Alex Pietrangelo’s two-way approach on the blue line will keep going north
Alex Pietrangelo may be a two-way player, but the blueliner isn’t putting up the same points total as some of his peers across the league. He has 23 in 46 contests, most of which have come in the form of assists at even strength. For the time being, that’s all the Golden Knights need to see from one of their best defensemen.
Defensive point shares are where Pietrangelo’s value stands out, and he’s second on the team at 2.5 through 46 games played. If he, however, increases that closer to what we have seen from Brayden McNabb, who sits at 3.5, then Pietrangelo’s play becomes even more valuable to Vegas during this all-important month of February.
He must also keep doing his part when the Knights don’t have the puck in the defensive zone to make that happen, and his 107 blocks so far indicate that trend will keep improving. Pietrangelo could stand to get more sticks on the puck, however, as his 38 takeaways are on pace to remain even-keel of what we saw from him last season, and they will fall south of the eye-popping 93 he came up with in 2021-22.
(Statistics provided by Hockey-Reference as of Wednesday, February 7th)