Vegas Golden Knights sign goalie Jiri Patera to one-year contract

The Vegas Golden Knights have inked goalie prospect Jiri Patera to a one-year, two-way contract worth $775,000 in the NHL and $100,000 in the minors with $145,000 guaranteed.

Patera played most of the 2022-23 season with the Henderson Silver Knights, the Golden Knights AHL affiliate. He earned a 14-15-1 record in the AHL with a 2.86 GAA and .911 SV%. He also played in two games in the NHL for the Golden Knights, winning both of them and putting up a .929 SV%.

The Prague, Czech Republic native was originally selected in the sixth-round of the 2017 NHL Draft by Vegas. He was the second-last pick of the Golden Knights in the very first draft of their existence. In that draft class, the Golden Knights selected future NHLers Cody Glass, Erik Brannstrom, Nicolas Hague, Nick Suzuki, Jake Leschyshyn, and Jonas Rondbjerg.

Patera played his D+1 season for the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders of the USHL, he put up a record of 13-13-0 there. He switched systems, instead playing in the WHL the next two seasons for the Brandon Wheat Kings. In yet another switch of systems, the following season after the WHL he played for Ceske Budejovice HC in his native country of the Czech Republic. After a 2-12-0 start in the Czech Republic, he returned to North America making his AHL debut with the Silver Knights.

In his March, 2023 report on Patera, Taylor Davis wrote for DobberHockey, “The upward trajectory has continued so far for Patera in 2022-23, playing to the tune of a .916 save percentage to date on an otherwise disappointing squad in AHL Henderson. This helped lead to Patera’s recent NHL debut with Vegas, making 30 saves en route to his first NHL victory.”

Patera will be playing the 2023-24 season for the Silver Knights and if Vegas has injuries yet again he could be called up.