Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is set to play in his 1000th game tonight against the Minnesota Wild.
Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is set to play in his 1000th game tonight against the Minnesota Wild.
Vegas Golden Knights defenseman Alex Pietrangelo is set to play in his 1000th game tonight against the Minnesota Wild.
Pietrangelo is a two-time Stanley Cup winner, a three-time all-star, a three-time NHL second all-star team, and has finished in the top five of Norris voting three times. Pietrangelo has eclipsed the 50-point mark five times in his career and hit double digits in goals eight times.
Pietrangelo was drafted in the first round with the fourth overall pick by the St. Louis Blues in the 2008 NHL draft. Pietrangelo made his NHL debut on October 10, 2008, against the Nashville Predators. He only played eight games in his D-1 season and nine in his D-2 season. During those seasons he returned to the OHL and played for Team Canada at the World Juniors where he won a gold medal.
Pietrangelo played his first full season with the Blues in the 2010-11 season. During his tenure with the Blues, he played 758 games and scored 109 goals, and 341 assists for 450 points.
Pietrangelo signed a seven-year deal with the Golden Knights in 2020. Since signing with the Golden Knights, he's recorded 33 goals, and 111 assists for 144 points in 241 games. Bringing his career totals to 142 goals and 452 assists for 594 points.
His offensive output is impressive in itself, but coupling that with the consistent defensive capabilities that Pietrangelo has shown throughout his entire career is what makes him so great. Besides the first two shortened seasons, Pietrangelo has never averaged less than 22:00 of time on ice per game. Pietrangelo has played against the opponent's best players while playing on the penalty kill.
Pietrangelo is a great leader. He was the captain of the Blues and is an assistant captain of the Golden Knights. The players look up to him and admire the hard work he has put into his career to get to this point. No one may understand and appreciate Pietrangelo more than his teammate Ivan Barbashev.
"He's been there for me since my first game. I think it's pretty special to see him reach 1,000. He's just a great guy, a family guy, he's a great leader and through my career, he meant a lot for a lot of players. If you ask me what kind of teammate I want to have I'm going to sat Pietro."
Head coach Bruce Cassidy had high praise for Pietrangelo as well.
"He's a very popular teammate. A guy like him will be the first guy to go to a younger guy who might be struggling. Not only is he a good player on the ice, takes care of business, he plays 23 minutes against good players and takes care of his teammates."
Cassidy alluded to being a part of Pietrangelo's two Stanley Cup wins. One of course was last year with the Golden Knights but also when Pietrangelo was with the Blues. Cassidy was the head coach of the Boston Bruins and saw Pietrangelo score the game-winning goal in a 4-1 win in game seven for the Blues.
The Golden Knights defenseman has accomplished so much in his career already and still has three years left in his current contract giving him more time to reach new accolades. Pietrangelo's accomplishments in international play give him a strong case to one day be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.
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