Merrill will play his first game since January 4th when he was placed on IR with an undisclosed injury. Theodore has been out since the game against Edmonton on February 15th. NHL rules only require a player on IR to miss seven days, so Theodore will be eligible to return on Friday for the game against Vancouver.

Merrill has missed the last 20 games. (Photo Credit: SinBin.vegas Photographer Brandon Andreasen)

The expected defensive pairings for tonight are as follows:

Nate Schmidt/Brayden McNabb
Jon Merrill/Colin Miller
Deryk Engelland/Luca Sbisa

On Monday both Stefan Matteau and Tomas Hyka were recalled from the AHL. Both played on the Golden Knights fourth line and Hyka played on one of the two power play lines. With these transactions, the Golden Knights roster currently sits at the roster limit of 23.

Pierre-Edouard Bellemare, William Carrier, Shea Theodore, and Malcolm Subban are all on IR. If any one of them is to return to the ice on Friday, Vegas will have to make a roster transaction to clear up a roster spot. However, once the trade deadline passes (Monday at Noon PST) there is no longer a roster limit of 23 players.