Pietrangelo Makes The Team

by gallagher on Oct 7, 2008 8:34 AM CDT

By Sean Gallagher

He will not be wearing number 08 this year. The Blues announced yesterday that their 1st round pick from this summer, Alex Pietrangelo, has made the team to start the season. Additionally, team president John Davidson noted that he made the team on his own merits, not due to injuries to Erik Johnson and Jeff Woywitka.

Pietrangelo, who tallied five assists in five pre-season appearances, can be sent back to his junior team after nine games and save the Blues one year on their initial contract with him. However, if he is sent to juniors, he is not eligible for re-call to the NHL team this year. Likewise, he is not eligible to be sent to the Blues' AHL affiliate in Peoria because of his age.

What do you think about this latest chapter of the Blues rebuilding process? Let us know in the comments.

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If he learns as quickly as EJ did last year, the Blues could afford to put Brewer on the second defense pairing (where he belongs) and cut down his minutes, especially his power play time in 09-10. In 08-09, he’s gonna make mistakes that lead to goals, but sending him to juniors would probably stunt his development. Being around Al constantly can only help him.

Oh, BTW, in a piece of somewhat useless news, Ryan Hollweg, #44 on the Maple Leafs, shit in your hearts, and Cam Janssen’s separated-at-birth twin, got an automatic 2-game suspension form the NHL for receiving his 3rd boarding/hitting from behind major in 41 games for the hit in the preseason game here.

by The Goalie Guy on Oct 7, 2008 11:19 AM CDT reply actions

i just think his number is hoppy to be returning to the nhl even if it is only for 23 games.

there is one rub in all this, generally speaking, if you dress 6 d-men, all of them get more than 6 minutes.

by Childhood Trauma on Oct 7, 2008 12:00 PM CDT reply actions

Barring a completely crappy first nine games, I expect him to get the Perron treatment but with a decent amount of ice time when he plays. The fact that the Blues haven’t signed another veteran D after the injuries leads me to believe they’re committing to strictly building youth this year and seeing where that takes them.

by Pagan on Oct 7, 2008 4:27 PM CDT reply actions

I’m excited. I drafted him on my fantasy team

by Dooks on Oct 8, 2008 12:03 AM CDT reply actions

Sweet! He’s young and fresh. Just how I like ’em.

by answer man on Oct 8, 2008 6:12 AM CDT reply actions

The truth is he is better than Erik Johnson. He’s our money man. He’ll probably get screwed. It has the same feeling as Perron. We didn’t believe he’d make it but there’s no denying his talent so now we’ll keep him in the press box half the time.

Hopefully this kid makes that impossible. Soon we should also see Jundland in the line up as well.

by chris d. on Oct 8, 2008 9:54 AM CDT reply actions