If the St. Louis Blues want to keep Alex Pietrangelo, they’ll have to make some moves.
The St. Louis Blues won the Stanley Cup in 2019. A year later, they’ve been eliminated from the Stanley Cup Playoffs by the Vancouver Canucks. This offseason, the Blues are going to have to make some very difficult decisions.
A stagnant salary cap certainly doesn’t help the Blues, who were likely counting on an increase to help them keep most of their roster together and bring back team captain Alex Pietrangelo, who’s an unrestricted free agent. If the Blues want to keep their captain, they’re going to have to clear some salary.
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According to CapFriendly, the team has just under $79.5 million committed to 21 players next season. Unless Pietrangelo is feeling overwhelmingly generous, it’s going to take way more than $2 million a year to re-sign him.
Pietrangelo is the heart and soul of the Blues, so expect them to do whatever it takes to bring him back. Here are three players they should trade if they’re interested in re-signing their captain, who will likely command at least $8 million a year.
3. JakeAllen
Trading Jake Allen would clear $4.35 million of cap space if they don’t retain any salary. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent after next season, so the Blues should at least consider trading him if they believe in Jordan Binnington.
That said, after this postseason and the regular season, maybe trading Allen isn’t such a good idea. Allen posted better numbers last season than Binnington and he was certainly the better of the two goalies during the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
But the Blues desperately need to clear some cap space if they want to re-sign Pietrangelo. Allen might be the easiest guy to move. And if they trade him without retaining any salary, it would leave them with about $7.4 million of cap space. Not enough to re-sign Pietrangelo and RFA Vince Dunn, but it at least gives them a bit of breathing room.