Golden Knights place Jonathan Marchessault in COVID protocol

Things are going from bad to worse for the Vegas Golden Knights. The team placed Jonathan Marchessault in the COVID protocol, making him unavailable for the time being. He joins William Carrier, who was put in the protocol Monday. In their place, Paul Cotter and Sven Baertschi have been recalled from the Henderson Silver Knights.

Notably, not only was Marchessault active against the Vancouver Canucks a few days ago, but he also attended the Las Vegas Raiders game on Sunday alongside Robin Lehner. For now, the team appears to have its starting goaltender available for Tuesday’s matchup against the Carolina Hurricanes, but an outbreak in the Golden Knights room would be devastating for a team that has already dealt with major injury issues this season.

In fact, it was only a few days ago that the team’s captain, Mark Stone, returned to the lineup after missing a good chunk of the early season. Max Pacioretty, Zach Whitecloud and Nolan Patrick are still sidelined, along with the newly acquired Jack Eichel.

Perhaps that’s a silver lining, in that several young players have already had to step up early on. Cotter, for instance, made his NHL debut and scored one goal in two appearances, just a few years after going in the fourth round. He’ll get another opportunity now with Marchessault out, though his fellow call-up certainly has the experience factor. Baertschi has 291 regular-season games under his belt and was even an 18-goal scorer in 2016-17 with the Vancouver Canucks. The 29-year-old has eight points in 12 games with Henderson this season as he tries to climb his way back to the NHL.