- Golden Knights winger Victor Olofsson has turned a corner in his recovery, head coach Bruce Cassidy told reporters including Jesse Granger of The Athletic (Twitter link). However, he won’t suit up on their two-game road trip that begins on Wednesday. Olofsson has been dealing with a lower-body injury for the last four weeks, pausing what was a strong start to his first season with Vegas as he had three goals in his first four games.
Golden Knights Rumors
Mark Stone Injury Not Considered Serious
- The Vegas Golden Knights were dealt a blow a few days ago after captain Mark Stone went down with a lower-body injury. Thankfully there won’t be any long-term concern for Stone as Elliotte Friedman reported the injury isn’t considered serious. Stone hasn’t participated in a full season since the 2020-21 campaign. Still, the Golden Knights will want to get him as close as possible this year with Stone scoring six goals and 21 points already in only 13 games.
[SOURCE LINK]
- The Vegas Golden Knights were dealt a blow a few days ago after captain Mark Stone went down with a lower-body injury. Thankfully there won’t be any long-term concern for Stone as Elliotte Friedman reported the injury isn’t considered serious. Stone hasn’t participated in a full season since the 2020-21 campaign. Still, the Golden Knights will want to get him as close as possible this year with Stone scoring six goals and 21 points already in only 13 games.
Snapshots: Walman, Samsonov, 4 Nations Face-Off
San Jose Sharks defenseman Jake Walman did not join the team for warmups on Sunday night, indicating that he’ll miss a third-straight game due to team suspension and an upper-body injury, per Sheng Peng of San Jose Hockey Now. Walman returned to top-pair line rushes at San Jose’s Sunday morning practice and was designated as a game-time decision, head coach Ryan Warsofsky shared with Max Miller of The Hockey News. Walman has nine points in 13 games – more than double the scoring of any other Sharks defender.
Despite that, the team opted for the restrained decision, and will instead return Jack Thompson to the lineup for his ninth game of the season. Thompson has four points on the year – second among Sharks defenders – and has generally looked much more the part of an everyday NHL defender. He’s served on San Jose’s second pair, while Henry Thrun is filling Walman’s top-pair spot next to Cody Ceci. Walman is traveling with the Sharks of a four-game road trip kicked off on Sunday night, and will look to instead return on Monday.
Other quick notes around the league:
- Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Ilya Samsonov has returned to the team’s practices after missing the last three games with an undisclosed injury. There’s been no word on his availability for Monday night’s matchup against Carolina, but his return to practice is nonetheless exciting progress for a Golden Knights team that’s directed all of Samsonov’s minutes to starter Adin Hill. Hill has a 6-2-1 record and .881 save percentage through nine games this season, while temporary backup Akira Schmid has slotted into six AHL games and posted a .885 save percentage. Samsonov’s 3-1-1 record and .906 save percentage in five games should be enough to earn him routine starts when he’s healthy enough to return – a point that seems to be drawing close.
- Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman shared on the latest Saturday Headlines segment that rosters for February’s 4 Nations Face-Off will be made public on December 4th, with Sweden and Finland’s coming early in the North American day while Canada and USA will announce theirs that evening. The event stands as the first in what will become a trend of in-season international events during non-Olympic years. It will take place from February 12th to February 20th and features the four of the five most-represented countries in the NHL, excluding Russia. Each country announced their first six players this summer – with Sidney Crosby, Auston Matthews, Erik Karlsson, and Aleksander Barkov among the list of representatives.
Stone (Lower Body) Listed As Day-To-Day
- The Golden Knights announced (Twitter link) that winger Mark Stone is listed as day-to-day with a lower-body injury. The injury explains the earlier recall of winger Jonas Rondbjerg from the minors. Stone is off to a terrific start to the season, recording six goals and 15 assists in 13 games so far to lead the team in scoring while logging over 19 minutes a night so his absence will certainly be felt.
Golden Knights Recall Jonas Rondbjerg, Place Nic Hague On IR
The Golden Knights have placed defenseman Nic Hague on IR, per the NHL’s media site. With the open roster spot, the team announced (Twitter link) that forward Jonas Rondbjerg has been recalled from AHL Henderson.
