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Nicolas Roy

Golden Knights’ Nicolas Roy Receives Fine

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8:00 PM: The Department of Player Safety made its ruling and it’s a fine of $7,812.50 for Roy, the maximum allowable under the CBA,

12:44 PM: The NHL’s Department of Player Safety announced today they’re reviewing Golden Knights’ forward Nicolas Roy’s cross-checking penalty in overtime of last night’s Game 2 loss for a potential suspension. Roy will have his hearing tonight after being assessed a major penalty and a game misconduct for the initial infraction.

Vegas killed off the five-minute penalty, which Roy committed just over five minutes into the extra frame. After engaging in a board battle with Oilers winger Trent Frederic, Roy lifted his stick for a cross-check and hit Frederic directly in the mouth/jaw area (video via Sportsnet). Frederic left the game for repairs but did return for a shift before Leon Draisaitl secured a 2-0 series lead for Edmonton.

Roy being unavailable is a significant blow to Vegas’ depth forward group. He’s averaged 13:55 per game in the postseason and has a goal and two assists through eight games. The 28-year-old has been the Knights’ best regular faceoff man with a 59.7% win rate. Despite his minus-four rating, Roy’s 57.3% shot-attempt share at even strength ranks fourth on the team.

In the overwhelmingly likely scenario Roy misses at least Game 3, head coach Bruce Cassidy will presumably shift Brett Howden to center and hope winger Pavel Dorofeyev can return after missing the last three games with an undisclosed injury. If not, Cole Schwindt is the only extra forward on the roster who can play center and would presumably enter the lineup in Roy’s place.

West Notes: Jets, Roy, Grundstrom

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Murat Ates of The Athletic expects the Winnipeg Jets to check in on Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen prior to the NHL Trade Deadline. The Jets have had interest in the 30-year-old in the past and Ates thinks they could take another look at him in hopes of boosting their blueline.

Winnipeg doesn’t have a ton of draft capital in this year’s NHL Entry Draft, having moved several picks out the door in previous trades. The Jets likely wouldn’t need to move a first-round pick to acquire Ristolainen and would probably scoff if that was the cost of acquiring him from Philadelphia.

In other Western Conference notes:

  • Vegas Golden Knights forward Nicolas Roy practiced today in a no-contact jersey (as per SinBin.vegas). Roy has been out of action since December 15th with an upper-body injury. The 27-year-old’s injury progressed unusually after he was first given a maintenance day and then missed several practices and eventually a game. A short time later he was put on the injured reserve and has been there since. Roy had a career year last season, posting 13 goals and 28 assists in 70 games but wasn’t able to carry the momentum into this year as he had a slow start with just six goals and seven assists in 31 games.
  • San Jose Sharks forward Carl Grundstrom was a full participant in practice today (as per Max Miller of The Hockey News). The 27-year-old suffered an undisclosed injury on December 28th in a game against the Calgary Flames but is reportedly close to returning. The Umea, Sweden native has been used sparingly in 30 games, averaging just nine minutes of ice time per game. The former second-round pick has a goal and four assists and will likely return to a spot in the team’s bottom six when he is healthy.

Golden Knights Make Three Roster Moves

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The Golden Knights have made a trio of roster moves heading into tonight’s game against San Jose.  SinBin.Vegas relays (Twitter link) that center Nicolas Roy has been placed on injured reserve, opening a roster spot for defenseman Ben Hutton to be activated off LTIR.  Meanwhile, forward Tanner Laczynski has been recalled once more after being papered down over the holiday break.

Roy last played on December 15th where he suffered an upper-body injury.  The 27-year-old got off to a hot start to his season with a dozen points in his first 17 games but has been quiet since then, being limited to just one point – a goal – since then, spanning 14 games.  Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Sun adds (Twitter link) that Roy’s IR placement is retroactive to December 16th, meaning he has already served the required seven days so he’ll be able to be activated as soon as he’s cleared to return.

As for Hutton, he has been limited to just five games this season and has missed more than a month with an upper-body issue of his own which landed him on LTIR when Vegas needed to open up a bit of short-term cap flexibility.  The 31-year-old has been held off the scoresheet in his five outings while averaging just over 11 minutes a night.  With now eight healthy blueliners on the roster, Hutton may be waiting a little while before seeing game action.

Laczynski, meanwhile, was briefly up with Vegas before the break, getting into three games.  He was held without a point in those in just under nine minutes a night of playing time.  However, the 27-year-old has been productive with the Silver Knights, tallying six goals and 13 assists in 17 AHL games.  He’s in the first season of a two-year, one-way deal after spending the previous four seasons with Philadelphia.

