Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo, who is considered the best free agent award in the NHL this off-season, agreed on Monday to a seven-year deal with the Vegas Golden Knights valued at $ 8.8 million a year, a source told the ESPN has been confirmed.
The deal, worth a total of $ 61.6 million and with a no-move clause, was first reported by The Athletic.
Adding the best free agent available gives Vegas another great talent, but the team has to lose the salary to fit below the $ 81.5 million cap. Goalkeeper Marc-Andre Fleury, defenders Nate Schmidt and Alec Martinez and winger Max Pacioretty are among the trade candidates to make room after Vegas has already sent center Paul Stastny to the Winnipeg Jets.
Pietrangelo was drafted into fourth overall by the St. Louis Blues in 2008. You’re the only NHL team he’s played for. Pietrangelo has been captain since 2016 and helps the team at the first Stanley Cup in 2019.
Pietrangelo’s time with the Blues was practically over after they signed defender Torey Krug, formerly a Boston Bruins player, on Friday to a seven-year deal worth $ 45.5 million.
“We had some really good conversations and just couldn’t get anything,” said Doug Armstrong, general manager of the Blues, who said the team had offered Pietrangelo an eight-year contract extension. “There’s no good or bad person in it. It’s just the business side of it.”
Previously, The Blues offered Pietrangelo an average annual salary of $ 8 million on a range of contract lengths, including an eight-year contract. But Pietrangelo reportedly wanted a no-movement clause and a signing bonus that would be built into the final years of the contract in case his business was bought out.
The 30-year-old had 16 goals plus 36 assists in 70 games and one goal and five assists in nine postseason games in the 2019-20 regular season when the Blues were eliminated by the Vancouver Canucks in the Western Conference quarter-finals.
Information from Greg Wyshynski and The Associated Press of ESPN was used in this report.
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