Breaking: Golden Knights Goaltenders Adin Hill and Logan Thompson Injured and Day-to-Day

The Vegas Golden Knights enter game No. 34 of the 2023-24 season without goaltenders Adin Hill and Logan Thompson available. Hill was declared day-to-day by coach Bruce Cassidy on Dec. 19. “Hill the best I can give you is day-to-day. I don’t anticipate he will join us on this trip, if he did that would be great because that means he will be close to playing.”

Hill left after two periods on Nov. 30 against the Vancouver Canucks for, what the team called at the time, precautionary reasons. Hill started Sunday’s game against the Ottawa Senators and removed himself after the Senators’ first goal just 6:25 into the first period. Josh Norris took a shot that took an awkward bounce off Hill’s left pad. After watching the replay, it was clear that Hill could not react to the shot due to injury.

Hill had a full practice Thursday, Dec. 14, and worked with goaltending coach Sean Burke before practicing. The team knew Hill would be available for a start this past Sunday against the Senators or Tuesday’s game against the Carolina Hurricanes. Coach Cassidy mentioned it was better for Hill to get his first start at home to get Thompson some rest.

Hill’s timetable for return is unknown.

Thompson’s situation is a bit of a mystery. The 26-year-old made an appearance in relief for Hill early in Sunday’s game against the Senators. Thompson looked fine for most of the game until the third period. After making a save, Thompson was slow to get up and favoring his right side. During the next television timeout, Thompson skated to the bench to discuss with the medical staff while constantly moving his right leg in circles. Thompson’s mobility improved slightly as the third period progressed, but Thompson was seen using the crossbar for leverage after playing a puck behind his net.

Thompson was pulled from Tuesday’s game against the Hurricanes after giving up his sixth goal early in the third period. It did not appear that Thompson was injured.

Fast forward to Wednesday at 6:47 p.m. when the team tweeted that Thompson was considered day-to-day with an upper-body injury and Isaiah Saville was recalled from the Henderson Silver Knights.

Logan Thompson is day-to-day with an upper-body injury. The Golden Knights have recalled Isaiah Saville from Henderson. #VegasBorn pic.twitter.com/sH74MIHW55

— Vegas Golden Knights (@GoldenKnights) December 21, 2023

Based on the team’s post, this appears to be a new injury for Thompson. Coach Cassidy will most likely provide an update prior to Thursday’s game against the Tampa Bay Lightning.

Golden Knights Have 200 Minutes of NHL Goaltending Experience on the Roster

Jiri Patera has four NHL appearances and 200 minutes of NHL experience. Isaiah Saville has zero NHL appearances and just 21 AHL appearances. This is a concern, but is general manager Kelly McCrimmon concerned about Patera at the NHL level?

“It was interesting last year, we had no goaltending injuries for 54 or 55 games, and then we had a number of them. This year we got Logan and Adin coming in healthy, feeling at the top of their game. We did get a chance to evaluate Jiri Patera in NHL games. Of course, you get to see the players in the American Hockey League. When you get a chance, whether it was Pavel Dorofeyev, Kaedan Korczak, Braden Pachal. The guys that get to come up and play NHL games. It really helps paint a picture in your mind of what their capabilities and potential might be. I think we liked what we saw with Jiri and he’s the No. 3 goalie in our situation and if we had an injury, he’d be called on.” McCrimmon when asked by VHN’s Chris Gawlik before the season about the confidence level in Golden Knights goaltenders should Hill and Thompson miss and extended period of time.

Can Patera validate McCrimmon’s statement in the coming games? Will McCrimmon re-evaluate his poker hand and draw an extra card? We are about to find out.