Once again a professional trial agreement has ended in a guaranteed contract. The Vegas Golden Knights organization has done that announced they have signed an experienced striker Tanner Pearson to a one-year contract worth $775,000 for the 2024-2025 NHL season.

It’s a feel-good story for Pearson, who has been limited by injuries in recent years. In his final year with the Vancouver Canucks in 2022–2023, Pearson only skated in 14 games during the season as a hand injury that required three surgeries lost him for much of the year. Last year he managed to skate in more than half of the games with the Montreal Canadiens, but another hand injury caused him to lose 38 games into the season.

The injuries to his hand have certainly limited his offensive production over the last two years, but Pearson has been known as a reliable deep scorer in the past. He is no longer a player who can carry top-six responsibility for a playoff contender like his days with the Los Angeles Kings in the mid-to-late 2010s.

He has recently shown glimpses of his scoring prowess with 21 goals in 69 games for the Canucks in 2019-20 and another 24 in 119 games in 2020-22. The Golden Knights will likely use Pearson in a bottom-six role on the wing for an offensive push toward the bottom of the lineup.

The signing isn’t all that surprising, despite Pearson’s declining capabilities in recent years. Vegas has experienced a dramatic decrease in depth thanks to spending toward the upper end of the salary cap and will need to replenish their roster with minimum league contracts.

TSN’s Chris Johnston was the first to report the signing.