St. Louis Blues Cannot Afford To Lose Alex Pietrangelo

The St. Louis Blues defensive core was on display during the 2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and the league’s best defensive team was led by Alex Pietrangelo.

Not only was St. Louis Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo instrumental in the team’s Stanley Cup run, but he was also a key part in establishing what is now considered one of the best blue lines in the league.

Both Pietrangelo and Brayden Schenn will be free agents after the 2019-20 season, and both are due for a significant raise in salary.

The conversation regarding these negotiations tends to be centered around keeping one or the other. If this is the case, the Blues need to do everything they can to lock up Pietrangelo, and it’s not even close.

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Pietrangelo currently holds a cap hit of $6.5 million and that number figures to climb by at least two or three million when he signs his next contract.

Schenn, meanwhile, will make $5.125 million this season but with the absurd contracts given to players like Kevin Hayes, ($7.142 million AAV) Schenn might be in for an unnecessarily big payday.

Taking nothing away from how well Schenn has played for St. Louis over the past two years, but the value that Pietrangelo brings to the team far outweighs paying almost $8 million a year for a forward.

If Schenn does earn $8 or even $7 million a year, there is a very good chance that he will be playing for another team. St. Louis still has too many big contracts on the books to be paying Pietrangelo and Scheen upwards of $15 million combined.

Why favor a defenseman over a first-line center that finished third on the team in points during the regular season and centered the team’s most consistent line all year?

Well, Pietrangelo is the heart and soul of the St. Louis Blues. Giving a player the “C” is not something that is handed out like candy on Halloween. In fact, there are still a handful of franchises that are still captainless.

It is not just the inspirational speeches or the locker room solidarity that makes keeping Pietrangelo so appealing, and he also happens to be a world-class defender.

You could have made a case for Pietrangelo to be a Norris Trophy finalist two seasons ago, and despite taking a step back from an offensive production standpoint in 2019, Pietrangelo is still one of the games best.

Unsurprisingly, Pietrangelo led Blues’ defensemen in points (41) and finished above forwards Tyler Bozak and Jaden Schwartz in that category as well.

Pietrangelo also led the team in TOI during the regular and postseason, averaging about 25 minutes per game. There are a handful of defensemen that can manage a workload like the Blues captain, but there are not that many.

Losing Pietrangelo would leave the Blues shorthanded in a vital position. Colton Parayko has shown that he is budding into a potential superstar, though having both Parayko and Pietrangelo sounds much better than having just Parayko on the top pairing.

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Imagining Pietrangelo in a different sweater is difficult, in part because he is so loved in St. Louis. It’s hard to see the Blues bringing back both Schenn and Petro, though we have seen Doug Armstrong do crazier things before.

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