The Vegas Golden Knights have signed defenseman Brayden Pachal to a one-year extension, the club announced Thursday.
Pachal, 22, played just two games for the Golden Knights last season, having attained a block, two hits, and a takeaway with an average of 9:46 minutes on ice between the two contests. He spent the majority of his season with the Henderson Silver Knights and was named team captain back in February.
The young defenseman scored 11 points (two goals and nine assists) in his 65 games played with the Silver Knights. He also played in Henderson's two playoff games but failed to score.
Pachal played just 24 games with the Silver Knights the season prior, having notched two goals and five assists for a total of seven points.
In the 2019-20 season, Pachal played four games with the ECHL's Fort Wayne Komets and 48 games with the Chicago Wolves of the AHL. The defenseman scored two points while with the Komets and 10 points for the Wolves.
Before being signed by the Golden Knights as an undrafted free agent in 2019, Pachal was a dominant player in the WHL.
He played roughly two and a half seasons for the Prince Albert Raiders after being traded by the Victoria Royals in the 2016-17 season.
In his final season with Prince Albert (2018-19), Pachal led the Raiders to a WHL Championship. He posted 51 points that regular season, including 15 goals and 36 assists.
The captain was huge in Prince Albert's playoff run, having scored eight points (seven assists and a goal) in the team's 23 postseason games.
Pachal was one of the six restricted free agents whom the Golden Knights extended a qualifying offer to earlier this month.
It would seem that while the defenseman appeared in just two contests with the big club last season, Vegas liked what it saw from the Silver Knights captain.
It's been somewhat of a long-time coming for Pachal, but he still is just about to turn 23 years old, and he has a whole NHL career ahead of him if he is able to make the most of this opportunity.
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