Dylan Coghlan signs two-year deal with Vegas Golden Knights

Dylan Coghlan will be staying with the Vegas Golden Knights as the restricted free agent defenseman signed a two-year extension Wednesday with an Average Annual Value of $762,500.

With Coghlan in the fold and ready for next week’s training camp, the lone player still to be signed is center Nolan Patrick, who the Knights acquired from the Philadelphia Flyers this summer. General manager Kelly McCrimmon has said he doesn’t anticipate any issues getting a deal with Patrick done.

Coghlan, a 6-foot-2, 206-pound blue liner from Duncan, B.C., had signed a three-year entry level deal with Vegas in 2017. He had played in the Western Hockey League with Tri-City prior to signing with the Golden Knights. He appeared in 26 NHL games last season and had all of his goals in one night as he registered a hat trick vs. the Minnesota Wild on March 10. He was only the third defenseman in NHL history to score each of his first three career goals in the same game. The 23-year-old Coghlan made his NHL debut on Feb. 5 vs. Los Angeles. He finished the season with three goals and three assists for six points.

The Golden Knights open their veteran training camp next Wednesday (Sept.22) at their City National Arena practice facility. Coghlan will be looked at as the seventh defenseman or he could find himself in the lineup in the event of an injury. The Knights’ top three D pairs are set: Alex Pietrangelo-Brayden McNabb, Shea Theodore-Alec Martinez and Zach Whitecloud-Nicolas Hague.

What helps Coghlan is he has played enough games in the NHL that coach Peter DeBoer is familiar with his game and appears comfortable putting him out on the ice. Coghlan has also taken some shifts as a forward so he has a little versatility to his game. He also possesses a hard shot and it could help him get some special teams time on the power play, an area the Golden Knights struggled with last season, particularly during the playoffs.