St. Louis Blues Potential Captain

Leaders come in all shapes and forms. Just because one isn’t exactly like the other, doesn’t make one better than the other. With that in mind, there is a case to be made for Alex Pietrangelo to be the next captain of the St. Louis Blues.

In the ever changing world of contract negotiations, you can never assume anything is a done deal until it is actually done. Therefor, there is no certainty that David Backes won’t be back and won’t still be the captain of the St. Louis Blues.

With the rumors swirling, the team’s cap situation and Backes’ home being put on the market for sale, the writing seems to be on the wall. It is only prudent to ponder the future captain then.

Alexander Steen would be a good fit for the letter. He proved that in the latter half of the 2015-16 season by playing a tough, defensive, physical style even though he had a shoulder injury that would eventually require surgery.

Alex Pietrangelo would also be a good nomination for the next man to wear the C. Pietrangelo has been with the club for six full seasons and eight seasons overall. He came into the league as a mostly offensive defenseman and has evolved from there.

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While he never achieved the goal scoring heights some thought he could or even the numbers he put up in his first two full years, he has still been a player to contend with offensively. In fact, 2015-16 was the lowest offensive output of his career in a full season and he still came close to 40 points (37).

Defensively, he’s never been a slouch, but has steadily improved over time. His blocked shot counts went up from his first two seasons and he has only been a minus player (-2) in a full season one time in his career, with almost every other season being plus double digits.

Proof of the confidence the team has always had in him can be seen in the ice time. In his true rookie season he already averaged 22 minutes of ice time. The amount of time he has spent on the rink per game has gone up every season since then.

He was also one of the Blues’ best players in the 2016 playoffs. He made mistakes of course, but the entire team did. Over the course of the postseason, he was one of the biggest reasons (outside of goaltending) that the Blues went as far as they did.

Pietrangelo isn’t the most boisterous of players. He’s not going to get in people’s faces or yell and scream. He leads by example as much as with words.

Also on the plus side, Pietrangelo is only 26 and signed with the team to the summer of 2020. When looking for a team leader, you would like to have some consistency. You don’t want to be switching the letter every other year.

Making Petro the captain now would mean you have a set captain for the next four years. You’ve already rewarded him and shown he’s a big need for the team by inking him to a deal for that length of time, so why not take one more step?

Next: 2016 Draft Prospect: Boris Katchouk

Pietrangelo isn’t the pinnacle of defending like Scott Stevens was. He’s not going to lead the league in defensive scoring the way Bobby Orr did. However, he’s a fantastic overall player. He leads in his own way and as long as the way a player performs is example enough for other people to follow, that’s good enough.

There are other players that might get the C if Backes does depart. We’ll explore those names in the near future, but Pietrangelo might be the best suited. He should have his name in the hat at the very least.

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