Golden Knights Had Nine Players Receive Surgery

The Vegas Golden Knights had nine players receive surgery during the 2023-24 NHL season.

The Vegas Golden Knights had nine players receive surgery during the 2023-24 NHL season. 

It was no secret that throughout the year that the injury bug greatly affected the Golden Knights. After their Game 7 defeat, HC Bruce Cassidy confirmed that nine players had to undergo surgery.

Among those players were Jack Eichel, Mark Stone, Alex Pietrangelo, Tomas Hertl, Shea Theodore, William Carrier, and Zach Whitecloud. Two players who were never confirmed to have had surgery but are likely the players who did were William Karlsson and Ben Hutton. Both players missed extensive periods.

Only three Golden Knights players played in all 82 games. Those players were Jonathan Marchessault, Brayden McNabb and Ivan Barbashev. Just nine players were able to play in 70 or more games.

The injuries the Golden Knights faced affected their play in the postseason. Throughout round one they struggled to find chemistry on their forward lines and scored just 16 goals in the series. Two of those 16 were empty net goals. The Golden Knights only gave up 16 goals to a Dallas Stars team that averaged 3.59 goals per game, the third-best mark in the league. 

If the Golden Knights were able to find just a bit more offence, they could have been the team playing the Colorado Avalanche in round two. 

Injuries are unpredictable. In last season's playoff run, they were healthy, besides Stone, going into the playoffs and it proved to be vital. This year, Cassidy tried multiple lineups but couldn't find the right combination. 

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