The “Why” Behind The Bevy Of Roster Moves VGK Have Been Making

The Golden Knights roster has been active the last few days as they prepare for the season’s longest road trip. Here’s what’s happened recently.

• Assigned Victor Olofsson to Henderson for a conditioning stint
• Placed Mark Stone on IR
• Placed Ben Hutton on LTIR
• Recalled Cal Burke, Mason Morelli, and Jonas Rondbjerg

Let’s start with Olofsson. He was injured on October 15th when he took a fairly nasty spill into the boards. He was listed as week-to-week with a lower-body injury and just returned to the ice to begin skating recently. Olofsson was placed on LTIR earlier in the week for Vegas to recall Grigori Denisenko, and then yesterday, he was taken off LTIR and assigned to Henderson for a conditioning stint. There’s a salary cap benefit to the LTIR moves (we’ll get to that in a bit), but the more important portion is his rehab.

We’re going to be away and when you get on the road sometimes there’s just not the practice time. You get morning skates and you only have a certain allotted amount of time. We just find that if we know for example Victor is not going to play the first week of the trip, let’s leave him home and get him on the ice every day. Sean Ferrell (VGK’s skills coach) stays home to work with him and our medical staff will be able to work with him every day. And then the chance to get into a practice setting with Henderson is a nice luxury for us to have. We think that’s the most efficient and effective way to handle it. –Kelly McCrimmon on VGK Insider Show

Maybe the most encouraging portion of McCrimmon’s response is mentioning that Olofsson will “not play the first week of the trip.” That leaves room for optimism that he’ll be ready to play in the second week, which sees Vegas in Philadelphia on Monday the 25th and Colorado on Wednesday the 29th.

As for Stone, the decision to place him on IR will likely garner a bunch of headlines because of what has happened each of the last three seasons with LTIR, but it’s not at all a similar situation in the case. Stone has returned to the ice wearing a red no-contact jersey and is likely to travel with the team at some point on the upcoming road trip. There’s no guarantee that he’ll be available to play in any of the next five games, but the likelihood is strong.

Elliotte Friedman recently went out of his way to mention that Stone’s injury is “not considered serious” which further confirms he’ll be ready to play much sooner than later.

So, why place him on IR if he’s going to be ready to play fairly soon?

That’s where the three call-ups come in. Vegas recalled a trio of forwards, Cal Burke, Mason Morelli, and Jonas Rondbjerg. There’s a salary cap benefit to pulling up all three at the same time while placing Hutton on LTIR, and the only way VGK could do that was if they had the extra roster spot by putting Stone on IR.

Yesterday, #VegasBorn activated Olofsson off LTIR prior to his conditioning stint, even though he was eligible to remain on LTIR. This exited LTIR.

Today, they:
-Called up Morelli & Rondjberg
-Put Hutton on LTIR
-Then called up Burke

This allowed VGK to reset their capture &…

— PuckPedia (@PuckPedia) November 19, 2024

Stone is eligible to be removed from IR at any point and has not been placed on LTIR.

It does mean bad news for Hutton though. Going on LTIR within days of suffering an injury indicates the team is 100% certain he will not be available to play any time in the next month.

So, there you have it. The roster now sits at 23 players including 14 forwards, seven defensemen, and two goalies. Stone is not out for the rest of the season with VGK abusing LTIR as everyone suggests, and the 11/7 experiment is over.