St. Louis Blues: Alex Pietrangelo May Be Playing Last Games As A Blue

The St. Louis Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo turns 30 in January 2020 and is in the final year of his contract. What the Blues and Doug Armstrong do next will be critical to the team’s success this season and seasons to follow.

The St. Louis Blues and general manager Doug Armstrong’s contract negotiations work hasn’t ended with the Ivan Barbashev two-year extension. No, they now have to turn their attention to the captain, Alex Pietrangelo.

Pietrangelo is in the final year of his contract with the St. Louis Blues and after last season, in my opinion, will garner another multi-year deal in the $8-9 million per year range. The term will be the deciding factor in this deal for me personally.

Now, for full disclosure purposes, I was one of the fans calling for Armstrong to move Petro early in the abysmal first half of a storybook 2018-19 season. In hindsight, I am glad he didn’t, because the dream of a lifelong, blue-bleeding Blues fan was realized as literal tears fell from my eyes when we hoisted the cup.

Like the Blues locker room and front office should be, my mind is laser-focused on the current season and beyond. Today, I believe if the Blues can’t get a deal that makes sense for the team, today and beyond, then the best thing to do is to trade him early and get everything we can in return.  The value of a defenseman in this league with Petro’s resume will garner a good package.

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Now some fans will want to sign him to around $8-9 million a year and something near a seven-year term.  To me, this would be franchise suicide. I am hoping that the GM has learned his lesson with the contract of Alex Steen. Signing Petro to a seven-year term with that cap hit would be ridiculous to me.

We have guys to take the reigns from the captain.  Those guys are at or can be signed to a much lower cap hit.

Vince Dunn comes to mind as a potential D-man to soak up some of the offense the captain would take with him. In terms of shutting down defenses, well, we have a 55 caliber cannon named Colton Parayko who has shown what he can do to disrupt the top lines of the league.

So why pay $8-9 million a year for a player that’s turning 30? That doesn’t make sense from a business standpoint. Pietrangelo has Norris Trophy potential but won’t win a Norris Trophy. So, let another team pay for that soon to be dwindling potential and bring up the next guy.

We have a captain in Ryan O’Reilly, so no leadership lost. Moving Petro gives Dunn and Parayko the time on the power play that so many of us fans want to see.

C’mon, a 55 caliber canon peppering the goalie and defenses of an opposing penalty kill? Dunn making creative, yes CREATIVE, offense out of nothing with Robert Thomas on the power play?

Now, if the Blues sign Petro to a seven-year term, I’d be satisfied if the contract was front-loaded and the cap hit reduced as the term of the contract progressed. Petro is an all-star defenseman in this league and deserves to be paid, but it may not be by the Blues if Armstrong is playing with a mind on the future.

I truly believe the Blues have an opportunity to be the team of the decade. They could be as close to a dynasty as a team can come in today’s NHL. That, of course, rests heavily on Doug Armstrong’s shoulders. Remember, those are the same shoulders that have been Houdini in some offseason moves that landed Brayden Schenn and O’Reilly.