John Tortorella has seen enough from one of his defensemen. He's seen this player not score a goal since December 20, lagging behind his Vegas Golden Knights teammates offensively. Sure, he has one assist during the playoffs. But you'd expect more from this 25-year-old during a key moment.
That's why Tortorella pulled Kaedan Korczak from the lineup and replaced him with Golden Knights veteran Dylan Coghlan.
VGK lines at morning skate before game 3 vs ANA.
— SinBin.vegas (@SinBinVegas) May 8, 2026
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This season, Coghlan has only played three games with the Golden Knights. While he doesn't have any points with the NHL club, he has fared much better with the Henderson Silver Knights. The softball hero has 14 goals and 30 assists with the Silver Knights this season, helping them get to the Calder Cup playoffs.
Coghlan has six goals and 13 assists overall during his Vegas residency. Fans will remember him being involved in the Max Pacioretty trade to the Carolina Hurricanes, in which Vegas acquired the infamous "future considerations." Remember him?
But there's a reason or two why Korczak received this demotion. Sometimes, you're looking for a little lineup shakeup, especially after losing Game 2 in convincing fashion to the Anaheim Ducks. Here's why the defenseman was bumped out for Coghlan for Game 3.
Why Kaedan Korczak was pulled from the Vegas Golden Knights lineup on Friday
Now, Korczak is one heck of a defensive player. This season, he has 3.6 defensive point shares, marking a career-high for the young blue-liner. However, the objective for him was to be an offensive contributor as well.
As mentioned, having your last goal be on December 20 against the Calgary Flames isn't the best look. This season, he also had 0.3 offensive point shares, which is a massive dropoff from the 3.6 defensive point shares he had.
Sure, Coghlan isn't much better regarding a substantial replacement. However, the message here is to, well, send a message. That's what Tortorella did with Pavel Dorofeyev earlier in the playoffs and look how that turned out. Four goals in two games literally saved the Golden Knights against the Utah Mammoth.
Therefore, I'm taking this as a way of getting the youngster going. Will it work? Who knows? But it better be a wake-up call for Korczak. Otherwise, he'll be McCrimmon's next trade target for a bigger move.
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