St. Louis Blues: Maybe Alex Pietrangelo Is The Problem

The St. Louis Blues thought they had their captain for the foreseeable future when they gave the C to Alex Pietrangelo. Now, an odd set of circumstances makes us wonder if he is the problem with this team.

Though the 2018-19 St. Louis Blues season is turning for the better, their start to the year might be too disastrous to overcome. Clearly the on-ice play is the reason, but there have been enough rumblings of locker room turmoil for there not to be smoke and perhaps even fire.

The question that has to be asked now, as the team has found a little heartbeat, is whether Alex Pietrangelo is part of or maybe even the biggest problem. Things definitely are not in his favor at this moment.

The problem the Blues and their captain have right now is the leaks in the dam. The Blues have been very good at keeping the names quiet, but there is just too much behind this bad start to think there are no issues at all. But who is to blame?

I have long said that this nonsense about the captaincy was overblown. The idea is that you put the C on anyone in this team and they would be doing just as bad. It was sound thinking until the Blues seemed to even things out without their captain.

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St. Louis is not a great team, but we have seen much more good than bad of late. The Blues remain their biggest enemy on most nights, but there has been quite an improvement too.

There has been so much improvement that the Blues went several games with the exact same lineup and line combinations. That is almost unheard of in today’s game.

The interesting plot twist in this recent uptick in play? Pietrangelo has not been in the lineup.

Pietrangelo’s last game before getting injured was November 30, 2018. Since that time, the Blues went 6-4-1 as of writing this article.

No, that is not a gigantic turnaround. However, if you averaged that same record over the course of their current season, you’d be right in the thick of the playoff race instead of needing a miraculous second half to even get into the picture.

Also interesting is the defensive turnaround. Again, the team is not great in this area with a couple blowouts in that time, but players seem to know where they need to be and what their role is.

When Pietrangelo was around, it seemed like everyone was pressing. Everyone seemed to be trying to do the other defenseman’s job, which often put them out of position.

Now, even the maligned Jay Bouwmeester looks like a top line defenseman again. He would be better off not being asked to play those minutes, but he’s been more than serviceable in the role.

Bouwmeester looks confident on the puck and in his positioning again. He might have lost a step, but he no longer appears to have feet in cement with the laces tied together as well.

It could be a coincidence, but there is enough there to make you wonder if Pietrangelo was the problem and not Bouwmeester. We had often said Pietrangelo’s mistakes were trying to clean up after Bouwmeester.

What if it was the other way around? What if this team is actually better without its current captain?

That seems implausible to say. It was just a year ago we were discussing Pietrangelo being in the mix for the best defenseman in the league. How can he go from top of the league to a castoff for a team out of the playoff picture?

The offense is still there. Before the injury, he was still on pace to equal his goal totals from the last couple seasons. It is the defense that has fallen off the map. Nearing the turn of the calendar, Pietranglo was a minus-8 and that could have been higher had he not contributed 11 points and his possession metrics were the worst they’ve been since he was a teenager.

Maybe it is the kids. We said it almost tongue in cheek at the beginning of the season, but maybe having triplets has affected Pietrangelo in immeasurable ways. The last couple Blues (Jake Allen, Vladimir Tarasenko) to have children in season or right before ended up having down years. Maybe Pietrangelo has not yet learned how to balance it all.

The scary thing is he may not get the opportunity with this team. As he nears health and a return to the Blues lineup, the team’s early season issues and a need for a jolt have made his services more expendable. It no longer seems an insane idea to trade him away if you get ready made NHL talent in return.

In the summer of 2018, Pietrangelo was likely one of the Blues’ untouchables. What a difference a few months can make.

His personality does not make one think he could be a trouble maker or locker room cancer. The fact the team has improved in his absence does not make a good case for his continued leadership though.

Pietrangelo has seen the team decline in his tenure as captain.  They went from 46 wins to 44 and are currently on pace for something in the mid-30’s at the moment.

Comparisons to past captains are unfair.  But, when you have a team give up the way the Blues were at times in 2018, it does not reflect well on the man in charge.

The Blues have to figure it out as does Pietrangelo. It is hard to make a case to bench your team captain, but the way he was playing prior to the injury does not make a good case to return him immediately.

If the Blues fall apart when Pietrangelo returns, we have a strong indication the team has turned on him. Right or wrong, that could end up being his legacy. Hopefully it all works out for all parties involved and he can just join the turn around. If not, it might be curtains for all involved.