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Bruce Cassidy reveals major setback faced by multiple Vegas Golden Knights players throughout 2023-24 season
Head coach Bruce Cassidy revealed that nine out of 23 Vegas Golden Knights players underwent surgeries this season following their Game 7 elimination to the Dallas Stars on Monday.
Despite facing criticism from many hockey fans for their use of the long-term injured reserve, Cassidy was direct when discussing the team's health.
Bruce Cassidy said (via Sportsnet):
"We had nine guys have surgery this year. Roster is only 23, nine players. ... I give our guys a lot of credit, they played through a lot of injury and trying to find chemistry with guys in and out."
Cassidy acknowledged the importance of having all their top players available for Round 1 but reckoned that some players might not have had enough time to regain their top form fully:
"It takes a while to get back up to speed," Cassidy said. "I think that would be the unfortunate part. They came, and we did get healthy enough for the playoffs, so that was the positive. But now you're trying to get a team up to speed in a hurry."
Cassidy mentioned nine surgeries, but only Mark Stone, Alex Pietrangelo, Jack Eichel, Shea Theodore, Tomas Hertl, William Carrier, and Zach Whitecloud's surgeries were confirmed.
The remaining two, likely William Karlsson and Ben Hutton, were never officially announced as surgeries but were out for over a month and described as week-to-week.
The Vegas Golden Knights faced significant criticism from fans for their use of the long-term injured reserve, with much of the scrutiny focusing on team captain Mark Stone.
Stone had to miss 26 games for the Golden Knights due to a lacerated spleen. He was placed on the LTIR and only returned for Game 1 in the playoffs.
However, this was not the first time that Stone was placed on LTIR. The Vegas Golden Knights have placed him on the LTIR for the past three seasons, which allowed them to exceed the salary cap until the playoffs and use it as a strategy for bringing in players.
According to PuckPedia, 69% of NHL teams this season continued to rely on LTIR to exceed the salary cap.
Dallas Stars edge past Vegas Golden Knights in Round 1
On Sunday, the Dallas Stars defeated the defending champions 2-1 in Game 7 to clinch the Round 1 series at American Airlines Center.
Wyatt Johnston gave the Stars a 1-0 lead at 14:34 of the first period after scoring from the right slot. Brett Howden made it 1-1 for the Vegas Golden Knights at 15:25 in the second period after converting a pass from Michael Amadio into the left post off the rush.
Radek Faksa's goal coming 44 seconds into the third period stood as the winner for the Dallas Stars on the night. The Stars face the Colorado Avalanche in Game 1 of Round 2 on Tuesday.
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