Golden Knights Make Black Ace Recalls
It has certainly been a whirlwind few days for the Golden Knights, who are off to the third round but down a second-round pick in the process. With their AHL affiliate in Henderson being eliminated last weekend by Colorado, Vegas has made its Black Ace recalls. Per the AHL’s transactions log, they’ve recalled forwards Tanner Laczynski, Raphael Lavoie, Jonas Rondbjerg, and Kai Uchacz, along with defensemen Jeremy Davies and Jaycob Megna.
Laczynski was the leading scorer for the Silver Knights this season, potting 22 goals and 42 assists in 62 games, setting a new benchmark in points by far as his previous high was 44 points. He could have added to that total had he not made ten appearances with Vegas where he was relatively productive in a limited role, adding five assists despite playing less than 11 minutes per game of ice time. While he has just 56 games of NHL experience, he has seen time at the top level in five of the last six seasons.
Lavoie’s journey to the Golden Knights last season was a bit of an adventure, featuring near-daily stints on the waiver wire at the end of training camp as he landed in a tug of war between them and Edmonton. He played almost exclusively in the minors this season aside from one game with Vegas and was quite productive with Henderson, recording 30 goals and 26 assists in just 45 appearances. He is still looking for his first NHL point and has 17 career appearances at the top level.
Rondbjerg has seen action with the Golden Knights in five straight years, spanning 80 games, where he has three goals and eight assists. However, he only got into four outings with them this season as he dropped a little lower on the depth chart. The 27-year-old had 13 goals and 13 assists in 43 games with the Silver Knights and has been remarkably consistent at that level. Over his past five AHL seasons, he has ranged between 25 and 28 points.
Uchacz is the one prospect out of this group. He made his NHL debut late in the season with three appearances and had a strong sophomore campaign in the minors. In 68 games this season, he finished third on Henderson in scoring with 20 goals and 31 assists, besting his rookie-year point total by 21.
Among the blueliners, Davies hasn’t seen NHL action since the 2022-23 campaign. However, he has been a productive player in the minors in recent years, checking in just shy of the 50-point mark in each of the last two seasons. This year, Davies had nine goals and 38 assists in 72 games to tie for the team lead in points by a blueliner.
Megna is the oldest of the group at 33. He has seen NHL action in five straight seasons, spanning five different organizations as he has bounced around as a depth defender. He played in just four games for Vegas in 2025-26, bringing his career total to 197. With the Silver Knights, Megna had 11 points in 64 games.
It’s unlikely any of these players will be called on to suit up in the third round against Colorado, barring a significant run of injuries. However, they’ll keep skating in the meantime to be ready if their number ultimately gets called.
Golden Knights Reassign Dylan Coghlan, Tanner Laczynski, Kai Uchacz
Feb. 26: The Golden Knights announced Thursday that they’ve returned Coghlan, Laczynski, and Uchacz to Henderson. None of their American or Canadian Olympians played in last night’s 6-4 win over the Kings, with some of them being designated as non-roster players in order to comply with the 23-man limit. Sending the trio down gives the Knights the space to reinstate all of them ahead of their expected return to play tomorrow against the Capitals. All three played last night, with Laczynski having a career-best three-point game – all assists – with a +2 rating.
Feb. 24: The Vegas Golden Knights summoned a trio from AHL Henderson earlier today, as several key players are returning from the Olympic Games, affecting their status for tomorrow’s action against Los Angeles. Dylan Coghlan, Tanner Laczynski, and Kai Uchacz have joined the team and could play tomorrow, each offering some NHL experience.
Head coach Bruce Cassidy, himself returning from assistant coach duty for Team Canada, offered updates on a number of Golden Knights, as reported by Danny Webster of The Las Vegas Review-Journal. Gold medalists Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin will not play, and they’re expected to rejoin the team Friday in time for the team’s game in Washington. The status of silver medalists Mitch Marner, Mark Stone, and Shea Theodore for tomorrow remains to be determined.
Coghlan brings the most NHL pedigree out of the bunch, with 114 games, including a previous stint with Vegas from 2020-22. The 28-year-old defenseman is the club’s top blueliner call-up option whenever in a pinch, subject of several such transactions all season. They haven’t led to much opportunity, however, as he’s skated in just two games so far this season with the Golden Knights, otherwise playing in Henderson. Never recording more than 13 points in a year at the NHL level, Coghlan is much more offensively capable in the AHL, as he’s recorded 24 points in 37 games.
