Golden Knights' Max Pacioretty suffers setback, Brett Howden avoids serious injury

The Vegas Golden Knights have been ravaged by injury this season and now find themselves at risk of missing the playoffs entirely. One hope they had for the near future was Max Pacioretty, who appeared to be closing in on a return from his latest issue. Not anymore, as Pacioretty suffered a setback according to head coach Peter DeBoer, who spoke with reporters including Jesse Granger of The Athletic.

Pacioretty, 33, left Thursday’s morning skate and will now not be available for the “near future,” according to DeBoer. It’s been a brutal year for the veteran forward, who has appeared in just 29 games – though he has recorded 15 goals and 29 points in those contests.

The Golden Knights head coach also gave an update on Brett Howden, who was stretchered off Thursday night. Howden is out of the hospital and was actually at the practice facility Friday, with DeBoer confirming nothing is broken.

While an injury is obviously never a good thing, Pacioretty’s absence may actually have something of a silver lining for the Golden Knights, which were going to be in a tough salary cap situation after Evgenii Dadonov’s trade was canceled. Pacioretty is currently only on regular injured reserve, meaning if he’s going to miss an extensive period of time, he could be moved to long-term injured reserve, essentially swapping places with someone like Alec Martinez.

If the Golden Knights were in a better position, one might wonder if this was just a case of resting a veteran player while providing some cap benefit. But even after Thursday night’s win, Vegas is far from a lock for the postseason. In fact, the team currently sits outside of the playoff picture, one point behind Dallas despite having played four more games.