Golden Knights Recall Tanner Laczynski

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The Golden Knights have recalled depth center Tanner Laczynski from AHL Henderson, per a team announcement. He’ll make his Vegas debut tonight against the Canucks with Ivan Barbashev and Nicolas Roy battling upper-body injuries, per Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

It will be the first NHL appearance in just over a year and a half for the 6’1″ pivot. Laczynski, an Ohio State product, was a sixth-round pick of the Flyers in 2016. He spent his entire professional career in the Philadelphia organization, playing mostly with AHL Lehigh Valley but getting a few call-ups along the way, before reaching unrestricted free agency last summer and signing a two-year, $1.55MM contract with the Knights.

Laczynski hasn’t been an offensive factor in his NHL looks, only managing four points in 38 games with the Flyers. But he’s blossomed into a top AHL point producer in recent years, and his pickup has proved prudent for Vegas’ minor-league depth. He leads the Silver Knights in scoring with 19 points (6 G, 13 A) in 17 games and has a -2 rating, a decent mark on one of the league’s worst teams this season.

Laczynski spent all of last season in the minors, posting 44 points in 49 games for AHL Lehigh Valley. He appeared in a career-high 32 NHL games for Philadelphia the year prior, though, averaging 9:31 per game and recording all four of his career points. He won 51.5% of his draws, although he’ll suit up as a third-line winger tonight for Vegas alongside Tomáš Hertl and Alexander Holtz.

Both Barbashev and Roy sustained their injuries on Sunday against the Wild. It’s a damper on a huge season for Barbashev, who’s got 30 points in 31 games and is on pace to smash his career-high of 60 set with the Blues in 2021-22. Pavel Dorofeyev, who has 12 goals to rank second on the team, moves into his first-line left-wing role alongside Jack Eichel and Mark Stone. Roy, who’s been averaging over 16 minutes per game and has 13 points in 31 appearances, will be replaced more directly by Laczynski.

Vegas had an open roster spot before executing the transaction, so no corresponding moves are necessary.

Golden Knights Recall Brendan Brisson

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The Golden Knights have brought Brendan Brisson back to the NHL roster, per a team announcement. His recall comes under emergency conditions after head coach Bruce Cassidy announced Tomáš Hertl won’t be ready to make his Vegas debut against the Coyotes tomorrow and said they’ll likely be without Nicolas Roy due to an undisclosed injury. Summoning Brisson guarantees them 12 healthy forwards in Arizona.

Brisson, 22, joins the Vegas roster for the first time since he was assigned to Henderson on March 13. The 2020 first-round pick has played in 13 games this season after making his NHL debut in January, doing quite well with two goals and seven points in limited ice time. A natural center, Brisson has mostly played wing throughout his first major-league stint, and he’ll likely do so again on a line with Brett Howden and Keegan Kolesar if his services are needed tomorrow.

The Los Angeles native’s possession game has also been better than his -4 rating suggests. He’s recorded a 48.9 CF% and 50.0 xGF% at even strength, not jaw-dropping by any stretch but still better than the majority of his teammates when in the lineup. His positive impact on shot attempts has been strong in particular, as Vegas’ CF% with him on the ice is 4% better than without him across his limited run of play. He’s most frequently suited up alongside William Karlsson and Jonathan Marchessault, skating over 43 minutes with them across six games, but has also logged significant time on lines with Karlsson and Michael Amadio as well as Howden and Paul Cotter.

Vegas has space to absorb Brisson’s $925K cap hit without making any corresponding moves, but only because Hertl remains on LTIR for the time being. When he’s ready to go, likely now for Monday’s game in Vancouver, they’ll need to assign two contracts to Henderson to activate him. As such, Brisson’s stay in the majors will be brief.

Brisson’s decent initial showing makes him a candidate to crack the Golden Knight’s opening night roster in 2024-25, especially considering he’s also done well on a poor Henderson team with 16 goals and 36 points in 50 games. His ELC remains valid for next season, after which he’ll be an RFA.

Pacific Notes: Golden Knights, Kraken, Laferriere

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Over the last two games, the Vegas Golden Knights have been without the trio of Chandler Stephenson, Nicolas Hague, and Nicolas Roy. Over that time, the league-leading Golden Knights have gone 1-1-0, losing to their division rival, Los Angeles Kings, last Wednesday.

In an update from practice today, Ben Gotz of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that none of the trio are to be expected back in the team’s game against the Washington Capitals tomorrow night, but issued assurances they could be back by the weekend. Of the three, Roy has had the longest absence, after being put on the team’s injured reserve on October 24th.

Of the three, Stephenson is the most important to get back into the lineup, as he remains on one of the best-value contracts in the NHL. On the last season of a four-year, $11MM contract signed with Vegas back in 2020, Stephenson has scored 53 goals and 121 assists over 224 games as a Golden Knight.

