Canadian ice hockey player
Ice hockey player
Brayden Pachal (born August 23, 1999) is a Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman currently playing for the Calgary Flames of the National Hockey League (NHL). He previously played for the Vegas Golden Knights, with whom he won the Stanley Cup in 2023.
Playing career
Pachal began in Junior A hockey with the Estevan Bruins of the Saskatchewan Junior Hockey League (SJHL), before joining the Victoria Royals of the Western Hockey League (WHL) for the 2015–16 season. Pachal spent a season and a half with Victoria, before being traded to the Prince Albert Raiders during the 2016–17 season.[1] Pachal would then spend the next two seasons with Prince Albert, being named captain of the team ahead of the 2018–19 season;[2] the same year, Pachal would lead the Raiders to their second WHL Championship.
As an undrafted free agent, Pachal was signed to a three-year entry-level contract by the Vegas Golden Knights on September 20, 2019, joining Vegas' then-American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate Chicago Wolves shortly afterward.[3]
On January 20, 2022, in the midst of the 2021–22 season, Pachal was named captain of the Henderson Silver Knights, Vegas' new AHL affiliate.[4] Pachal made his NHL debut with Vegas on March 15, 2022.[5]
As a restricted free agent, Pachal signed a one-year contract extension with Vegas on July 28, 2022.[6] Pachal recorded his first NHL point on December 15, 2022, with a secondary assist on Reilly Smith's empty-net goal against the Chicago Blackhawks.[7] Pachal then made his NHL playoff debut on April 27, 2023, in the series-clinching Game 5 of the Golden Knights' first-round series against the Winnipeg Jets.[8][9] Vegas then went on to win the Stanley Cup Finals; despite Pachal only playing ten regular-season games and one playoff game, the Golden Knights requested an exemption to have Pachal's name engraved on the Stanley Cup alongside the rest of the team.[10]
At the conclusion of his contract, and again as a restricted free agent, Pachal signed a further two-year extension with Vegas on June 28, 2023.[11] After making the Golden Knights' opening-night roster for the 2023–24 season,[12] Pachal scored his first NHL goal on October 12, 2023, against the San Jose Sharks.[13]
After 17 games with Vegas during the 2023–24 season, Pachal was placed on waivers on February 3, 2024, and claimed by the Calgary Flames the following day.[14]
Family
Pachal is a grandson of Vern Pachal, who played for the University of Alberta and at the minor professional level in the early 1950s in the Eastern Hockey League and American Hockey League. His second cousin Clayton Pachal played in the NHL for the Boston Bruins and Colorado Rockies.[15]
