Jack Eichel and Paul Cotter set to return to the lineup Thursday
According to Vince Sapienza of Fox5 Vegas, Jack Eichel and Paul Cotter are set to return to the Golden Knights’ lineup Thursday.
Barring any setbacks, Cassidy says Eichel and Cotter should be back in the lineup Thursday vs Pittsburgh
He says Marchessault is aiming for a return on Saturday #VegasBorn
Forward Jonathan Marchessault is aiming for a Saturday return to the lineup versus the Los Angeles Kings. Forward Paul Cotter has been sidelined with a upper-body injury since December 17. Jack Eichel has been injured since December 11 with a lower-body injury. Jonathan Marchessault suffered a lower-body injury against the Arizona Coyotes on December 21.
Currently the Golden Knights are without Brett Howden, Robin Lehner, Alec Martinez, Nolan Patrick, and Zach Whitecloud. Those are five players in key positions that the team has been playing without for some time now.
It’s becoming a tradition for the Golden Knights to have serious injury problems throughout the season. It caused them to miss the playoffs for the first time in franchise history last season.
The Vegas Golden Knights are currently first place in the Western Conference with a record of 26-12-2. They have had such a successful first half of the season that moneypuck.com gives them a 96.2% chance of making the playoffs and 52.6% chance of winning a playoff series.
In their short five year history, the Golden Knights have been to the conference finals or final four three times and earned a berth in the Stanley Cup finals once, in 2017-18. The team’s point percentage this season of .675% over a full season would be the second-best in franchise history.
Paul Cotter has played 22 games this season in Vegas, scoring four goals and six points. He’s been a mainstay there because of all of the aforementioned injuries.
Jack Eichel is the most skilled player on the team and is having a strong season with 29 points in 27 games.
With or without Eichel and Potter, the Golden Knights are set to play against the Pittsburgh Penguins Thursday.