On October 12, 2020, defenseman Alex Pietrangelo signed a seven-year deal worth an annual average salary (AAV) of $8.8 million with the Vegas Golden Knights after leaving the St.Louis Blues, where he played 12 seasons and won a Stanley Cup in 2018-19. This signing would remove a critical defensive leader from the Blues and leave them with few defensive options to take his place.
Here’s a look at what this signing did for the Blues and Golden Knights afterward and where it led the Blues today.
Blues Perspective After Letting Him Walk
First and foremost, under general manager Doug Armstrong, the Blues were taking a different path and were looking to rebuild their roster on the defensive end. Speculation that Armstrong would not give Pietrangelo a no-trade clause (NTC) in an attempt to re-sign him at Free Agency that offseason would stir up controversy within the Blues fanbase. By letting go of Pietrangelo, the Blues would not have to worry about a massive cap hit after he took up an AAV of about $6.5 million over a seven-year deal he made with the Blues back in 2013.
Related: St. Louis Blues’ Top 10 Prospects for 2024-25 Season
After letting Pietrangelo go, the Blues signed defenseman Justin Faulk on a seven-year deal worth $6.5 million (AAV) in 2019 and Torey Krug in 2020 also on a seven-year contract worth $6.5 million (AAV). Both would have an NTC included in their contracts. Faulk would be able to give a list of teams regarding his no-trade list in year six (2025-26), and Krug would have an NTC up until 2024-25, and then it would turn into a modified no-trade clause (M-NTC) in 2025-26 through 2026-27 where he would provide a 15 team no-trade list.
To begin with, it made zero sense when Pietrangelo would cost about the same price to re-sign and would carry a no-trade clause in his contract. The only explanation is that maybe Armstrong was trying to get more defensive talent with the amount of money he could’ve got Pietrangelo to re-sign for. It turns out today that opting to sign Faulk and Krug made matters worse, as their numbers have not lived up to expectations and now pose problems on the cap since they are locked in with a no-trade clause on their contracts.
Krug recently suffered an ankle injury, which could see him sit out for the entire 2024-25 season. This would force the Blues to suffer and hold onto a defenseman who could potentially be on the injury reserve, burning off another season of his deal, which expires in 2027.
Golden Knights Got a Boost On Defense
With the Golden Knights adding Pietrangelo to their roster, there was now a well-rounded veteran who could become a primary key to their defense. Pietrangelo proved to be a winning piece to their defense by winning the Stanley Cup with the Golden Knights in 2023 and tied his career-high in points (54) that same season. Not to mention, he was also an NHL Second Team All-Star in 2022. This proves he still stayed consistent with his success with the Blues.
In 2021-22 and 2022-23, he also became a top-10 defenseman in blocked shots, something he never did in his 12 seasons with the Blues. The sudden absence of Pietrangelo from the Blues’ defensive roster made them lose a vital special teams leader on the penalty kill, giving the Golden Knights an advantage in that department. When Pietrangelo arrived in his first season with the Golden Knights in 2020-21, they were first in the league on the penalty kill after barely hanging onto a top-10 spot in that category a season before in 2019-20.
However, in the playoffs, it was a different story. The power play was much more sound in 2024, as they ranked fourth that year, the second highest they’ve ranked on the power play in the playoffs since entering the league in 2017-18.
Overall, at 34, it is impressive how well he’s maintained his performance, especially after being diagnosed with appendicitis, getting an appendectomy, then returning to the playoffs in 2023-24. He did all this that same season while having the second-most total minutes on ice on the Golden Knights during the regular season and the playoffs. The Golden Knights got to keep their assets and didn’t have to risk anything but cap space for Pietrangelo and the services he brought to the team.
After all, if he is still in good form, he can be considered for the Team Canada roster for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy.
What the Blues Should Learn From This Decision
I think the number one thing that the Blues were focused on was winning as long as they could without taking a glance at their roster, and they didn’t accept the effects of their star players who were aging, such as Ryan O’Reilly, Vladimir Tarasenko, and even Pietrangelo. On top of that, they did not build good prospect depth, especially after losing Pietrangelo, and also thought they signed their way out of their problems by adding Faulk and Krug to get more for less; however, that appeared not to work out well as it has been two consecutive seasons that they have not made the playoffs.
Due to their lack of acknowledgment for their defensive prospect depth, they appeared to rely more on their younger offensive core, Robert Thomas and Jordan Kyrou, to keep them going, preventing them from making the playoffs a little longer than expected. Now that they’ve gone more toward their defensive side in the 2024 NHL Draft and are being patient with who and when they sign or trade for, hopefully, get a new up-and-coming key defensive piece and not make the same mistake they did with Pietrangelo.
