Golden Knights Make Definitive Decision on Pietrangelo

Alex Pietrangelo, Vegas Golden Knights defenseman, skates during warm up

The Vegas Golden Knights have come to a definitive decision on the future of injured top defenseman Alex Pietrangelo. And it's bittersweet.

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.
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) October 7, 2025

The Golden Knights have placed Pietrangelo on the 'season-ending' injured list, declaring him out for the entire 2025-26 season and the playoffs. That's the bitter part, of course. But with that, they get cap relief from his entire $8.8 million cap hit. If they were still holding out hope of a possible postseason return, they would only have gotten $3.8 million of cap relief.

The season-ending LTIR is new for this season, and prohibits teams (like Vegas, incidentally), from pulling a 'Mark Stone'—i.e. placing a player with a big salary on LTIR during the season, freeing up that player's entire cap hit to add reinforcements, only to then have that star player 'miraculously' return for the playoffs without any salary cap ramifications. Those days are gone under the new CBA.

The regular LTIR cap relief for any player is now only for the previous season’s average NHL salary ($3.8M), unless they're declared out with a season-ending injury.

Golden Knights put Pietrangelo on season-ending LTIR

The Knights will now have about $5.8 million in cap space after the Pietrangelo move, but are expected to sign Alexander Holtz off his PTO, and are potentially looking at adding UFA Carter Hart as well. Those moves could eat up a lot of that cap space quickly.

Vegas will now have a huge void on the blueline to fill, right through the playoffs, as Pietrangelo had averaged well over 23 minutes of ice time throughout his five-year tenure with the team.

Shea Theodore and Brayden McNabb will now serve as the team's top pairing.

Pietrangelo, 35, is a sure-fire future Hall of Famer. In 1,087 NHL games, he has 148 goals, 489 assists, and 637 points with a +123 plus/minus rating. He has two Stanley Cup rings (2019, St. Louis Blues & 2023, Vegas).