The Golden Knights will be without Mitch Marner on Thursday night in St. Louis, with the winger away from the team for the birth of his second child.
Vegas confirmed Marner’s absence ahead of puck drop against the Blues after the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that Marner and his wife were expecting the newborn. Marner’s partner, Stephanie Marner, is awaiting the birth.
This is the second time a child has arrived for the Marner family during a significant hockey stretch. Their first child, Miles Daniel Marner, was born in May 2025 just before Game 1 of the round two Stanley Cup Playoff series against the Florida Panthers, when Marner was still with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Now in his second season with Vegas, the 29-year-old has produced two goals and 10 assists for 11 points through 11 regular-season games. He is coming off last season’s 81-game run, when he posted 24 goals, 56 assists and 80 points as the Golden Knights advanced to the Stanley Cup Final.
With Marner out, Alexander Holtz is expected to make his NHL season debut for Vegas. The 24-year-old from Stockholm, Sweden, appeared in 28 games for the Golden Knights last season and totaled three goals and six assists for nine points. He has started this season well in the AHL with the Henderson Silver Knights, putting up four goals and four assists for eight points in eight games.
The Golden Knights enter the night in first place in the Western Conference’s Pacific Division at 8-3-0. After the trip to face the Blues, they’ll visit the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday before heading back to T-Mobile Arena next week for games against the Ottawa Senators and New Jersey Devils.
In Other News...
Golden Knights Suddenly Have A Self-Inflicted Problem They Can't Ignore
For the first time this season, the Golden Knights have stumbled into a brief but telling slide, dropping back-to-back games and following it with a 6-2 loss to the St. Louis Blues. The skid has sharpened the focus on problems that were hard to ignore even before the results turned, with head coach Ryan Craig and players Jack Eichel and Brayden McNabb pointing to turnovers, penalty killing and a general lack of clean execution as the issues dragging them down.
The special teams numbers have become especially hard to defend. Vegas penalty kill has slipped from last season and now sits 29th in the league after allowing nine power-play goals, a drop-off that has made every minor lapse feel bigger than it should. For a team that usually prides itself on structure and details, the recent stretch has turned into a reminder that the margin for error can disappear quickly when the play gets sloppy. [Read more 🡒]
Blackhawks Get Encouraging Bowen Byram Update At Crucial Time
The Golden Knights are keeping one eye on the blue line depth chart as they continue to juggle personnel in the early going, recalling Ville Heinola from Henderson for the third time in just over a week. Heinola still has not made his NHL debut, but the repeated call-ups underline how quickly Vegas is having to manage its defensemen while staying ready for whatever the schedule throws at it.
Around the league, injury updates are beginning to shape a few key teams in different ways. Calgary will be without captain Mikael Backlund for a game because of an upper-body injury, while Chicago got a more encouraging read on Bowen Byram as he continues to recover and remains day-to-day. Nashville is also tracking a possible boost, with Mavrik Bourque nearing a return after missing four games, another reminder of how quickly a short-term injury can change the picture for a contender. [Read more 🡒]
Golden Knights Suddenly Have A Problem Beyond Jack Eichel
The Golden Knights issues were on full display in a 6-2 loss to the Blues, a game that underscored how much more has gone sideways than just Jack Eichels offense. Eichel did score his sixth goal of the season, but Vegas also saw Adin Hill take his first loss of the year while allowing six goals on 31 shots, and the kind of defensive breakdowns that have been creeping into recent games only became harder to ignore.
Dylan Holloway scored twice for St. Louis, Joel Hofer stopped 27 shots, and the result left Vegas searching for answers at both ends of the ice. The scoring drop from Tomas Hertl has only added to the pressure, because the Golden Knights are no longer dealing with a single top-line concern - they are starting to look like a team that has multiple problems demanding a fix. [Read more 🡒]