Well, folks, it’s the day you all have been waiting for: Vadim Shipachyov is part of the Vegas Golden Knights regular season roster, as per a report from Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston. The 30-year-old Russian center, having recently been assigned to AHL Chicago as a paperwork move, is now likely to be in the lineup for Sunday night’s game against the Boston Bruins.
To make room for Shipachyov, the Golden Knights placed center/left wing Erik Haula on injured reserve following a game in which he recorded his first fight in professional hockey against Detroit Red Wings forward Tomas Tatar. While the fight is unlikely to have caused any injury, the culprit could be the Tatar hit that preceded the scuffle. Our friends over at SinBin.vegas suggest a knee issue for Haula. Here’s the hit:
Tatar hit on Haula pic.twitter.com/lykHf4oGkE
— Ky. L. Stine (@KyleWIIM) October 14, 2017
Shipachyov has been the center of rumors lately, rather than the Vegas first line, and in a report that was later strongly refuted by general manager George McPhee, it was suggested that he may be looking for a route back to the KHL.
During practice, Shipachyov skated on a line with Brendan Leipsic and Tomas Nosek. For most of preseason, he has skated on the first line with Reilly Smith and Jonathan Marchessault. Gallant said he’s not sure if that’s to be expected for Sunday’s matchup against the Boston Bruins.
“I’m not 100 percent sure right now,” Gallant said.
In other injury-related news, head coach Gerard Gallant said that he “hopes” Marc-Andre Fleury and Marchessault — both of whom were not at practice this morning — are able to play against Boston.
Danny Webster contributed to this report.