Tonight’s visit to Colorado represents the halfway mark of the 2023-24 NHL season for the Vegas Golden Knights. And just as they are smack dab in the middle of their Stanley Cup title defense campaign, the club is also right in the midst of a torrent of injuries.
This is nothing new for the Golden Knights, who seem to get hit by the injury bug every season and have already had to endure lengthy absences from the likes of Adin Hill, Shea Theodore and Alec Martinez. Head coach Bruce Cassidy took some time during a media session on Sunday to address the status of his sidelined charges, which makes for a perfect opportunity to check in on where things stand with Vegas’ mash unit and when we can expect to see them back on the ice.
Adin Hill
Let’s start off with some good news, shall we? Hill’s lower-body injury has kept him sidelined for all but six minutes of ice time since Nov. 30, but a return looks to be on the horizon for the team’s starting goalie – perhaps as soon as next week.
“He’s back skating with the group, so that’s another step,” Cassidy told NHL.com. “I anticipate we’ll see Adin at some point next week if he keeps making those steps in practice.”
That would seem to suggest that Hill is expected back in the crease sometime during the club’s big upcoming five-game homestand, one that will see the Boston Bruins, Calgary Flames, Nashville Predators, New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins come to town.
Whenever the 27-year-old does return, it won’t be a moment too soon given Vegas’ struggles in his absence. In the eight games since Hill re-injured himself on Dec. 17 against the Ottawa Senators, they have gone 2-6 while allowing 3.88 goals per game.
William Karlsson
Less encouraging is the injury news on William Karlsson, who sustained a lower-body injury of his own last week. The Swedish 31-year-old played the full Winter Classic, but hasn’t seen game action since. Although he was initially ruled out for two games, that prognosis has since been downgraded and he is now listed as being week-to-week.
This is a significant blow to both the player and team considering the season that Karlsson is having. With 15 goals and 32 points in 38 games pre-injury, the Golden Knights’ No. 2 center is on pace for his best season since scoring 43 goals and 78 points in the expansion year. For now, Mark Stone has moved back to the second line (Jonathan Marchessault moved back up to the top line) and Vegas will look to ride out what is hopefully only a few more games without Karlsson.
William Carrier
For as tough as William Carrier is, he has experienced some tough injury luck in recent years. Last week against the Florida Panthers, he suffered an upper-body injury that Cassidy noted he was “going to miss some time” for.
Since leaving the banner-raising season opener with a different upper-body injury back in October, it’s been a frustrating season for Carrier. While still offering plenty of grit among the bottom-six, his five goals and seven points in diminished ice time so far represent a step back from last year’s career-best 16-goal campaign.
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Shea Theodore
Theodore’s name was conspicuously absent from Cassidy’s updated injury report, which is worrisome. The last official update on the 28-year-old blueliner was that he had undergone successful surgery to repair an upper-body issue and would remain out week-to-week. That was at the end of November, roughly six weeks ago. The broad nature of his return timeline means he remains, technically, week to week, but you’d imagine that Theodore would’ve hoped to be on the ice by now.
The team certainly would love to have him back. During their recent slide, the Golden Knights have struggled with production from their back end. They could certainly use a puck mover who was averaging nearly a point-per-game (18 points in 20 games) before the injury.
The Rest
Vegas’ depth is not only being challenged by injuries to key, front-line players, but also to those that would otherwise be anticipated to fill the void.
Ben Hutton left the club’s 3-2 win over the Los Angeles Kings on Dec. 28 with an upper-body injury of his own and will remain sidelined for a while yet. The same is true for Kaedan Korczak, who hasn’t played since sustaining a lower-body injury in an early December game against the San Jose Sharks. Daniil Miromanov has been out all season with an undisclosed injury, but returned to practice last weekend in a no-contact jersey.
The blue line depth has been pushed even further yet with Zach Whitecloud nursing an upper-body injury, but he is only expected to miss a couple of games. As a result, the club has brought up 2020 third-round draft pick Lukas Cormier for his NHL debut, while also promoting waiver wire pickups Grigori Denisenko and Tobias Björnfot for their Golden Knights debuts.
Vegas is readily familiar with the challenge of injuries and the “next man up” mentality. While being undermanned ultimately proved too much to overcome during the 2021-22 playoff miss, last year’s team kept their head above water on the way to a narrow division title triumph and then got healthy at the right time as the postseason arrived. For now, the club can only move forward and hope that this year looks more like last year than it does the one prior.
