The Vegas Golden Knights have added a veteran forward via Professional Tryout Offer (PTO) on Tuesday. Tanner Pearson spent last season with the Montreal Canadiens and scored five goals with eight assists in 54 games. The 32-year-old will vie for a spot in the Golden Knights lineup as he looks to extend his career in the NHL. Pearson was a first-round draft pick, 30th overall, in the 2012 NHL Draft.
Pearson has played for four NHL teams (Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Vancouver, and Montreal) over 11 seasons and won a Stanley Cup in 2014 with the Los Angeles Kings, the team that drafted him. The 6-foot-1, 200-pound left wing has registered 138 goals and 147 assists in 644 career regular season games while compiling nine goals and 14 assists in 51 postseason games.
Pearson will be competing for a fourth-line spot with Vegas for the upcoming 2024-25 season. Last season with Montreal, Pearson played an average ice time of 12:56 and finished the year with a minus-12 rating. The Kitchener, Ontario native missed most of the 2022-23 season after a seemingly minor hand injury reportedly required six to seven surgeries to fix. Pearson made $3.25 million last season before becoming an unrestricted free agent on July 1.
