Vegas Golden Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon confirmed on July 1 that defenceman Alex Pietrangelo is back on long-term injured reserve and will remain there through the final year of his contract.
“Alex is back on LTIR,” said McCrimmon. “He has to come off at the end of last season. He went back on today. His playing situation isn’t going to change. We love the fact that he’s here in town. He’s coaching ball, he’s coaching hockey, he’s around the facility lots, and he is doing well, but his situation from a playing standpoint has not changed.”
With Pietrangelo moving back onto LTIR, Vegas has just under $1 million in cap space and would be nearly $8 million over if he were active. The added space allowed the team to re-sign Ramus Andersson in their biggest move Wednesday, while also adding Victor Olofsson, Ville Heinola in some of their other transactions.
Pietrangelo, 36, did not play last season as he required a bilateral femur reconstruction to address ongoing hip issues.
“The past few years have been very challenging on my physical well-being, and I am in a difficult position with my overall playing health,” Pietrangelo said in a statement in June of 2025. “After exploring options with doctor as well as my family, it’s been advised to remove the intensity of hockey to see if my body can improve so that I can return to a normal quality of life.”
He is heading into the final season of his seven-year, $61.6 million contract that carries a cap hit of $8.8 million.
In his last NHL season in 2024-25, he scored four goals with 33 points in 71 games while averaging 22:24 of ice time.
The fourth-overall pick in the 2008 NHL Draft by St. Louis, Pietrangelo captained the Blues to their first Stanley Cup championship in 2019.
Signing as a free agent with Vegas in 2020, Pietrangelo helped the Golden Knights captured the first Stanley Cup in franchise history in 2023.
In 1,087 career NHL games, Pietrangelo scored 148 goals with 637 points split between the Blues and Golden Knights.
Internationally, the King City, Ont., native won gold with Canada at the Olympics in 2014 and captured World Junior and World Cup of Hockey titles.
