Red Wings: Signing Alex Pietrangelo becoming increasingly unlikely

The Detroit Red Wings are becoming increasingly unlikely to go out and sign St. Louis Blues defenseman Alex Pietrangelo this offseason.

For some time now, it has become increasingly expected that the Detroit Red Wings are going to go out and make an impact signing this offseason. The hope has seemingly been that the Red Wings would go out and get a stud blueliner and lock him down for a few seasons.

While current Boston Bruins blueliner and hometown kid, Torey Krug, might be the favorite, but counting out St. Louis Blues captain Alex Pietrangelo was initially a bit ludicrous. The Blues obviously will want to make a push to keep Pietrangelo, given that he is their captain.

The issue with hanging onto Pietrangelo is cap space; he will be due for a pay-day as an unrestricted free agent. This seems like no big deal, but the Blues had themselves in a tight cap space situation, but they have ultimately made some changes to help fix this.

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In a recent trade with the Montreal Canadiens, the Blues sent goaltender Jake Allen to Montreal in exchange for two draft picks.

This allowed them to move some cap space off of the books to further their ableness to bring back Pietrangelo.

Even though the league is keeping the salary cap the same for the 2020-21 season and not raising it as was initially anticipated, before the COVID-19 pandemic, the Blues are clearing cap space. With the recent trade, they project to have 20 contracts on the books in 2020-21.

Their projections have them sitting with just a tick under $6.5 million in cap space for the 2020-21 season.

The thirty-year-old Pietrangelo is likely going to be getting a four to a five-year contract, venturing that he will bring around $8 million annually.

Being the captain of the Blues, Pietrangelo may be willing to take a pay “cut” to stay with the organization. Pietrangelo could bring home closer $10 million annually on the free-agent market, but being with the Blues and their captain, he may be willing to take a pay cut.

While this trade of Allen to the Canadiens could simply be a deal to off-load a goaltender, but it may be the Blues gearing up to make moves to ensure the return of Pietrangelo. The Blues captain is a thirteen year veteran with the Blues, winning a Stanley Cup Championship in 2018-19.

Through seventy games in 2019-20, the Blues defenseman scored 16 goals and added 36 assists for 52 points on the year. He has been in this 50ish point range for the past few seasons as he has become a seasoned veteran in the National Hockey League (NHL).

Looking at the Blues cap situation, they could move a forward like Tyler Bozak or Alexander Steen to free up the space that may be necessary to sign Pietrangelo and enough left over to fill other roles.

With the Blues looking like they are going to keep making moves to ensure their captain dons the Blues jersey in the future, the Red Wings likelihood of signing him may continue to drop as the offseason gets underway and progresses.