The Vegas Golden Knights made a bundle of roster transactions Tuesday. Not only did they claim former Boston Bruins goaltender Malcolm Subban (the brother of P.K. Subban) off waivers, but they also assigned forwards Tomas Hyka and Teemu Pulkkinen to their AHL affiliate, the Chicago Wolves.
The decision to send Hyka and Pulkkinen down to the AHL certainly comes as a bit of a surprise, though, considering how well they played in the preseason.
Arguably no Golden Knights player had a better camp than Hyka. In five preseason games, the 24-year-old notched a team-leading four goals, an assist and an overall Corsi For percentage of 66.67, which ranked third on the team in preseason play.
Pulkkinen, though not nearly as flashy a player as Hyka, also had himself a respectable summer after being selected by Vegas from the Arizona Coyotes in the expansion draft. The 25-year-old Finnish forward registered two goals and an assist in four preseason appearances with a very respectable overall Corsi For percentage of 64.77.
Hyka and Pulkkinen certainly weren’t the worst players on the Golden Knights’ roster this preseason (that title goes to Luca Sbisa). But if and when a player gets injured or traded during the regular season, they will be the first ones to get the nod for a call-up.
As well as assigning Pulkkinen and Hyka to the Wolves, Vegas placed winger James Neal on the injured-non roster list and defenseman Clayton Stoner was placed on injured reserve.