Golden Knights Injury Updates: Max Pacioretty a GTD Saturday

After practice on Friday, Vegas Golden Knights head coach Peter DeBoer announced that star forward Max Pacioretty will be a game-time decision Saturday against the Arizona Coyotes. Pacioretty has missed 12 games with his current undisclosed injury and 53 games overall this season.

The 33-year old has 15 goals and 14 assists for 29 points in 29 games played. Despite his injuries, he is still top-five on the team in scoring. His last game was against the Pittsburgh Penguins on March 11th.

Pacioretty is currently on injured reserve, and the Golden Knights do not need to make any moves to free up cap space for his return despite the voided Evgenii Dadonov trade.

Let’s use this news as an excuse to look at the other injured players the Golden Knights have on their roster in the stretch run and check in on them.

Mark Stone (LTIR): It has now been two months since Stone was placed on LTIR which conveniently freed up cap space for Jack Eichel. Back issues are what is keeping him out as Stone’s injury is something he has dealt with all season. He has now missed 44 games of the 2021-22 season. Last Game: 2/8.

Reilly Smith (IR): Both Smith and Robin Lehner left the Golden Knight’s five-game road trip in the middle of March. They were flown back to Las Vegas and since then Lehner has returned. Smith’s injury is to his knee and is the first injury to him this season. He is currently on injured reserve. Last Game: 3/8.

Laurent Brossoit (DTD) The remainder of the Golden Knights injures are listed as day-to-day and no players remaining on this list are on injured reserve or LTIR. Backup goaltender Laurent Brossoit saw his job taken from him by the emerging Logan Thompson in Mid-March. Brossoit backed up LT for a handful of games before leaving with an undisclosed injury himself. Last Game: 3/15

Nicolas Hague (LTIR) Little is known about Hague’s current injury. He is the only defenseman on the roster for the Golden Knights who are injured. The VGK have been running with seven defensemen for the last few games with both Alec Martinez and Brayden McNabb back. Hague’s injury is to his lower-body and that is pretty much all we know about him right now. Update: Hague and Brett Howden were placed on LTIR Friday. Last Game 3/15

Brett Howden (LTIR) We are all familiar with the play that knocked out Howden and resulted in him being stretchered off the ice. Fortunately, DeBoer confirmed that Howden did not do serious damage to his neck or spine in the collision and has full movement. He has missed five games. Update: Howden and Nicolas Hague were placed on LTIR Friday. Last Game: 3/24

Nolan Patrick (DTD)

Nolan Patrick also left against the Nashville Predators in late March. He left in the first period and did not return. His injury is listed as undisclosed. Yet another injury for the young Patrick. Last Game: 3/24

William Carrier (DTD)

Outside of Pacioretty, William Carrier is probably the next to return for the Golden Knights. We have seen Carrier be injured four times this season and most of which have been minor injuries where Carrier returned quickly. Carrier’s injury is that of a lower-body injury. Last Game: 3/26