The Vegas Golden Knights announced on Thursday that center Nolan Patrick will miss the 2022-23 season.
Patrick played 25 games for the Knights last season, tallying two goals and five assists. He missed significant time due to an upper body injury early in the season and a concussion suffered in February 2022. His last game was on March 24. Patrick is in the last year of his contract and is a restricted free agent next summer.
The 24-year-old center’s NHL career has been defined by his absences from the lineup. He was taken second overall in the 2017 NHL Draft by the Philadelphia Flyers. After two seasons, he missed the entire 2019-20 campaign after what was diagnosed as a hereditary migraine disorder. He played in 52 of 56 games in the 2020-21 NHL season, which was truncated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Flyers traded Patrick in a three-way deal that had him end up in Vegas. Ironically, Philadelphia announced on Thursday that defenseman Ryan Ellis, whom they acquired from Nashville in the Patrick trade, is expected to miss the 2022-23 season with a back injury.
Vegas GM Kelly McCrimmon also reaffirmed that goalie Robin Lehner will miss the entire season after hip surgery and that defenseman Shea Weber will also not play in 2022-23.
Weber’s contract was acquired in June from Montreal in exchange for winger Evgenii Dadonov. It was a move designed to open salary cap space for the Knights, as Weber will be placed on long-term injured reserve. His last NHL appearance was Game 5 of the 2021 Stanley Cup Final, as he didn’t see the ice for Montreal last season due to multiple injuries that were expected to end his NHL career. Weber is signed through the 2025-26 season.