Vegas already has plenty of their payroll earmarked for LTIR next season. Robin Lehner and his $5M will be there after his hip surgery while the team added Shea Weber’s $7.857M AAV in a trade with Montreal this summer with the veteran’s playing days already over.
Those two might not be the only ones, however, as Danny Webster of the Las Vegas Sun relays that it’s widely expected that forward Nolan Patrick will also be on LTIR in 2022-23 as he continues to deal with an upper-body injury that dates back to last season.
The 23-year-old has basically had nothing but bad luck since being selected second overall by the Flyers in 2017. He missed time with migraines early in his career, and after getting a fresh start with the Golden Knights, he missed 55 games to various injuries. In the end, he played in just 25 games during his first season in Vegas, recording only two goals and five assists.
On a related note, the player he was initially traded for in the three-way swap – defenseman Ryan Ellis – only played in four games himself last season with lingering questions about his availability for next season.
If Patrick isn’t able to play, his $1.2M would be added to the Golden Knights' already sizable LTIR pool which would give them a little bit more flexibility to work with this summer. It would also invite questions about the state of his career. Things aren’t quite at that point just yet, but if Patrick can’t suit up at all next season it will certainly be fair to wonder if what once looked like a promising career will be coming to a very premature end.
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