Golden Knights’ roster moves include sending Dylan Coghlan to AHL

The Golden Knights made a flurry of roster moves Thursday before their final preseason games Friday and Sunday.

The Knights sent defenseman Dylan Coghlan and forward Reid Duke to the American Hockey League’s Chicago Wolves and waived forwards Patrick Brown and Curtis McKenzie. If the two clear waivers, they will be assigned to the Wolves.

The team also said defenseman Zach Whitecloud, who didn’t play in the third period of Wednesday’s preseason game against Colorado, is week to week with an upper-body injury. That leaves the Knights with 28 healthy players in training camp.

The regular-season roster limit is 23. The Knights open the season Wednesday against the San Jose Sharks at T-Mobile Arena.

“It was a tough decision,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “(Coghlan) had as good a camp as anybody, but we’ve got to get down to numbers. We’ve got to get ready for our home opener. We only have two (preseason) games left. You’re going to see a lot of veteran guys playing the next couple of games.”

The Knights have 16 forwards, nine healthy defensemen and three goaltenders in camp. One goalie (expected to be 21-year-old Dylan Ferguson) will go, and the team then will choose whether to keep 14 forwards and seven defensemen or 13 and eight.

Gallant said the team still is mulling that decision.

The forwards on the roster bubble appear to be center Cody Glass, left wing Brandon Pirri, center Nicolas Roy and right wing Keegan Kolesar. Glass, Roy and Kolesar can be sent to the AHL without going through waivers.

On defense, Nicolas Hague, Jake Bischoff and Jimmy Schuldt are still competing. All are waiver exempt.

“We’ve got a good mix (on the blue line),” Gallant said. “It’s not perfect right now, but it’s going to be good.”

Theodore’s injury minor

Gallant said defenseman Shea Theodore, who left Wednesday’s game with an undisclosed injury in the second period and didn’t practice Thursday, is OK.

“I’ll be shocked if he’s not on the ice (Friday),” Gallant said. “It was just a preseason game, and it was a minor thing.”

Theodore’s and Whitecloud’s absences forced the Knights to play only four defensemen in the third period. Bischoff said the last time he played with that short of a bench might have been in high school, and Schuldt said it might have been junior hockey.

“There was one game where we had the flu going around so we just played every other shift,” Schuldt said. “It’s fun. You’re a little tired, but once you’re into the game and battling, you don’t really think about it.”

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Contact Ben Gotz at bgotz@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BenSGotz on Twitter.