on Saturday.

Vegas Golden Knights Recall Jonas Røndbjerg, Jiří Patera

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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: Spence, Hoffman, Markstrom, Golden Knights

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Kings defenseman Jordan Spence has changed agents and is now represented by Quartexx, PuckPedia reports (Twitter link).  The 22-year-old is in his first full season at the NHL level, appearing in all but one of 26 games for Los Angeles so far.  A prominent point producer in the minors with 87 points in 102 games with AHL Ontario, Spence has had a bit of a harder go hitting the scoreboard in the NHL although he does have nine assists while averaging just shy of 15 minutes a night.  Spence is set to become a restricted free agent for the first time this summer and will be owed a qualifying offer worth a little over $813K.

More from the Pacific Division:

  • Postmedia’s Bruce Garrioch suggests Sharks winger Mike Hoffman could be a name to keep an eye on when it comes to the trade front. After getting off to a slow start, the 34-year-old is up to eight goals in 28 games, just one off the team lead.  A pending UFA with a $4.5MM cap hit, the asking price for Hoffman likely won’t be very high but he could be a useful addition to a team looking to add a bit of firepower to their bottom six.
  • Flames goaltender Jacob Markstrom practiced on Wednesday with their AHL affiliate, relays Postmedia’s Wes Gilbertson. The 33-year-old has been out for the last week and a half with a finger injury but Gilbertson pointed out that Markstrom didn’t seem to be limited at all which suggests the netminder could be nearing a return.  Calgary has a full roster at the moment although that can easily be addressed by returning top prospect Dustin Wolf back to the Wranglers.
  • Golden Knights goaltender Adin Hill is expected to accompany the team on their road trip next week, notes Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Sun (Twitter link). The 27-year-old has missed the last week and a half with a lower-body injury after getting off to a stellar start; he leads the NHL in GAA (1.87) and SV% (.935) over his first 14 starts.  Meanwhile, Webster adds that defenseman Kaedan Korczak will miss some time due to a lower-body injury of his own.  Korczak has a goal and six assists in 15 games with Vegas so far this season.

Vegas Golden Knights Recall Kaedan Korczak

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The Vegas Golden Knights have recalled defenseman Kaedan Korczak from their AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights. The move appears to be motivated by the fact that Vegas is currently missing two defensemen due to injury.

Alec Martinez is currently out day-to-day with an upper-body injury, while Shea Theodore is out with his own upper-body injury on an unclear timeline. The Golden Knights already roster eight defensemen, meaning they can still have a full unit of six blueliners with these two injuries.

But as Vegas begins a three-game road trip that will take them through Western Canada, it appears the team has decided it needs to carry a fully healthy seventh defenseman, which in this case would be Korczak.

Should Korczak get into the Golden Knights’ lineup during their road trip, he would be playing in relatively familiar surroundings. Korczak, a Saskatchewan native, played the entirety of his junior career with the Kelowna Rockets. As a result, he frequently played road games in all three of Edmonton, Vancouver, and Calgary.

A 22-year-old right-shot defenseman, the Golden Knights drafted Korczak 41st overall at the 2019 draft. He’s developed nicely for them, currently serving as a depth blueliner who plays heavy minutes at the AHL level and a more sheltered role when called upon by the big club. This season, he’s already played in seven games for the Golden Knights and tallied four points. He last played for Vegas in a November 5th loss to the Anaheim Ducks.

Golden Knights Assign Kaedan Korczak To AHL

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With Vegas set to welcome back Zach Whitecloud to their lineup tonight, they needed to create the salary cap and roster room needed to do so.  That move has been made as PuckPedia relays (Twitter link) that blueliner Kaedan Korczak has been assigned to AHL Henderson.

The 22-year-old was sent down at the end of training camp before being recalled following Whitecloud’s LTIR placement.  While he didn’t suit up in every game, he has been relatively productive when he has played, notching a goal and three assists in seven contests while logging a little under 16 minutes a night.  For his NHL career, Korczak has six points in 18 appearances, impressive numbers considering he’s coming off a 14-point showing in 50 games with the Silver Knights last season.

Meanwhile, Whitecloud’s return will be a welcome one.  The 26-year-old was a steady part of their third pairing last season, notching 12 points, 97 hits, and 90 blocks in 59 regular season games while averaging a little over 17 minutes per appearance.  That playing time went up in the playoffs to a little under 19 minutes per contests while he added eight points in 22 games to help Vegas win the Stanley Cup.

With this assignment and Whitecloud’s subsequent activation, Vegas is down to just $85K in LTIR space while Robin Lehner and Daniil Miromanov still on there.  That said, the Golden Knights are still carrying a full 23-man roster so they shouldn’t be facing a situation where they have to play short a player for a game (due to not being able to afford a recall) for a little while at least.

Pacific Notes: Kings Updates, Comtois, Korczak

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The Fourth Period’s Dennis Bernstein relays updates on a few key Los Angeles Kings players from Kings GM Rob Blake. Firstly, Blake said that veteran winger Viktor Arvidsson is questionable for tomorrow’s season-opening game due to a lower-body injury. Additionally, he added that conversations regarding a potential contract extension for both Arvidsson and fellow pending unrestricted free agent Matt Roy “could come around Christmas.”

Arvidsson, 30, has had a career renaissance in Los Angeles, scoring 26 goals and 59 points last season. Those numbers aren’t far off from the career highs he set with the Nashville Predators, and as a result he could be in line for a lucrative trip to the open market next summer. The impact of Roy, 28, isn’t as easy to point to as Arvidsson’s but he’s an important King all the same. The 2015 seventh-round pick played nearly 19 minutes per night last season and over two minutes per night short-handed, and could command a raise over his current $3.15MM AAV cap hit.

Some other notes from the Pacific division:

  • Per The Athletic’s Jesse Granger, Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy has confirmed that forward Maxime Comtois has been released from his PTO. Cassidy explained that the team was pleased with how Pavel Dorofeyev and Paul Cotter performed in the preseason, and as a result, did not have a spot to spare for Comtois. Comtois played in four preseason games and averaged just over 13 minutes of ice time per night. The former Anaheim Duck went scoreless in those contests and will now have to look elsewhere to continue his professional career, a career that looked so promising just two seasons ago when he scored 16 goals and 33 points in just 55 games.
  • According to CapFriendly, the Golden Knights “appear to have recalled Kaedan Korczak” from the AHL’s Henderson Silver Knights, giving the team a full 23-man roster. This move, according to CapFriendly, would “suggest another LTIR placement” to create the necessary cap space, with the likely candidates for the placement being Zach Whitecloud or Alec Martinez. Both Whitecloud and Martinez are currently on regular injured reserve, and if one is expected to be absent for a relatively extended period that player could land on LTIR in order to allow for the recall of Korczak.

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