Other notes:

  • Some notable additions to the Seattle Kraken practice were Brandon Tanev and Jordan Eberle, who is now without a non-contact jersey, respectively (X Link). Eberle has gotten off to a relatively slow start with the Kraken this year, Eberle has scored four points in 13 games, coupled with a -8 rating already this season.
  • According to the AHL transaction log, young NHL enforcer, Alex Laferriere is back on the roster with Los Angeles (X Link). Primarily playing in the team’s bottom six over the course of the young season, Laferriere has scored two goals and one assist through 14 games.

Afternoon Notes: Tippett, Drysdale, Vegas

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The Fourth Period’s Anthony Di Marco reported that the Philadelphia Flyers are willing to sign 24-year-old winger Owen Tippett to a long-term deal, as long as the average annual value is reasonable. Di Marco added that “long-term” could mean a deal similar to the eight-year extension that Brandon Hagel received in Tampa Bay, although Hagel’s $6.5MM AAV would be “a little high” for Tippett, a source told Di Marco.

The Flyers only have five players currently signed beyond the 2025-26 season. Of that list, only one – 23-year-old Joel Farabee – is under 27. So the interest in signing young players to long-term deals is both timely and refreshing. It’s another step in new general manager Daniel Briere building out something sustainable over time, and locking up core lineup pieces like Tippett is a great way to start. While the young winger hasn’t jumped off the page with his scoring – recording over half of his career scoring when he netted 49 points last season – he’s found other ways to make his impact felt, ranking fourth on the team in CF% (Corsi-For Percentage) since 2021-22, among plays with 25-or-more games.

Tippett’s pending extension, and how it affects other young pieces of the Flyers lineup, will be exciting to monitor over the course of the season.

Other notes from around the league:

Golden Knights Recall Jonas Rondbjerg, Place Nicolas Roy On IR

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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.

Injury Notes: Golden Knights, Boldy, Nedeljkovic

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Vegas Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy issued updates on two players today, as relayed by the Las Vegas Review-Journal’s Ben Gotz. According to Cassidy, Alex Pietrangelo will likely be in the Golden Knights’ lineup tomorrow when the team takes on Connor Bedard and the Chicago Blackhawks. Pietrangelo is one of the Golden Knights’ two most important defensemen, but he has not played since October 12th.

Cassidy also said that center Nicolas Roy is “going to miss a little time.” He’s out for this weekend’s games and is considered day-to-day. Roy has centered the Golden Knights’ fourth line this season in between Keegan Kolesar and William Carrier. He scored 30 points in 65 games last season and has four points through seven games in 2023-24.

Some other injury updates from across the NHL:

  • The Athletic’s Michael Russo reported today that Minnesota Wild scorer Matthew Boldy will travel with his team on their East Coast road trip, though he is unlikely to play tonight’s contest against the Philadelphia Flyers. Boldy, 22, is one of the Wild’s most important scorers but hasn’t seen game action since October 14th. Getting him back into the fold would give a major boost to the Wild, who are currently playing Patrick Maroon in Boldy’s vacated second-line right winger role.
  • Yesterday, the Penguins placed netminder Alex Nedeljkovic on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury. Penguins team reporter Michelle Crechiolo relayed word from head coach Mike Sullivan today, who confirmed Nedeljkovic’s placement on IR and clarified that the player’s status is currently considered “week-to-week.” Nedeljkovic had seized the Penguins’ backup goalie job behind Tristan Jarry and begun the season with a .914 save percentage through two starts. Now, in his absence, the Penguins will turn to Magnus Hellberg as their backup.

Injury Notes: Blackwell, Forsberg, Roy

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Without much to play for down the stretch, injured players with the Chicago Blackhawks may start opting for clean-up surgeries to ensure they are ready for training camp next season. That seems to be the case with Colin Blackwell, who has undergone sports hernia surgery this week after last playing in February.

Blackwell, 29, signed a two-year, $2.4MM contract with the Blackhawks last summer, meaning he’ll carry a $1.2MM cap hit as one of the team’s bottom-six options next season. After two nice offensive seasons, his production dropped this year, resulting in just two goals in 53 games. The surgery comes with a recovery timeline of 12 weeks, meaning his season is over early.

  • The same thing can be said about Anton Forsberg and Parker Kelly of the Ottawa Senators, as Claire Hanna of TSN reports they have been ruled out for the rest of the regular season. The Senators, of course, could still technically make the playoffs, though they’d have to leapfrog three teams to do so. Both players are already signed for next season, so they can work toward full health for 2023-24.
  • Nicolas Roy, meanwhile, has been activated from injured reserve for the Vegas Golden Knights and will be available to them tonight against the Calgary Flames. Roy last played on February 21 and gives the Golden Knights another interesting forward option that can play up and down the lineup.

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