Vegas Golden Knights
Jack Eichel and Noah Hanifin will not play for the Golden Knights when they visit the Los Angeles Kings on Wednesday (10 p.m. ET; HBO MAX, truTV, TNT, SNO, SNE, SN1, TVAS).
Eichel, a forward, and Hanifin, a defenseman, won the gold medal with Team USA at the Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026 on Sunday.
“That’s a little fluid,” coach Bruce Cassidy said after practice on Tuesday. “The American guys are at the State of the Union (in Washington, D.C.) tonight, so they won’t join us (tomorrow). They’re going to go and enjoy that moment. They deserve it. They’ve earned it.
“Jack and Noah I would anticipate would play on Friday (at the Washington Capitals) and be ready to go. They’ll have had a little bit of a break.”
Forwards Mitch Marner and Mark Stone, and defenseman Shea Theodore are questionable to play against the Kings. All three represented Team Canada, which won the silver medal at the Olympics after losing 2-1 in overtime to the United States in the gold medal game.
Cassidy said, though, that forward Tomas Hertl (Czechia), defenseman Rasmus Andersson (Sweden), and goalie Akira Schmid (Switzerland) would each be available.
“The Canadian guys we’re still sorting through to see how they feel. The other guys are here,” Cassidy said. “Tomas came back I think over the weekend, Akira, Rasmus, so, they’ve kind of acclimated and will be ready to go.”
Vegas (27-16-14) is in first place in the Pacific Division, four points ahead of the Edmonton Oilers.