Did the Blues make a mistake not re-signing Pietrangelo?

[Mickey Marner]

I'd understand not bringing him back if the contract were brutal, but the deal Pietrangelo signed was was arguably the most reasonable deal a star UFA has signed in recent memory. He got a 7% raise relative to the cap, 57% in bonuses, a full NMC, and the contract was designed to be buyout friendly for year seven.

Army bought himself a lot of goodwill with the cup, but letting Pietrangelo walk was a bonehead move, exacerbated by handing out the mediocre Krug and Faulk deals.

 

[Rosy Cheeks]

They did not look excited to be in the Edmonton playoff bubble. Pietrangelo was one of the guys who looked relieved to get back home to his family.

Maybe their lockerroom experienced a rift back then between guys who were satisfied after winning the cup and guys who were still hungry to win some more for a high personal cost to themselves and their families?

It is still possible for them to make the playoffs and upset the presidents trophy winner in the first round. This team if any can go on a hot streak.

 

[Ararana]

I don't think they're going to regret it in a few years when he's an anchor around Vegas' neck.

 

[Burke the Legend]

No but Krug is definitely getting exposed outside of Boston's system

He had to be heavily sheltered on Boston, limited 3rd pairing duty on 5v5 against softest match ups. That's a PP specialist not a prime time D man. Don't know if they desperately deluded themselves into thinking he could grow into a bigger role (as if Boston didn't try) or it was a pro scouting fail.

 

[OrrNumber4]

It was a strange decision for a team whose window is open NOW.

 

[TK 421]

Hey now, the Blues are doing a fantastic job.......

at securing a higher draft position.

 

[Suntouchable13]

It's a gamble either way. You sign a guy north of 30 to a big deal that might backfire later. You don't sign him and your team might become worse. What do you do?

 

[JackSlater]

It's a gamble either way. You sign a guy north of 30 to a big deal that might backfire later. You don't sign him and your team might become worse. What do you do?

Figure out where your team is competitively and act accordingly. You're a legitimate contender now then sign the player, you're a contender a few years down the road then let him go. The whole re-signing process with St. Louis and Pietrangelo was odd.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

Blues fans would care. I've seen what happens with contracts like that with the Red Wings and if Army had overpaid Petro you all would be calling for his head. Krug and Faulk have their faults but they are not the main reason the Blues have been slipping this year, nor would Petro have made a significant difference. In hindsight the only thing Army could have done differently that might have had better results would have been trying to swap Petro for Schmidt, but you can't dwell on that.

Blues need a new PP coach, period, having or not having Petro doesn't change that. Marc Savard left in the offseason and the Blues PP went from 3rd to 18th despite them bringing 'PP Specialists' like Krug and Hoffman. That is literally the difference between the Blues being a contender and struggling to make the playoffs.

Fans have unrealistic expectations. From an organizational perspective, you have to take the long-term pain for the short-term gain when you're trying to compete in the moment. Clearly the Blues recognize that. Schenn is signed to a max length deal. According to that article, they offered Pietrangelo 8 years too. The issue wasn't making a long-term commitment. They didn't want to do term with the bonuses and the trade protection, presumably to more easily cut bait later in the contract. To me, that's a weird hill to die on.

 

[CupInSIX]

I don't think they're going to regret it in a few years when he's an anchor around Vegas' neck.

Fixed that for you

I think they're going to regret it in a few years when he's anchoring Vegas' d corps.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

I live in St. Louis and it's a fine city to live in and raise a family. Especially for someone from Thunder Bay, ON. LOL. So much chatter on this subject when this came to ego on both sides. Petro wanted what he felt was "his" and Armstrong didn't want to cave. That's it.

 

[Sempiternal]

The St. Louis Blues squad was only good enough for one cup. All the stars aligned for them to win that year, which is cool, but they weren't built strong enough to be the next Blackhawks or Kings powerhouse.

 

[Lacaar]

ALEX PIETRANGELO #7

Vegas Golden Knights

Alternate Captain

Right Defense

Cap Hit: $8,800,000
Daily Cap Hit: $75,862
Accumulated Daily Cap Hit

: $7,586,207
Remaining Daily Cap Hit

: $1,213,793
Estimated Career Earnings

: $52,718,222
BORN:January 18, 1990
BIRTHPLACE:King City, Ontario, Canada
NATIONALITY:Canada
HEIGHT:
6'3"191cm
WEIGHT:
210 lbs95kg
SHOOTS:Right
AGE:31
ELC SIGNING AGE:18
WAIVERS SIGNING AGE:18
DRAFT YEAR:2008
DRAFTED OVERALL:4
DRAFT ROUND:1
DRAFTED BY:

