BREAKING: Pietrangelo’s Health in Question for 2025-26 Season

The Vegas Golden Knights are in for an offseason of questions about player extensions and Free Agency signings. Now, another question emerges regarding the health of top-four defenseman Alex Pietrangelo.

The veteran defenseman missed 11 games last season due to injury and even withdrew from the 4 Nations Face-Off Tournament. However, he returned for the postseason and did not admit to playing through a long-term injury.

On Friday’s episode of the 32 Thoughts Podcast, Elliotte Friedman and Kyle Bukauskas discussed Pietrangelo’s long-term health. 

“Whether it was Vegas or St. Louis before that, Alex Pietrangelo has long been a guy that teams need,” said Bukauskas. “Pietrangelo skipped the 4 Nations this year; Canada would have loved to have him. He prioritized trying to get his body in the best shape possible for the stretch drive with Vegas this season. What are you hearing with regards to his future, as this is a player that has logged a lot of hard miles over the course of his career?”

“Every year, I hear, ‘Oh, Pietrangelo is so badly beaten up, and he’s put his body through so much, and he’s not going to be able to play next season,’” responded Friedman. “And every year I get told, ‘That’s wrong.’ And every year, he’s back, and he plays, and he plays hard, and he plays great.

“You’ll remember that the NHL and the countries have an agreement [about naming Olympic teams],” Friedman continued. “The full team is the end of December, but they have to name six players by the end of June. The dates aren’t set up yet, but it sounds like it could potentially be the week of [June] 16th— which is a week and a half from now. I put together a long list for all these teams of who could be on it, and I had Pietrangelo on that list. And someone indicated to me that he might not be available. 

“I don’t have any confirmation on that yet,” finished Friedman. “I still think it’s one of those things where, at this time of year, teams are trying to figure out what their rosters might look like for next year and [if there are] any injury concerns. So, we’ll see what happens with Pietrangelo… But it sounds like there’s at least the possibility that they’re trying to figure out what his health will be like for the start of next season.”

Friedman added that he was uncertain about the nature of Pietrangelo’s injury. 

“You saw him in the playoffs. It looked like it could have been anything— knee, hip, groin. I just don’t know.”

Losing Pietrangelo would be a real blow for the Golden Knights, both on and off the ice. He’s a tough, physical defenseman who leads by example. Pietrangelo was third on the team in scoring this postseason, with two goals and six points in 10 games.

Pietrangelo plays on the power play and the penalty kill and averaged 22:24 TOI last season. He also wears a letter on his chest and is an outspoken leader in their locker room.

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