Laczynski, a 28-year-old center, is the Silver Knights’ top scorer, with 43 points in 40 games. The efforts have helped him earn stints with Vegas over the last two seasons, where he has one goal and three points across 17 games, nine of which came this season. The Ohio State University product was a sixth-round choice of Philadelphia in 2016, carving out a strong AHL career and 55 total NHL appearances as a Flyer and Golden Knight. The 6’1″ righty is capable of slotting in down the middle or on the wing in the bottom six.
Meanwhile, Uchacz stands out as the youngest, still just 22 and in his second professional season. Undrafted out of the WHL, the 6’2″ center had a respectable 30-point debut campaign for Henderson last year, so far on a nice step forward as he needs just three points to tie the mark at just 44 to-date in 2025-26. Uchacz made his NHL debut on Feb. 4, also playing the day after, averaging just under 12 minutes in both games and picking up a fighting major. The Calgary native will likely need to lean into that grit as he faces a difficult path to a full-time NHL role, but he’s already a trusted call-up for fourth-line fill-in duty.
Vegas will take on the Kings tomorrow, and aside from what could be a patchwork lineup in white and gold, eyes will be on their opponents, as Artemi Panarin makes his Los Angeles debut.
Golden Knights Recall Kai Uchacz
The Golden Knights announced they’ve recalled forward Kai Uchacz from AHL Henderson. They sent center Tanner Laczynski and defenseman Dylan Coghlan back down to Henderson in corresponding moves.
It’s the first NHL recall for the 22-year-old Uchacz, and he could make his NHL debut this week before the freeze. He was an undrafted free agent signed out of WHL Red Deer in 2024 and has spent the last season-plus developing in Henderson, where he’s scored 21 goals and 50 points in his first 107 professional games.
During Uchacz’s time in juniors, he was cut from his first WHL team, the Seattle Thunderbirds, following the 2019-20 season after he and a teammate were suspended for directing racist taunts toward Black teammate Mekai Sanders. He was cleared to return to the WHL for the 2021-22 campaign after going through anti-racism training and went on to play three seasons for Red Deer, including being named captain in his final junior campaign in 2023-24.
With all of Brett Howden, Jonas Røndbjerg, and Brandon Saad on injured reserve, plus Colton Sissons remaining out with an upper-body injury, Uchacz will almost certainly draw into the lineup tomorrow against the Canucks. Laczynski’s removal from the roster in the corresponding move only leaves the Knights with 12 healthy forwards, including Uchacz. The 6’2″, 209-lb forward is a natural center, so it’s reasonable to expect him to replace Laczynski down the middle on the fourth line.
Laczynski, 28, has suited up nine times for Vegas since being recalled last month. The veteran NHL/AHL tweener has two assists and a -2 rating while averaging 10:13 of ice time per game, a new career-high. He’s now played 17 times for the Knights over the past two years since signing with Vegas as a free agent in 2024.
Meanwhile, Coghlan hadn’t played since being summoned from Henderson on Friday. He was up as a temporary extra defenseman with Brayden McNabb out, but he’ll head back to the minors to get some playing time while Vegas goes without an insurance policy on the blue line for the time being.
Golden Knights Sign Kai Uchacz To Entry-Level Contract
In the other half of last night’s announcement, the Vegas Golden Knights signed forward Kai Uchacz to a two-year entry-level contract. Similarly to Braeden Bowman, Uchacz had been playing the 2024-25 campaign on an AHL contract with the Henderson Silver Knights.
Uchacz recently finished a five-year career in the Western Hockey League, split between the Seattle Thunderbirds and Red Deer Rebels. Unfortunately, his departure from the Thunderbirds wasn’t under good circumstances. The Calgary, Alberta native was removed from the Thunderbirds roster for the 2020-21 season due to making racially-charged comments toward one of his teammates.
After additional training and education, the WHL reinstated Uchacz for the 2021-22 season. The WHL’s announcement came shortly after the Thunderbirds traded Uchacz to the Rebels for a second-round pick in the 2021 WHL Prospects Draft.
He finished his career on a three-year hot streak, scoring 106 goals and 199 points in 188 games for the Rebels. Much like Bowman, Uchacz went undrafted at the NHL level and had to settle for an AHL contract this season with the Silver Knights.
At the time of writing, Uchacz sits seventh on the team in scoring with 12 goals and 23 points in 51 contests. Unfortunately, it hasn’t been enough to help Henderson climb out of the Pacific Division basement.