Golden Knights’ Alex Pietrangelo’s rehab going well, not ruling out playing in 2025-26

A player who some expected to never see play again is feeling much better than he did a few months ago, and isn’t ready to completely remove himself from the possibility of playing.

On Monday, Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo met with the media to discuss how his rehab has been going, as well as his future in hockey.

The veteran blueliner has been pretty quiet since June, when he announced that he was stepping away from the game in order to focus on his health. The 2024-25 season wasn’t an easy one for Pietrangelo. Injuries led to him missing 11 games during the regular season, as well as having to sit out the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Pietrangelo admits that the decision to move away from the team wasn’t an easy one, but it was necessary.

“I wouldn’t say anything changed (health-wise), Pietrangelo said. “I guess going through what I went through last year, to be able to play at the level that I thought I could get to, is obviously very difficult. Then you get to the end of the season… it was all kind of fresh to me. The season ends, my focus is on what we didn’t accomplish as a team. It’s not really about the players. I think we’re you talk to most guys here, they’re not going to dwell on the injuries that everybody had. So you kind of go through that process and then you consult with the medical staff and doctors and go through the process and see what your options are, and then that’s how I came to the decision.”

Petriangelo did play in 10 of the team’s 11 contests during the Stanley Cup Playoffs, before the Golden Knights were eliminated by the eventual Western Conference champion Edmonton Oilers in the second round.

He says his rehabilitation has been going well, and that he’ll continue to do it for the foreseeable future, mostly for himself as a person.

“I’m continuing to rehab. I’m just going to continue to do that. Process has been good so far. And first and foremost, I think being able to be a dad and being able to do the things that I want to do as a dad is very important to me.”

Surgery is an option for Pietrangleo, though he hasn’t gone quite that far down the road yet.

“I’m going to continue to try and rehab [the injury]. You consult with doctors and you have to look at the outcome and see if there’s going to be a guaranteed outcome. And I met with a lot of different people. The rehab process is the way I want to do it right now. And it’s been making a huge difference. I feel a lot better.”

With being off the ice, the King City, Ont. native says he feels a lot better, physically.

“I think being off the ice for now has been very helpful,” Pietrangelo said. “With the rehab program we put in place, it’s made my daily life a lot better. Whereas last year was not ideal and very difficult.”

Not long after Pietrangelo stepped away, Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon stated that it’s “unlikely he’ll play again.” However, Pietrangelo isn’t necessarily committing to never playing again.

“I’m just going to continue to take it day by day and go through my process and see where it goes… I’ll be around rehabbing. I think that’s important for me, is to still be here. Mentally, it’s great because I love being part of a locker room. Anybody who’s played sports, especially at our age, especially when you get to get together with the guys. I’m just trying to help the guys, too, right now… like through training camp and be a good sounding board.”

Pietrangelo has two seasons left on his current seven-year contract, which carries a cap hit of $8.8 million through the 2026-27 campaign. In 1,087 NHL regular-season games, he has scored 148 goals and 489 assists for 637 points. In 149 postseason games, he has notched 15 goals and 65 assists for 80 points, helping the Golden Knights and St. Louis Blues lift Lord Stanley’s Cup in 2023 and 2019, respectively.