STL

SEASON	CLAUSE	CAP HIT	AAV	P. BONUSES	S. BONUSES	BASE SALARY	TOTAL SALARY	MINORS SALARY
2020-21	NMC	$8,800,000	$8,800,000	$0	$3,000,000	$2,000,000	$5,000,000	$5,000,000
2021-22	NMC	$8,800,000	$8,800,000	$0	$3,000,000	$2,000,000	$5,000,000	$5,000,000
2022-23	NMC	$8,800,000	$8,800,000	$0	$7,000,000	$1,000,000	$8,000,000	$8,000,000
2023-24	NMC	$8,800,000	$8,800,000	$0	$8,000,000	$4,300,000	$12,300,000	$12,300,000
2024-25	NMC	$8,800,000	$8,800,000	$0	$8,000,000	$4,500,000	$12,500,000	$12,500,000
2025-26	NMC	$8,800,000	$8,800,000	$0	$6,000,000	$4,000,000	$10,000,000	$10,000,000
2026-27	NMC	$8,800,000	$8,800,000	$0	$0	$8,800,000	$8,800,000	$8,800,000
TOTAL		$61,600,000	$61,600,000	$0	$35,000,000	$26,600,000	$61,600,000	$61,600,000

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

That doesn't look like a mistake.
Why the hell would teams sign this contract?
Rear loaded contracts are toxic.
He'll be 38 at the end of this contract.
The dude does a pretty good job of staying healthy and he's consistently productive, but he's on the wrong side of 30 and this contract looks totally dumb from a sane GM's perspective.

I don't think anyone in Vegas expects him to be playing at 38. The last couple of years at least will be ltir I'd predict. Inconvenient for the team but worth it for the first few years.

It's the new economy of the NHL. Superstars sign into their late 30's knowing they'll ltir the back half at some point. When they become inefective or what not.
The real losers are the younger players that aren't superstars (basically 90% of the player base). These contracts chew into their escrow and regular joe likely won't get to make that up in the retirment/ltir contract.
In the end Alex is going to be paid from the player that replaces him (and the rest of the players) salary. Alex probably believes he'll play that long so doesn't feel all too bad. Hell he may. But if I had to put money on it.
I'd bet he comes down with a unplayable injury, especially if vegas falls off competitively as he'll lose his motivation and his contract is likely unmoveable.

 

[StreetHawk]

They just won a Cup so it's probably wrong to wonder what their GM is doing but not paying Pietrangelo to give a contract to Krug and insane money to Justin Faulk seems like a bad decision. Why not just bring back Pietrangelo over them?

The Faulk acquisition was questionable at the time. They had Parayko and AP on the right side. For the extra $3 mill that AP would have cost over Faulk I would have kept AP and looked for another option besides Faulk.

 

[Jozay]

Shouldve given him his bonuses and NMC instead of adhering to stupid organizational philosophies.

 

[CupInSIX]

I don't think anyone in Vegas expects him to be playing at 38. The last couple of years at least will be ltir I'd predict. Inconvenient for the team but worth it for the first few years.

It's the new economy of the NHL. Superstars sign into their late 30's knowing they'll ltir the back half at some point. When they become inefective or what not.
The real losers are the younger players that aren't superstars (basically 90% of the player base). These contracts chew into their escrow and regular joe likely won't get to make that up in the retirment/ltir contract.
In the end Alex is going to be paid from the player that replaces him (and the rest of the players) salary. Alex probably believes he'll play that long so doesn't feel all too bad. Hell he may. But if I had to put money on it.
I'd bet he comes down with a unplayable injury, especially if vegas falls off competitively as he'll lose his motivation and his contract is likely unmoveable.

37. He wanted the Josi contract at the same age and he got 1 less year.

There's no signing bonus in his last year so if his play falls off after 35 he can have his 7th year bought out for a cap hit of 2.9m x 2 years.

 

[Nihiliste]

ALEX PIETRANGELO #7

Vegas Golden Knights

Alternate Captain

Right Defense

Cap Hit: $8,800,000
Daily Cap Hit: $75,862
Accumulated Daily Cap Hit

: $7,586,207
Remaining Daily Cap Hit

: $1,213,793
Estimated Career Earnings

: $52,718,222
BORN:January 18, 1990
BIRTHPLACE:King City, Ontario, Canada
NATIONALITY:Canada
HEIGHT:
6'3"191cm
WEIGHT:
210 lbs95kg
SHOOTS:Right
AGE:31
ELC SIGNING AGE:18
WAIVERS SIGNING AGE:18
DRAFT YEAR:2008
DRAFTED OVERALL:4
DRAFT ROUND:1
DRAFTED BY:

