Vegas Golden Knights: Karlsson, Theodore back in the mix at practice

You can now breathe a sigh of relief, Vegas Golden Knights fans, because both William Karlsson and Shea Theodore are back at practice after suffering preseason scares.

The Vegas Golden Knights came from behind to beat the LA Kings 3-2 in Overtime on Thursday to improve to 3-0-0 in the preseason, but some of the shine was taken off the victory after Karlsson left the game following the conclusion of the second period.

Karlsson was tripped in the latter stages of the middle frame but still took to the ice for multiple shifts afterwards, and didn’t look to be carrying any clear sign of an injury at that point. However, he was taken out of the game as a precaution which left some Golden Knights fans left fearing the worst.

Vegas Head Coach Gerard Gallant told the media in the wake of the game that Karlsson would have played the third period had it been a regular season game, with the coaching staff opting to take a cautious approach with their star center, who signed an eight-year, $47,200,000 contract in the summer.

However, the panic was well and truly over when Karlsson was at practice on Friday and, although he may not feature in tonight’s preseason matchup against the San Jose Sharks, he should feature in the final two exhibition games which Gallant intends to use as a dress rehearsal for the regular season.

It is good news for the Golden Knights given Karlsson’s importance to the team having recorded 134 points (67 goals, 67 assists) in 164 games for Vegas since being acquired at the 2017 NHL Expansion Draft. He endured a slight dip in his production last year with 24 goals and 32 assists for 56 points in 82 games, so he will be going all out to reproduce the form that saw him amass 78 points in 2017-18.

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Meanwhile, Shea Theodore was also back at practice on Friday after tweaking something minor during off-ice physical testing on the first day of Training Camp. Theodore of course endured a major health scare this off-season after being diagnosed with testicular cancer.

He underwent surgery and has now recovered fully from the procedure, and we can all say that it is brilliant to see the defenseman fully recovered and healthy after such a huge scare.

Theodore will almost certainly not feature against the Sharks tonight but he could play in one or both of the Golden Knights’ final preseason contests over the next couple of weeks in order to blow off the rust ahead of the regular season.

After exploding last year with a career-year, Theodore is arguably the best defenseman on the books for the Golden Knights and, at just 24-years-old, his prime years are still way ahead of him and there is no reason to think why he can’t crack into the top 20 best blueliners in the NHL.

He recorded 12 goals and 25 assists for 37 points in 79 games, including nine points on the power play, while he also amassed 91 blocked shots, 27 hits and 82 takeaways in 2018-19 as well as logging an average of 20:06 minutes of ice time per night.

Meanwhile, the Golden Knights’ only other injury worry is enforcer Ryan Reaves who hasn’t taken part in Training Camp after suffering a mild injury during summer workouts. The bruising power forward is considered day-to-day but it remains to be seen whether or not he features in the preseason.

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Reaves has established himself as a key role player for the Vegas Golden Knights, combining physical play and an ability to drop the gloves with secondary scoring after contributing nine goals and 11 assists for 20 points in 80 games last year, achieving career-highs in goals, assists and points.

One of the most important priorities in preseason is avoiding injuries and, with four exhibition games left, the Vegas Golden Knights will be doing everything they can to ensure that they stay clear from any more health scares while easing Karlsson, Theodore and Reaves back into the fold.

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