The ramifications of Nolan Patrick on the LTIR
The official status of Nolan Patrick has been given by the Vegas Golden Knights and GM Kelly McCrimmon with the former second overall draft pick being moved to the long term injured reserve list. Patrick will now join goaltender Robin Lehner and defenseman Shea Weber on the list for the 2022-23 season. The move will give the Golden Knights a little bit of relief room against the cap.
With Patrick going on the LTIR, the estimated cap space relief according to capfriendly.com will be approximately $14.075 million. This estimate includes the salaries of Lehner and Weber for the 2022-23 season. Currently, with all salaries on the roster, the Golden Knights stand at $10.236 million over the NHL’s upper limit cap space of $82.5 million. The addition of Patrick to the LTIR gives the Golden Knights approximately $3.839 million in cap space relief.
Patrick was originally traded to the Nashville Predators from the Philadelphia Flyers on July 17, 2021 with Phillippe Myers in exchange for Ryan Ellis. Hours later, the Predators would send Patrick to the Golden Knights in exchange for Cody Glass. Prior to the 2021-22 season Patrick and the Golden Knights would agree to a two-year, $2.4 million contract. After just two goals and 25 games in a Golden Knight sweater, the Winnipeg-native would be sidelined with a concussion and has not played since.
Regarding the contract situation for Patrick and the Golden Knights, the 2022-23 season will be the end of the current term. At the end of the season, he will be a restricted free agent. In all likelihood, the Nolan Patrick experiment in Vegas has now come to a close.
Patrick on the LTIR gives new hope to sign Nicolas Hague
The ongoing saga of getting restricted free agent Nicolas Hague signed and in camp has become the Golden Knights top priority. Hague’s previous cap hit was approximately $791,667. The 23-year old Kitchener, Ontario native is certainly due for a pay raise as he has turned into one of the league’s best young defensemen. The news of Patrick going on the LTIR certainly gives the possibility of a resolution to Hague returning to the Golden Knights a new life.
The question now is not if but when the Golden Knights and Hague come to a deal. The sooner a deal gets done, the better, especially with the team going through the process of learning the ins and outs of how Bruce Cassidy likes to run his ship.
Goaltending situation becomes clear heading into pre-season
On top of the news of Patrick going on the LTIR, McCrimmon also announced that Laurent Brossoit will be out for the foreseeable future and will not be ready in time for the start of the regular season. Brossoit is currently recovering from hip replacement surgery. Fellow goaltender Robin Lehner is also recovering from a double hip-replacement surgery and as previously stated, will be out for the entire 2022-23 season.
The Golden Knights will go with rookie Logan Thompson and Adin Hill between the pipes while Brossoit continues to heal. Thompson has been floated by some publications as a pre-season favorite to win the Calder Memorial Trophy, which is the NHL’s rookie of the year award. If Thompson can live up to the hype, the Golden Knights may find themselves in a much better position than most would expect.
As for Hill, the potential is certainly there and should end up being the back up to Thompson and Brossoit when he returns. Once Brossoit returns, the questions at goalie will surface again. In the most likely scenario, Thompson will end up heading back to the Silver Knights in Henderson. Hill was recently acquired from the San Jose Sharks for a fourth round draft pick.
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