Golden Knights shuffle look on defense without Alex Pietrangelo

The Golden Knights might be without their top defensive pairing when their season resumes Friday.

Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo remained in the NHL’s COVID protocol Thursday afternoon, and his status for the game against Los Angeles at T-Mobile Arena is unclear. The Knights are already without his defense partner, Brayden McNabb, who is on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury.

That means Alec Martinez and Shea Theodore will see a heavier workload against the Kings, who enter on a two-game losing skid.

“We’ll hear about Alex hopefully (Thursday) at some point with regards with his return to play,” assistant coach Steve Spott said after Thursday’s morning skate. “Until that point, we will play obviously Theodore and Martinez some bigger minutes against some of the tougher line combinations that we’re going to face (Friday) night.”

Spott was in charge of practice for the second straight day at City National Arena and was joined by assistant coach Ryan Craig, who was cleared from the NHL COVID protocol after not participating in practice Wednesday.

Coach Pete DeBoer and assistant coach Ryan McGill remain in isolation as part of the protocol, and it’s not known whether they will be behind the bench Friday.

The Knights’ season was shut down last week, and three games were postponed in connection with the league’s COVID protocol.

“First of all, it was great having Ryan back, obviously just around the team,” Spott said. “I know for himself it was great getting back. For us as a coaching staff, it’s one more body available to us on the ice and in our meetings.”

The Knights have five defensemen on the active roster, including Pietrangelo, and almost certainly will make a move to fill out the roster before Friday’s game. Nic Hague remains on the taxi squad and has been skating on the second pair with Zach Whitecloud in practice the past two days.

With Pietrangelo out of the mix, Nick Holden and Dylan Coghlan have skated as the third pair.

Holden, who was placed on waivers during training camp, is in line to make his season debut after he spent the first two weeks of the season on the taxi squad.

“Every meeting that Pete has had with him, he understands the situation, and now that he has an opportunity, he’s looking forward to taking advantage of it,” Spott said. “What he can do for us is play solid minutes five-on-five and help on our penalty kill if Alex isn’t available to us.”

Coghlan, who turns 23 on Feb. 19, could make his NHL debut if Pietrangelo is out and the Knights go with six defensemen. He led Chicago Wolves defensemen in scoring each of the past two seasons with his booming shot and impressed the coaching staff during his time in the postseason bubble skating with the taxi squad.

“Obviously, he has all the attributes to be an NHL defenseman,” Spott said. “The challenge for him is going to be the defensive side of the game. To make sure he can be trusted every time he’s on the ice. I met with him about that. I know he’s excited about the challenge if he’s in.”

Contact David Schoen at dschoen@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-5203. Follow @DavidSchoenLVRJ on Twitter.