I guess we should start calling Las Vegas "Motown" because the hits keep coming. Okay, that moniker belongs to Detroit and they'll get in a fit if the Vegas Golden Knights take that away. Still, it's fitting for the latest news coming from the Golden Knights.
It involves Jeremy Lauzon, the hard-hitting defenseman who's accumulated 28 penalty minutes this season. While he was on pace for a franchise-record 128 penalty minutes before Tuesday, Lauzon was placed on IR.
Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported the news earlier on Tuesday. Lauzon has an undisclosed injury and has been a polarizing figure for Golden Knights fans. No, he hasn't gotten in legal trouble. However, the endless penalty parade was too much to bear for some fans.
This season, Lauzon has four assists, 57 hits, and 26 blocked shots in 17 games. Entering Tuesday, he was on pace to total 18 assists, which would be a career-high. In correspondence with the move, the Golden Knights called up Tanner Laczynski from the Henderson Silver Knights. The 28-year-old has four goals and nine assists in 13 games with the AHL club this season, helping Henderson to an 8-5-1 record and 17 points (third in the Pacific Division).
What does this mean for the Vegas Golden Knights with Jeremy Lauzon being out?
The obvious take is that there are fewer penalties called on the Golden Knights. That means less of a burden on the penalty kill.
But in all seriousness, there's another obvious take here: the injury bug is real. Chalk another up alongside Mark Stone, Adin Hill, and William Karlsson. The Golden Knights are dealing with the injury bug at the worst possible time.
You lose a physical player who has improved offensively. Even with the excessive amount of penalties, that's a problem depth-wise. As for Laczynski, he provides something similar, only in a lighter sense. Add in a scoring acumen and he can provide a much-needed spark.
Granted, his stay on the main roster will be short-lived. Once big names like Stone and Karlsson return to the lineup, he will return to the Silver Knights. There, he'll score more goals and electrify Southern Nevada at Lee's Family Forum. As for Lauzon? Heal up and don't overexert yourself.