STL

SEASON	CLAUSE	CAP HIT	AAV	P. BONUSES	S. BONUSES	BASE SALARY	TOTAL SALARY	MINORS SALARY
2020-21	NMC	$8,800,000	$8,800,000	$0	$3,000,000	$2,000,000	$5,000,000	$5,000,000
2021-22	NMC	$8,800,000	$8,800,000	$0	$3,000,000	$2,000,000	$5,000,000	$5,000,000
2022-23	NMC	$8,800,000	$8,800,000	$0	$7,000,000	$1,000,000	$8,000,000	$8,000,000
2023-24	NMC	$8,800,000	$8,800,000	$0	$8,000,000	$4,300,000	$12,300,000	$12,300,000
2024-25	NMC	$8,800,000	$8,800,000	$0	$8,000,000	$4,500,000	$12,500,000	$12,500,000
2025-26	NMC	$8,800,000	$8,800,000	$0	$6,000,000	$4,000,000	$10,000,000	$10,000,000
2026-27	NMC	$8,800,000	$8,800,000	$0	$0	$8,800,000	$8,800,000	$8,800,000
TOTAL		$61,600,000	$61,600,000	$0	$35,000,000	$26,600,000	$61,600,000	$61,600,000

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

That doesn't look like a mistake.
Why the hell would teams sign this contract?
Rear loaded contracts are toxic.
He'll be 38 at the end of this contract.
The dude does a pretty good job of staying healthy and he's consistently productive, but he's on the wrong side of 30 and this contract looks totally dumb from a sane GM's perspective.

I don’t understand why a player would want this. Makes more sense to get more of the money up front and invest it

 

[izzy]

window closed when he left

should have just given him whatever he wanted, no a player you can replace

 

[CupInSIX]

I don’t understand why a player would want this. Makes more sense to get more of the money up front and invest it

He probably didn't have the choice. Frontloading makes a contract almost buyout proof.

 

[KingsFan7824]

I don't think anyone in Vegas expects him to be playing at 38. The last couple of years at least will be ltir I'd predict. Inconvenient for the team but worth it for the first few years.

It's the new economy of the NHL. Superstars sign into their late 30's knowing they'll ltir the back half at some point. When they become inefective or what not.
The real losers are the younger players that aren't superstars (basically 90% of the player base). These contracts chew into their escrow and regular joe likely won't get to make that up in the retirment/ltir contract.
In the end Alex is going to be paid from the player that replaces him (and the rest of the players) salary. Alex probably believes he'll play that long so doesn't feel all too bad. Hell he may. But if I had to put money on it.
I'd bet he comes down with a unplayable injury, especially if vegas falls off competitively as he'll lose his motivation and his contract is likely unmoveable.

He makes more money in the last year if the deal than he does the first. The pre-2013 back diving contracts with potential fake years at the end to keep the cap hit lower aren't around much anymore.

 

[KingsFan7824]

It's damned if you do, damned if you don't. He's one if the few core guys from a Cup team that didn't get a contract from the team he won the Cup with though.

You don't have to deal with his individual contract, but you also downgraded on his replacement. That's the tough spot with UFAs. There's rarely a ready made replacement at a cheaper price.

As much as pro athletes are assets to be traded and moved as needed by the organization, they're not mass produced widgets. Unique talents are just that. Get a new guy, and plug him in. No big deal. It tends not to work that way.

 

[Big Daddy Cane]

I don’t understand why a player would want this. Makes more sense to get more of the money up front and invest it

He probably didn't have the choice. Frontloading makes a contract almost buyout proof.

Escrow, escrow, escrow.

20/21: 20% escrow + 10% deferment
21/22: 14%-18% escrow
22/23: 10% escrow
23/24: 6% escrow
24/25: 6% escrow
25/26: 6% escrow

 

[Dicky113]

It's a gamble either way. You sign a guy north of 30 to a big deal that might backfire later. You don't sign him and your team might become worse. What do you do?

They actually did both!

 

[Suntouchable13]

They actually did both!

My bad, I didn’t realize Krug was 30 already.

 

[bossram]

I would still say no, they didn't. The Blues have their Cup and are going to be on the downswing. Committing to a player at that cap value, going into his 30s, is just not a good bet. It'll look like Doughty/Karlsson/Burns in a few years (although AP's contract is definitely better).

It's not like Pietrangelo has been a world-beater this season either.

I think it's just a write-off year for the Blues. They've been wrecked with injuries for most of it, and the Binnington/Husso combo hasn't really inspired confidence.