:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/67621377/usa_today_13871979.0.jpg)
Alex Pietrangelo has been in Las Vegas for the last few days, meeting with team officials, seeing the sights, and hammering out a contract.
Today, he got his deal:
Full no move clause in the deal. https://t.co/H4wx25A8ps
— Pierre LeBrun (@PierreVLeBrun) October 12, 2020
It looked like it boiled down to exactly what Blues fans suspected, but it’s a little more complicated than just a NMC. Jeremy Rutherford points out that the Blues last offer was for a longer term, but less pay a year. At seven years and $8.8 million a year, Vegas is paying Petro more per year than the eight year, $64 million contract that the Blues last put on the table, but Petro will be making $61.6 million over the life of his deal in Vegas.
With Nevada’s lack of income tax, it’s nearly a wash. Petro wanted that security.
His new teammates, thanks to his arrival, no longer have that security, and they are upset at the public way their team has dealt with cap management issues and getting Pietrangelo to fit.
Some rumblings regarding Vegas players being upset their names have been rumored in trades and how poorly the situation has been handled internally. #Vegasborn
— Andy Strickland (@andystrickland) October 12, 2020
Paul Stastny has already been dealt to Winnipeg to clear space, though Marc-Andre Fleury’s large contract is next to impossible to shop, which means someone else is going to have to go. Vegas has a solid nucleus to their team, to which they owe much of the franchise’s early success.
Welcome to free agent signings, guys. When your GM has built a team with more than 10 players getting paid at least $5 million a season, it’s tough to get the big named free agents without breaking a few eggs.