St. Louis Blues: 3 Reasons To Keep Alex Pietrangelo
The St. Louis Blues have plenty of reasons to keep their current captain, but perhaps about nine million not to. However, we’ll discuss the three big reasons to keep him around.
The St. Louis Blues have a lot of hard decisions to make during the 2020 NHL offseason. For a team only one year removed from a Stanley Cup championship, there is the potential for a lot of roster upheval.
That is somewhat disappointing because they put a lot of eggs in the basket for a repeat chance and had it derailed as much by the pandemic as anything. Now, any future championships will be fought for by a different group, any way you slice it.
The Blues won’t have their best scorer in Vladimir Tarasenko to begin the 2020-21 season, if at all. They might not have as many as two forwards and possibly one goaltender from the 2019 squad as well, depending on how the salary shifting has to play out.
Of course, the biggest fish to fry is that of Alex Pietrangelo. The captain has made it to his free agent summer without an extension and is looking for a payday.
Nobody truly knows what Pietrangelo wants. We have to base most of our discussion on comparables and the history of the team with the agent.
It is assumed by most that Pietrangelo is willing to go for less than the insane contracts given out to the likes of Erik Karlsson and Drew Doughty, both of which were north of $10 million per season. Many figure he will want something similar to what Roman Josi just signed for, which is just over $9 million.
That’s a good chunk of change, any way you slice it. Complicating matters, Pietrangelo is represented by Newport Sports Management.
They represent both Pietrangelo and Jaden Schwartz and each time those players had contracts come up in the past, negotiations went into training camp. Newport used to represent Brayden Schenn, but he switched agencies and almost immediately after doing so, the Blues worked out an extension with him.
So, needless to say, the dealings with the Newport group and Doug Armstrong could get contentious. That said, the battle over finances doesn’t have to be the only focus.
There are reasons to keep Petro around. Let’s focus on those.
True number one
One of the biggest reasons to keep Pietrangelo is the fact that he is the Blues top right-handed defenseman. Not only is he on their top pairing, but he would be on the top pairing for a lot of teams.
While I may personally feel the Blues could survive without Pietrangelo, there are some very smart hockey people that disagree. On 101 ESPN, Jamie Rivers and Carlo Colaiacovo waxed poetic about the skills the Pietrangelo brings to the table.
One thing Rivers brought up, which I had not considered before, is to imagine what most teams would be willing to trade in order to get a player like Pietrangelo. When you consider the haul that a team could get and all your team has to do is pay money, it changes the perspective a little.
One of the things teams look for most when building a team, beyond goaltending, is defense. They say to win championships you need a goalie, a star center and a top defenseman.
The game is flooded with left handed shooters too, which seems odd given that left handed people are the minority in general society. Regardless, Pietrangelo being a right-handed shot makes him even more valuable.
Petro has fallen into the category of playing here long enough that fans often discount his abilities. Yet, his versatility in playing with various teammates shows how good he can be.
In recent years, Pietrangelo has been paired with Jay Bouwmeester, Carl Gunnarsson, Joel Edmundson and Vince Dunn briefly and even a few shifts with Justin Faulk. More often than not, Pietrangelo was not the problem with any of those pairings.
He is a three-tool player too. He scores a high number of points, without being a solely offensive defenseman.
Pietrangelo still has good footwork at 30, even if he doesn’t have a lot of speed. He is also hard to play against because of his positioning and reach, even if he is not a bruising defender.
You don’t come around those attributes in one player very often. The Blues should definitely consider holding onto a player with all of that as opposed to trying to achieve those same things with various players.
Additionally, Colton Parayko looked a little lost during the 2020 playoffs against Vancouver. He’s still talented, but it made you doubt his ability to be a top-line defender right now.
Stays in shape
Another thing Pietrangelo does not get enough credit for is the workout regimen he keeps and the shape he stays in. Many fans, including myself, don’t notice this since he does not come off as a workout beast.
By that, I mean he doesn’t have huge, tree trunk legs or shoulders as broad as a house like some guys that stay in the gym all day. Pietrangelo falls more in the Tom Brady workout category.
He won’t wow you with physical gains or muscles for days, but he does exactly what his body needs to perform. Pietrangelo stays in immaculate shape and keeps his body healthy.
That cannot go unnoticed. A player’s health is paramount to their value to a team.
Injuries are often just misfortune and not a sign of a player not taking care of themselves. Nevertheless, a player in good shape that takes care of their joints and tendons is less likely to injure them on a random occurence.
Pietrangelo has proven to be reliable and durable, which is important if you’re going to give a player a long-term extension. The Blues have been able to rely on him to be there the vast majority of the time.
Once Pietrangelo turned full-time pro, he has never failed to play 70 or more games other than a lockout-shortened season. Out of 727 potential games, he has only missed 33 games.
When you can count on a player to be in the lineup, that can be invaluable and make it more likely you’ll get your money’s worth.
End not in sight
Speaking of getting your money’s worth, one of the bigger arguments against Pietrangelo’s contract extension is the length of the deal. It is assumed he would want something in the seven to eight year range.
That would make him anywhere between 37 and 39 by the time the contract ended. Those are generally not years that are kind to players.
Some players hit 30 and hit a wall. The Blues could see that kind of decline happening with David Backes and wisely let him walk before they had to overpay him.
At 32, Backes no longer scored 20-plus goals any longer and his overall point totals went down too. Some of that could have been because he switched teams after such a long stay in St. Louis and had a vastly different role. It is undeniable that Backes was not the physical force he was earlier in his career.
The lengthy contract he signed with Boston started looking bad very early on. The worry is Pietrangelo will get his money and tailspin.
The difference is Backes played a bruising style. That does not mean Pietrangelo does not hit anyone, but he’s not constantly battling all game long like Backes did.
Backes got beat up in front of the net, he battled in the corners on the forecheck and just got whacked all the time when possessing the puck. Pietrangelo does not give, nor receive the same type of punishment.
Additionally, defenders generally age much better than forwards anyway. Except for Gordie Howe, forwards tend to have their talents decline much quicker than defenders.
A lot of defenders played well as they aged. Chris Chelios was still averaging well over 20 minutes per game after he crossed 40. The same could be said of defenders such as Nick Lidstrom, Zdeno Chara and Al MacInnis.
At age 39, MacInnis scored 16 goals and 68 points. Only an eye injury prevented him from playing past 40.
MacInnis won his only Norris Trophy of his career when he was 35. He finished second in the voting when he was 39.
Mark Giordano just won a Norris Trophy. He had the best year of his career at age 35. Giordano had never scored more than 48 points and suddenly had 74 points just when some assume guys start thinking about hanging up the skates.
There is no reason Pietrangelo cannot keep up his play, if not continue to improve it. Pietrangelo just had his best career year at 30, scoring 16 goals in a shortened season.
He fell just shy of the 54 points he scored in 2017-18 with 52 points. Pietrangelo also made his second All-Star team at age 30.
Pietrangelo does not have the overall skill of MacInnis, but he plays a similar style. He’s not throwing his body around with reckless abandon, so he’s more likely to stay healthy. Staying healthy means you’re able to contribute on the offensive end as well as defensive.
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Even if you say Pietrangelo starts declining around 35 and then you’re paying a second or third pairing defender big bucks, that would still be five years away. He is more than capable of providing a high-level five years in that time, if not more.