Red Wings: 3 players to target after NHL’s salary cap announcement
By Tyler Kotila
The Detroit Red Wings need to do SOMETHING this offseason, why not sign away the 2018-19 Stanley Cup Champion St. Louis Blues team captain?
Since talk about the 2020-21 season has begun, it has been preferred that the Detroit Red Wings go out and make a splash in free agency. If they are going to target anyone, it should be a number one defenseman for the organization’s defense core, which needs the help.
The attention turns to Boston Bruins’ Torey Krug or St. Louis Blues’ Alex Pietrangelo as the two big defenseman names the team should target. At first, it seems baffling that the twelve-year veteran of the Blues would even suit up for another organization, but it is not that farfetched.
Pietrangelo may be the Blues captain, helping lead them to a 2018-19 Stanley Cup Championship, but there is absolutely no way they can afford him now. Similar to Hall and the Coyotes, as mentioned above, they will have to make a move to have room for their current captain.
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Given the flat $81.5 million cap, the Blues project to only have $2,047,501 in cap space for the 2020-21 season.
In no way would Pietrangelo take that much of a pay cut to stick with the Blues without a cap offloading trade.
Pietrangelo made $6.5 million in 2019-20, and his last contract was a seven-year, $45 million contract with the Blues. It will be tough for the Blues to work around this, backloading his deal might help, but it’s still a harder task without ditching some cap.
The Red Wings could enter the sweepstakes and try to persuade Pietrangelo to be “their guy” while the youngsters come up to the NHL-level. Talking Pietrangelo out of staying with the Blues is like trying to talk Nicklas Lidstrom into leaving the Red Wings, but trust in Yzerman.
At the minimum, Pietrangelo is someone to kick the tires on until the Blues make a move to ensure they will keep their captain.
Related Story. Should the Detroit Red Wings sign Torey Krug or Alex Pietrangelo?. light
All-in-all, the Detroit Red Wings have plenty of candidates they can target this offseason, but the salary cap sticking at $81.5 million is going to open up doors for the Red Wings to sneak in and grab top-flight players.