St. Louis Blues Alex Pietrangelo Cracks NHL’s Best 50 Players
By Todd Panula
The St. Louis Blues do not always get the recognition they deserve, due to location and market size. Even so, the league’s network has seen fit to call our captain one of the best in the game currently.
The St. Louis Blues and the fans have a love/hate relationship with the national media. On the one hand, we despise certain networks and their broadcasters who think our captain’s last name is Petra-angelo, but we just vomit in our mouths a little and get on with the day.
On the other hand, though some of us can’t watch it (get your game together YouTubeTV), the NHL Network is usually a little more open minded and fair with our boys. Sure, they still cover the big teams a little more, but they aren’t quite as concerned with market size since they are literally designed to cover the entire league.
With that in mind, the think tank at the NHL Network has been releasing their top (insert number) rankings for each position and now the best 50 players. Alex Pietrangelo made both the defenders list and the top 50 list.
As of writing this article, only 50-41 have been released in the top 50. Pietrangelo just missed out on the second grouping by being ranked 41 overall.
More from Editorials
- St. Louis Blues Need Kasperi Kapanen To Be On Best Behavior
- Hayes’ Debut And Other Bold Predictions for the St. Louis Blues
- St. Louis Blues Captaincy Is Suddenly A Huge Problem For 2023-24
- St. Louis Blues National Games Cause More Problems Than They’re Worth
- St. Louis Blues Brayden Schenn Has To Be An Impact Player In 2023-24
That might seem a little high, but we cannot fully judge the list until we see all 50 revealed. For now we know that Pietrangelo was ranked higher than players like Dustin Byfuglien, William Karlsson, Filip Forsberg and Jack Eichel, among others.
The defensive list is a little more impressive. Pietrangelo ranks ninth there. Again, it seems a tad bit high at first look, but it’s hard to argue against most of the others. The one glaring overvalue on the defensive list is Seth Jones.
Jones has evolved into a very good player, but I do not personally see him as the sixth best defenseman in the NHL. Some of that is because I see so little of Columbus and some is just because I don’t see him that high. I digress.
What is nice is to see Pietrangelo get some recognition nationally. Like Jones here, St. Louis gets lost in the mix at times and sometimes our players get forgotten if they are not putting up the big stats.
Pietrangelo did put up career numbers in 2017-18, which clearly pushed his name up the list. Oddly enough, it was only a solid beginning and end that got Pietrangelo that good year. Like the team around him, he struggled in the winter months. Even so, he had a career best in goals and assists.
If Pietrangelo has a steady year in 2018-19, he could be in line for some personal awards at the end of the year. That is month away for now, though, and we need him to just be the best player he can be.
Blues Have Options For Their Fourth Line. dark. Next
While Pietrangelo has gained some detractors in the area lately, he is still one of the better defenders in the league. This list might not change many minds, but it is vindication for what many of us already knew.