Rondbjerg is no stranger to the NHL-AHL shuttle in recent years as he has played in at least 13 games with Vegas in each of the last three seasons. In 2023-24, the 25-year-old got into 20 games with the Golden Knights, recording two goals and an assist while averaging 11:17 per night. Overall, he has three goals and seven helpers in 63 career appearances in Vegas.
While he hasn’t been a big point producer in the NHL, Rondbjerg has been much more effective offensively in the minors. Last season, he had nine goals and 16 assists in 48 appearances with the Silver Knights and is off to a decent start this year with two goals and two assists in his first seven games, helping to earn this recall.
As for Hague, the 25-year-old last played on Saturday and has been out with an undisclosed injury since then. He’s off to a quiet start to his season, notching just one goal in nine games along with 12 blocks and 13 hits while averaging just over 16 minutes a night, a number that skews a bit low due to missing time due to injury in two straight games. Assuming they back-dated the IR placement to Sunday, Hague will be available to return as soon as Monday against Seattle.
While Rondbjerg’s cap hit actually comes in slightly below the league minimum salary, his recall does push Vegas into using LTIR, meaning they’ll stop banking cap space for the time being. Accordingly, it wouldn’t be surprising to see him at least papered back to the minors on Saturday to get them back under the $88MM Upper Limit again.
Lucas Johansen Signs With AHL Henderson
Former Capitals first-round pick Lucas Johansen is joining the Golden Knights organization on a one-year contract with AHL Henderson, per a team announcement.
Johansen, 27 next week, had remained in the Washington organization through last season. He was mainly a fixture with the team’s AHL club in Hershey, though, appearing in just nine NHL games after being selected 28th overall in the 2016 draft.
A career-high six of those NHL games came for Johansen in 2023-24. He recorded his second career NHL assist and added a +1 rating, four shots on goal, and seven blocks while averaging 14:16 per game. With so little NHL experience, he quickly met the requirements for Group VI unrestricted free agency and hit the open market a year ahead of schedule.
Johansen inked a professional tryout with the Predators in September, hoping to stick around the former stomping grounds of his older brother, Ryan Johansen. However, he was released from the NHL camp less than two weeks later and was subsequently let go from a brief tryout with their AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals.
He heads to Nevada to join the Silver Knights on a full-fledged contract for the rest of the season, not a PTO. The British Columbia native brings 257 games of AHL experience to Vegas’ feeder club, all of which came in a Hershey Bears sweater. The 6’2″ left-shot defenseman totaled 20 goals, 72 assists, and 92 points with a +11 rating and is coming off back-to-back Calder Cup championships.
In the NHL’s eyes, Johansen remains an unrestricted free agent and can sign with any club. However, Vegas is the most likely, given their front office displayed enough interest to bring him in on a minor-league deal. If an NHL team signed him to a two-way contract, he would need to clear waivers to return to the AHL.
Ilya Samsonov Out For At Least Next Two Games
- Jesse Granger of The Athletic reports Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Ilya Samsonov is out until at least next Monday. Granger assured that it’s not a long-term injury but Samsonov hasn’t suited up for the Golden Knights in almost a week. He’s gotten off to a decent start with the third franchise of his career managing a 3-1-1 record through five starts with a .906 save percentage.
[SOURCE LINK]
- Jesse Granger of The Athletic reports Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Ilya Samsonov is out until at least next Monday. Granger assured that it’s not a long-term injury but Samsonov hasn’t suited up for the Golden Knights in almost a week. He’s gotten off to a decent start with the third franchise of his career managing a 3-1-1 record through five starts with a .906 save percentage.
Golden Knights Recall Akira Schmid
Vegas hasn’t had particularly strong goaltending in the early going this season with starter Adin Hill struggling, in particular. Now, they’ve added a third netminder to their roster as the team announced (Twitter link) that they’ve recalled Akira Schmid from AHL Henderson.
