The St. Louis Blues announced that they would be making a “major announcement Thursday, Aug. 24 at 2:00pm” CDT. Soon after, Jeremy Rutherford announced that the Blues would be naming Alex Pietrangelo as the team’s 21st captain in franchise history. The Blues made it official Thursday as promised.
BREAKING: Blues will have major announcement Thursday and Post-Dispatch has learned it will be to name Alex Pietrangelo team's 21st captain.
— Jeremy Rutherford (@jprutherford) August 24, 2016
The Blues last captain, David Backes, signed a five-year, $30 million contract with the Boston Bruins this offseason, leaving St. Louis in need of a new leader. After being selected with the fourth overall selection in the 2008 NHL Entry Draft by St. Louis, the 26-year-old defenseman has proven to be an elite talent and has been a mainstay on the Blues blueline for the last six seasons. A bonafide top defenseman, Pietrangelo will look to captain the Blues to their first Stanley Cup in franchise history after knocking on the door for so long in recent years.
Pietrangelo will join the likes of Zdeno Chara, Mark Giordano, Andy Greene, Ryan McDonagh, and Erik Karlsson who are all blue-line captains across the NHL.This new role shouldn’t come as much of a change for Pietrangelo other than the “C” on his jersey, as he’s been an alternate captain on the team since the 2012-13 season. Pietrangelo is still under contract with the Blues for the next four seasons with a modified no-trade clause kicking in starting in the 2017-18 season.