According to TSN’s Pierre LeBrun on Insider Trading, the situation between the St. Louis Blues and pending free agent defenseman Alex Pietrangelo continues to get interesting. In fact, their situation could run up to the final buzzer before either side knows if they are moving forward together or not.
Pietragelo all along has indicated his preference is to re-sign in St. Louis. But recently, talks were reported to have broken off and both sides expected him to test free agency starting Friday at 12 pm EST. On Thursday, just hours before the market is set to open, LeBrun tweeted, “Will have more on Insider Trading shortly. Door is still open for the Blues but Pietrangelo also ready to head to market. Should be an interesting 24 hours.”
This came after Pietrangelo had said he was expecting the Blues to reach out at least one more time before Friday and then that they did have some contract discussions in recent days.
Jeremy Rutherford cited a quote from the defenseman who said, “Yeah, we’ve had contact recently. There’s been good discussions from both sides.”
For Blues fans not eager to see Pietrangelo leave the team, this is good news. It means that a return to St. Louis is not off the table. The bad news is, it seems Pietrangelo is still under the impression he’ll be heading to market. Carlo Colaiacovo tweeted,:
“Sounds like Alex Pietrangelo will indeed enter the Free Agent market and will take his time to evaluate his options before making his decision which includes St. Louis.”
Still a Ways to Go With the Blues?
In the end, here’s what we know. There’s been discussions, but we’ll see what gets presented tomorrow. Things need to pick up for Pietrangelo not to look to the free agent market first and the Golden Knights Maple Leafs and Panthers are the teams most connected to his decision.
LeBrun noted the door is very much open for St. Louis to close the gap with a new offer in the 24 hours and it is not 100 percent headed to market. But, should he have to, he is ready to do so.
Next: Everything You Really Need to Know Heading Into Start of NHL Free Agency 2020
