Before the team’s game tonight against the New York Islanders, the Vegas Golden Knights have loaned defenseman Daniil Miromanov to their AHL affiliate, the Henderson Silver Knights on a long-term injury conditioning loan, as well as reassigned goaltender Jiri Patera to the Silver Knights as well.
As an undrafted free agent, Miromanov came to the Vegas organization in 2022, signing away from HC Sochi of the Kontinental Hockey League. With plenty of high-profile injuries to their typical active roster, Miromanov is not necessarily a game-changing reinforcement to inject back into the lineup. Still, it will provide sufficient depth to the Golden Knights’ defensive core once he can fully return. Over both the 2021-22 and 2022-23 NHL seasons, Miromanov has played in a total of 25 games for Vegas, scoring two goals and seven points while averaging a little under 14 minutes of ice time per game.
The much more significant news in this team announcement is the reassignment of Patera, which likely spells the return of Adin Hill between the pipes. Largely serving in a backup role since Hill went down with injury once again in mid-December, Patera has been serviceable, producing a 1-3-0 record in five games played, carrying a .901 SV% and a 3.75 GAA. After having been out for over a month, it may take Hill a short while to get reacquainted with gameplay, but it will at the very least serve as a well-earned break to goaltender Logan Thompson, who has started in the majority of games in Hill’s absence.
In the first 10 games after Hill went down with an injury, the Golden Knights posted a disappointing 3-7-0 record, creating a sizeable gap between them and the first-place Vancouver Canucks in the Pacific Division. However, over the last five games, the team has begun to pick things up a tad, securing a 3-1-1 record, and outscoring their opponents by a margin of five over that stretch.