Golden Knights Defenseman's Future in Jeopardy

Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo hasn't exactly had the cleanest slate of health throughout his career, but all things considered, he's held up remarkably well for a 17-year veteran.

However, it seems that his good injury luck may have run out.

On his "32 Thoughts" podcast, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported that Pietrangelo's availability for the start of next season is in question due to injury.

“You’ll remember that the NHL and the countries have an agreement [about naming Olympic teams],” Friedman said. “The full team is the end of December, but they have to name six players by the end of June. The dates aren’t set up yet, but it sounds like it could potentially be the week of [June] 16th— which is a week and a half from now. I put together a long list for all these teams of who could be on it, and I had Pietrangelo on that list. And someone indicated to me that he might not be available. 

“I don’t have any confirmation on that yet,” finished Friedman. “I still think it’s one of those things where, at this time of year, teams are trying to figure out what their rosters might look like for next year and [if there are] any injury concerns. So, we’ll see what happens with Pietrangelo… But it sounds like there’s at least the possibility that they’re trying to figure out what his health will be like for the start of next season.”

Friedman added that the nature of Pietrangelo's injury is unclear.

“You saw him in the playoffs. It looked like it could have been anything— knee, hip, groin. I just don’t know,” Friedman said.

Pietrangelo, 35, missed 11 games this season due to injury. He also withdrew from the 4 Nations Face-Off after being selected to represent Canada.

Even still, the King City, Ontario, native averaged 22:24 of ice time per game, leading all Golden Knights skaters. He then averaged 23:03 of ice time per game in the playoffs.

Pietrangelo is a strong two-way defenseman and a leader in the locker room, so losing him would be a major blow for the Golden Knights.