Vegas Golden Knights Recall Jason Garrison
Finally, the veteran defenseman is back from the Wolves, and he’s looking to stay in the Vegas Golden Knights lineup.
If there’s one thing, the Vegas Golden Knights have a lot of; it’s the defensive depth. They went into the year with nine defensemen, and they still have all of them, and they haven’t used any as potential trade chips. Injuries have hit Vegas hard on the blue line as they have already lost Jon Merrill and Luca Sbisa.
Players such as Shea Theodore and Brad Hunt have carried much more of a workload than anyone ever expected. But on Tuesday night, the Vegas defense lost another critical piece to its blue line as Brayden McNabb is day to day with an undisclosed injury. Another loss on defense means the Golden Knights must dip into their talent pool in Chicago of the AHL.
On Wednesday, the Vegas Golden Knights announced they had recalled Jason Garrison from the Chicago Wolves. Head Coach Gerard Gallant will dress him and play for the injured McNabb on defense. We’ll see if he shakes his pairings up in morning skate tomorrow.
In just four games this season, Garrison totaled one assist and a minus-two rating as he wasn’t particularly productive. His last game against the Detroit Red Wings was the final straw as the team sent him down to Chicago to work on his game. From his stat line in the minors, it looks like he has refined his game a bit.
In 33 games played with the Wolves, the White Rock, British Columbia native registered four goals, 14 assists, and 18 points. Those numbers don’t exactly jump off the paper, but its a step in the right direction for the veteran defenseman. And now that Garrison is back in the NHL, let’s review what he accomplished over the course of his career.
In 2011-12 with the Florida Panthers, he was an offensive machine scoring 16 goals, 17 assists, and 33 points. He also put up 33 points with the Vancouver Canucks in 2013-14. He’s more well known for his offense as he’s sometimes ineffective clearing the puck in the defensive zone.
Next: Vegas Golden Knights Claim Number One Spot In NHL Standings
All in all, we’ll see how Garrison does back in the Vegas Golden Knights lineup on Thursday. This may only be a one-game deal for the 33-year-old, so he needs to make this one count if he wants to come back to the NHL fulltime. If he shines and consistently improves as time goes on, then the Vegas Golden Knights have a good problem to deal with for the second half of the regular season.