Golden Knights declare Alex Pietrangelo out for 2025-26 season
The Vegas Golden Knights have officially declared defenseman Alex Pietrangelo out for the 2025-26 season.
In submitting their Opening Day roster, Vegas declared future Hall-of-Famer Alex Pietrangelo out for the season and playoffs (with approval of the NHL, NHLPA & player).
The Golden Knights are eligible for full cap relief.
By submitting their opening day roster to determine their salary cap outlook for the start of the season, the Golden Knights declared Pietrangelo out for the season, with approval from the NHL, NHL Players’ Association and Pietrangelo himself.
By doing so, the Golden Knights have made themselves eligible for full cap relief of Pietrangelo’s $8.8 million contract, which Pietrangelo has two years remaining on. With the introduction of a playoff salary cap this season, Vegas would have had to make room in their lineup to play Pietrangelo should he have returned for the postseason, unlike past seasons where they could have waited until the postseason. The Golden Knights currently have a projected $23,929 in salary cap, according to PuckPedia.
This comes a couple weeks after Pietrangelo had met with the media saying that rehabbing the injury was going well and he wasn’t ruling out playing in the 2025-26 season. While Tuesday’s move confirms that he won’t return this season, those comments are still great news on the future of the 35-year-old’s career, considering that earlier reports of the injury were that it could potentially be career-ending.
Pietrangelo will be missing the 2025-26 season due to a hip injury that nagged him throughout the 2024-25 season. While he didn’t miss too much hockey with the Golden Knights in 2024-25, as he had four goals and 29 assists for 33 points in 71 games in the regular season and two goals and four assists for six points in 11 playoff games, it did require him to miss out on the 4 Nations Face-Off after being named to Team Canada’s roster. At the time, he had stated that he needed time off to recover from injuries, likely the same one he’s dealing with now, even though he continued to play through them throughout the season.
The Golden Knights will kick off their regular season on Wednesday when they host the Los Angeles Kings at 7 p.m. EST.