Roster Moves Incoming: Brossoit Returning Soon, Golden Knights Over Player Limit

Expect the Vegas Golden Knights to make some tough roster decisions in the near future. With injured goaltender Laurent Brossoit coming back soon, the Golden Knights will have more than 23 players on their active roster, which is more than are allowed at the NHL level.

On Thursday, Golden Knights head coach Bruce Cassidy was asked about the status of Brossoit. The 29-year old goaltender had off-season hip surgery similar to starting goaltender Robin Lehner.

Cassidy said Brossoit saw a specialist on Oct. 18th and thinks he is still a week away from being cleared. A decision on whether or not Brossoit will travel on the Golden Knight’s upcoming five-game road trip will have to be made soon. But before that happens, the VGK will have to make room for his return.

“That will be a conversation we’ll have to have and it won’t be an easy one in terms of decision making. We are getting solid play from that position (goaltending). Yet LB (Laurent Brossoit) is the most experienced one. I don’t know how it’s gonna play out,” said Cassidy after Thursday’s practice.

The Golden Knights are up against both the NHL’s roster limit with 23 players signed at the NHL level, and the overall NHL salary cap with just $16 in spending money left.

“There’s probably two or three or four things that can happen. I don’t want to get ahead of myself, (Kelly) McCrimmon controls the roster,” said coach Cassidy.

Bringing Brossoit Back

Here are some of the possible options the Golden Knights will take to welcome back Laurent Brossoit. Techically speaking, the Golden Knights could move any of their current players to free up a spot for Bossoit. But there are really only two options the Golden Knights have from how we see it.

Roll With Three Goalies, Send Someone Down

The easiest option is to send down a player who is not playing to the Henderson Silver Knights. Paul Cotter, Jake Leschyshyn, and Ben Hutton have been frequent scratches for the VGK early on this season.

This would allow the Golden Knights to continue playing both Logan Thompson and Adin Hill as well as bringing Brossoit back. One of the three goalies would have to be scratched for games, but could still all be in a 1-3 rotation in games and during practices.

Making the decision on who gets the axe will be tough. Cotter had an impressive training camp, and scored a goal in the team’s first home game. With Keegan Kolesar sick, Jake Leschsyhyn was inserted into the lineup during Thursday’s practice on the fourth line. For Hutton, it’s always good to have an extra defenseman around and he is used to being a spare D-man.

Whoever it ends up being all three players are not waivers exempt, meaning they could be claimed by any NHL team.

Send Down or Trade a Goalie

The other option is a little more drastic considering how early it is in the season. That is trading one of Thompson, Hill, or Brossoit. But the Golden Knights are in the hockey business and could always use some additional cap room.

I find this option very unlikely for multiple reasons. The Golden Knights won’t be trading Thompson any time soon, and trading Hill after just acquiring him also sounds unlikely. With Brossoit coming off his injury, not many teams would be interested in his services either.

But as the more the season goes on, the Golden Knights will have to face this problem of having three NHL-level goaltenders at their disposal. Could they really send Thompson back down to the minors?

VHN’s Prediction: Paul Cotter is sent down, Laurent Brossoit is in a triple goalte rotation for now.