St. Louis Blues Alex Pietrangelo Dealings Akin To Russian Roulette

The St. Louis Blues are trying to be financially responsible in an era of financial instability. They are playing a risky game, however.

Despite the fact that NHL free agency is still around three weeks away, the chatter around the St. Louis Blues. Of course, the large majority of it has been centered around Alex Pietrangelo.

Nothing is confirmed by the team, but reliable sources are not painting the rosiest of pictures. As of this moment in time, the Blues seem steadfast in only offering $7.7 per season (as a cap hit) and nobody has a clue what their term limit is, if there is one.

That is not sitting well with the captain. It is believed, he wants somewhere north of $8 million from the Blues and might seek something closer to $9 million from other teams.

This almost has to boil down to how many years the Blues are willing to offer. It seems hard to believe the franchise would let their captain go over a matter of a few hundred thousand dollars.

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Stranger things have happened though. Things might get even stranger.

According to several sources, the Blues have cut off talks with Pietrangelo. They are suggesting the player test the free agent waters to see what’s out there.

On the one hand, the Blues steadfastness of dollars could be admirable. They are smart enough to plan for the possibility that the static salary cap could last for years and know they will have other players needing raises in the near future.

On the other hand, it’s a very dangerous game akin to Russian roulette. Sure, you can win but you might lose just by playing, even if you don’t end up losing in the traditional sense of the “game”.

Right now, the Blues are in serious danger of alienating their captain. While the St. Louis Cardinals turned out to be correct in letting Albert Pujols, much of that situation boiled down to the team not giving him the respect he thought he deserved.

Might the Blues be doing the same thing? They very well could be.

Or, they might be making a calculated gamble. The reality is, in mid-September, there are 14 teams with $10 million or less in cap space.

That $10 million or less before anyone takes care of their own unrestricted free agents and restricted free agents. It means there are not a ton of teams that have cap space and are Stanley Cup contenders.

There are some out there, but they have to make moves to afford Pietrangelo, the same as the Blues do. If so few teams have cap space right now, they may not have much financial room to afford a player seeking $9 million.

The truth is, nobody really knows what’s going on. If St. Louis could get Pietrangelo to sign for $7.7 million, they should be more than willing to give him a long term.

If he is dead-set on $9 million, the Blues would have to move too many pieces to make that work.

So, from the things we can piece together, it’s looking like a scene from the Deer Hunter. Even for those that survived, that did not end all that well.

We will have to wait and see how this plays out for Pietrangelo and the Blues. Pietrangelo has not closed the door on coming back, but things might move quickly come October 9.