The Golden Knights acquired the 24-year-old from New Jersey at the draft along with winger Alexander Holtz in exchange for center Paul Cotter and a 2025 third-round pick. Schmid was then non-tendered by Vegas to avoid giving him arbitration eligibility but he quickly signed a two-year, $1.75MM contract to stick around with his new team.
Schmid made quite an impact with New Jersey in 2022-23, playing to a 2.13 GAA and a .922 SV% in 18 games, even seeing some action in the playoffs. However, he didn’t have anywhere near the level of success last season, posting a 3.15 GAA with a .895 SV% in 19 outings and was eventually assigned to the minors when Jake Allen and Kaapo Kahkonen were acquired at the trade deadline.
While it originally looked like Schmid might be the backup to Hill when he was acquired, Vegas went out and signed Ilya Samsonov in free agency which put an end to any thought of that. Instead, the Golden Knights utilized his waiver exemption to get him to the Silver Knights. However, he has struggled with them in the early going this season, putting up a 3.56 GAA and a SV% of just .885 in his first six outings. Notably, Schmid is eight NHL appearances away from being waiver-eligible. SinBin.Vegas notes (Twitter link) that Samsonov is not on the ice for practice today which is what led to Schmid’s promotion.
Vegas had an open spot on its active roster so no corresponding move needed to be made to add Schmid.
Stone (Personal) Misses Practice, Hague Returns To Practice
- Golden Knights winger Mark Stone missed practice today for personal reasons, the team announced (Twitter link). The 32-year-old is off to quite the start to his season, leading the league in scoring with five goals and 14 assists in 11 games. Stone has dealt with lingering back issues for the past several years but fortunately for Vegas, this absence isn’t injury-related. It’s unclear if he will be available for their next game Saturday versus Utah as his wife is ready to give birth to their second child.
- Still with Vegas, the team also noted (Twitter link) that defenseman Nicolas Hague was back at practice today. He has been dealing with an upper-body injury that has kept him out of the lineup for three straight games but he wasn’t moved to injured reserve. The 25-year-old was off to a slow start before the injury, notching one goal, 11 blocks, and nine hits in eight games so far.
Golden Knights Reassign Brendan Brisson
The Golden Knights announced yesterday night that they’ve assigned winger Brendan Brisson to AHL Henderson. No corresponding transaction was made, so Vegas is left with an open spot on the active roster.
Brisson, the Golden Knights’ first-round pick in 2020 (No. 29 overall), made the team out of camp for the first time this season. It’s been a nightmarish start for him, though, while many other of Vegas’ depth scorers have succeeded. He’s without a point and has posted a -3 rating in seven games, averaging 10:11 per contest. He’s been a healthy scratch on four occasions and has a combined -4 rating in his last two outings. The Los Angeles native has seven shots on goal and has controlled only 43.8% of shot attempts and 33.9% of expected goals when deployed at even strength.
It’s not what the Knights expected out of the 23-year-old, especially after he recorded two goals and six assists for eight points in his first 15 NHL appearances last season throughout a few call-ups. He’s been buried in fourth-line minutes and has now effectively lost his lineup spot to preseason waiver claim Cole Schwindt, who had two assists and a +3 rating against his former team, the Flames, in just 9:02 of ice time on Monday.
Many expected Brisson’s emergence to be critical for the Golden Knights this season to replace the scoring lost by the departures of Michael Amadio, Jonathan Marchessault and Chandler Stephenson in free agency. Instead, it’s been players like Pavel Dorofeyev (6 G, 3 A in 11 GP), Tanner Pearson (3 G, 4 A in 11 GP) and Brett Howden (5 G in 11 GP) picking up the slack for the Knights, whose 4.55 goals per game are second in the league.
Now, the speedy Brisson returns to Henderson to improve his game. He has 40 goals and 83 points in 117 appearances for Vegas’ top affiliate over the past three seasons, including 19 goals and 38 points in 52 games in 2023-24. He’s in the final season of his entry-level contract and will be a restricted free agent next summer.