Alex Pietrangelo has been a key piece of the Vegas Golden Knights' blue line since joining the team as a free agent in the fall of 2020, and he helped the franchise win its inaugural Stanley Cup championship in 2023.
But with the 35-year-old stepping away from hockey indefinitely to deal with his health — and set to undergo a bilateral femur reconstruction that “has no guarantee of success” — it leaves a hole in the defense.
As general manager Kelly McCrimmon told The Athletic's Pierre LeBrun earlier this week, the team has a plan to move forward without the services of the three-time NHL All-Star.
“Our roster, I think, is pretty much set,” McCrimmon said. “We’ll see what it looks like when we start. I’m comfortable starting with where we are. On our blue line, we look for Kaedan Korczak to become an everyday player. I think Ben Hutton has a lot more to give than people realize. We think he’s a good player. And we’ve got some really good players above those guys.”
Even without Pietrangelo, the Golden Knights boast one of the better blue lines in the NHL, led by veterans Shea Theodore, Noah Hanifin and Brayden McNabb. Zach Whitecloud has also taken on an elevated role and should be the lead candidate to round out the top four.
Korczak, who was selected in the second-round of the 2019 NHL Draft, played in 40 games last year and will likely begin the 2025-26 season paired with offseason acquisition Jeremy Lauzon. Hutton is also a candidate to play on the third defensive pairing.
Golden Knights looking to upgrade blue line?
Although the Knights have seven NHL-ready defensemen, there could still be an upgrade coming to the unit. As LeBrun reported on Friday, “the Golden Knights will see if they feel the need for an upgrade there once the season has begun. But again, McCrimmon seems satisfied for now.”
It was widely reported that Vegas tried hard to trade for Calgary Flames' Rasmus Andersson, who remains one of the top players on the trade market. The 28-year-old is unlikely to re-sign in Alberta, and considering he's entering the final season of his contract, a trade makes sense.
It was rumored that Andersson wanted to be traded to the Golden Knights, but McCrimmon and Flames GM Craig Conroy couldn't get anything over the finish line this summer.
Currently, McCrimmon's main focus is extending the team's most important player in Jack Eichel.
“The top priority at the moment, as he said, is to get Eichel extended,” LeBrun reported. “My understanding is that there have been a few conversations to date on it. It’s still early stages. It doesn’t sound like anything is imminent, but there’s a lot of time to get it done, and I would be very surprised if it didn’t.”
It'll be interesting to see if McCrimmon decides to bring another defenseman to town, or instead stick with the blue line in its current form in the absence of Pietrangelo.
