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St. Louis Blues: Don’t Believe Everything You Read About Free Agents

By Todd Panula|
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - FEBRUARY 16: Alex Pietrangelo #27 of the St. Louis Blues takes a shot past Ryan Johansen #92 of the Nashville Predators during the second period at Bridgestone Arena on February 16, 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images)
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE - FEBRUARY 16: Alex Pietrangelo #27 of the St. Louis Blues takes a shot past Ryan Johansen #92 of the Nashville Predators during the second period at Bridgestone Arena on February 16, 2020 in Nashville, Tennessee. (Photo by Frederick Breedon/Getty Images)

The St. Louis Blues have plenty of decisions to make regarding their pending free agents. Don’t believe everything you read regarding that, however.

In my tenure at Bleedin’ Blue, I’ve tried to sift through the things being said about the St. Louis Blues, discussed the ones that are interesting or have steam behind them and left the rest. Normally, you don’t call attention to things that have little merit.

That said, there was a tweet sent out by NHL Trade Rumors that should be discussed.

I could easily leave this alone and let fans decipher it all for themselves. Even those that read this article are free to do that.

However, it has to be noted that this is a rumor at best and actually a pretty big reach based on a throw away line in a team interview.

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As you can see from the headline, the premise is that Alex Pietrangelo has stated he intends to sign an extension in St. Louis. The headline reads Pietrangelo to sign extension, making it sound somewhat imminent.

When you click on the link and read the article, the “source” for this claim is a video posted by the Blues interviewing their team captain six days prior. Nothing was said of note.

What prompted this was Chris Kerber asking how Pietrangelo has been able to compartmentalize wanting to play when coupled with the idea of the unknown around the covid issues and also the pending free agency. As pointed out in the NHL Trade Rumors article, Petro responded by saying he and his wife knew that free agency was always July 1st and they never wanted it to get there. He went on to say he tries not to think about it, go about his day and prepare as though they will finish the 2020 playoffs.

Nothing was definitively said about any contract talks or even wanting to stay in St. Louis. Nothing was said about any extension. There was not even the stereotypical comment of how you’d love to finish your career in St. Louis, but we’ll see how things work out.

The entire premise of a pending extension is made on the comment that Pietrangelo knew when free agency was and had hoped it would not get to that date without a resolution.

For all we know, he might have just hoped the Blues would officially tell him they could not enter into negotiations with him by that point. Nobody knows.

We are all writers in this online punditry space, so I’m not taking away from the work of others. They are entitled to have their opinion on any situation.

However, don’t believe everything you read. Pietrangelo is not set to sign any extension and I doubt the Blues would pin themselves into that contract until they have made enough moves to be able to afford it for sure.

Don’t expect anything to happen until the playoffs are over or the league cancels the season.

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