Retired Golden Knights Defenseman Could Return to NHL

The Vegas Golden Knights defenseman missed a good chunk of the 2024 season.

May 8, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo (7) warms up before game two of the second round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Edmonton Oilers at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images / Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

With the preseason officially being underway, the Vegas Golden Knights will not have their number one defenseman out there for them. Alex Pietrangelo who missed time and also played through a nagging hip injury, retired back in July due to said hip injury, but recently provided another update to the media.

Pietrangelo had stated that right now he wants to focus on his family, but if he were to play again, he would need surgery and he is not ruling out a return to the NHL further down the line. For the Golden Knights, they are going to have to navigate the 2025-26 season without their number one defenseman.

Alex Pietrangelo says surgery is still on the table as he continues to rehab a hip injury, and he won’t rule out playing again in the future.

He says his focus right now is being able to be a dad and spending time with his family.

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— B/R Open Ice (@BR_OpenIce) September 22, 2025

Pietrangelo played 71 regular season games with the Golden Knights this past season totaling 4 goals and 29 assists. Pietrangelo suited up for 10 playoff games for the Golden Knights and tallied 2 goals and 4 assists. He only missed 11 games all year, but to play through 81 games in total through the injury that he was, says a lot about the player that he is.

Pietrangelo was originally drafted number 4 overall in the 2008 NHL Draft by the St. Louis Blues and spent the majority of his career there before signing with the Golden Knights back in 2020. Pietrangelo has been a number one defenseman his whole career.

The Blues relied on him and gave him heavy minutes every season that he suited up for them and the Golden Knights did the same. You could find Pietrangelo out there on the ice for 25-30 minutes a night and he would be out there for the powerplay and the penalty kill.

The Blues and Golden Knights could rely on him to be that powerplay quarterback that knew how to run it and was always the one at the point waiting to one-time the puck into the back of the net. Pietrangelo spent the better half of 12 seasons with the Blues and spent his last 5 years with Vegas.

Pietrangelo is a player that is seriously hard to replace, and it is going to be hard for the Golden Knights this upcoming season to replace his minutes and find someone capable of covering them.

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