With free agency well underway, one former Blues legend has decided to step away from the game for a time.
Alex Pietrangelo, who captained the Blues to their first and only Stanley Cup championship in 2019, has decided to take a break from his playing career as he faces the possibility of missing the entire 2025/26 season due to multiple surgeries.
The now Vegas Golden Knights alternate captain and veteran defenseman was drafted 4th overall by the Blues in 2008, playing with them for 12 years of his now 17-year NHL career, earning an All-Star Game appearance in 2018 and 2020 before being dealt to Vegas, where he'd make another All-Star Game appearance in 2022.
Throughout his career, Pietrangelo has scored 148 goals and 489 assists for 637 points in 1,087 games. He's also a two-time Stanley Cup champion, one where he captained St Louis in 2019 and led Vegas to its first Cup title in 2023 as their assistant captain under Mark Stone.
Pietrangelo, 35, is originally from King City, Ontario, and played his junior hockey with the Barrie Colts and the then Mississauga IceDogs (now the Niagara IceDogs) of the Ontario Hockey League. The Blues, as mentioned earlier, selected him with the 4th overall pick in the 2008 draft, and it would take at least his rookie season and the season after before he'd become a full-time player, his first big season coming in the 2010/11 campaign, where he scored 11 goals and bagged 32 assists for 43 points in 71 games.
The following season, in 2011/12, saw him play in all but 1 regular season game, and he'd put up 12 goals and 39 assists for 51 points, the first of his four 50-point seasons with St Louis, the others coming in 2013/14, 2017/18, and 2019/20, the latter two also giving him those aforementioned All-Star Game appearances.
Pietrangelo's Cup-winning season with Vegas in 2022/23 would be the only time he'd once again eclipse the 50-point mark in a season, with 11 goals and 43 assists for 54 points in 73 games.
Now, the 35-year-old assistant captain is effectively retiring from the game after an incredible 17-year career, with 2 Stanley Cup championships and 3 All-Star Game appearances to his name. And while it's quite an official retirement, it's heavily implied for the veteran defenseman who played a key role in helping two different franchises win their first Stanley Cup titles. Not many players can boast that.