{"id":461168,"date":"2025-01-20T17:29:37","date_gmt":"2025-01-20T22:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/?p=461168"},"modified":"2025-01-20T17:33:10","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T22:33:10","slug":"five-years-later-the-st-louis-blues-have-found-their-new-alex-pietrangelo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/2025\/01\/20\/five-years-later-the-st-louis-blues-have-found-their-new-alex-pietrangelo\/","title":{"rendered":"Five Years Later, the St. Louis Blues Have Found Their New Alex Pietrangelo"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Pietrangelo<\/span><\/a> will be one of the best <\/span>St. Louis Blues<\/span><\/a> defencemen ever. The former Blues captain scored 109 goals and was named to the All-Star team twice in his 12-year Blues career. Furthermore, he became the first Blues captain to lift the <\/span>Stanley Cup in 2019<\/span><\/a>. However, Pietrangelo’s time with the Blues ended when <\/span>he left via free agency in 2020<\/span><\/a>. The Blues have been looking for someone to fill the void in the five seasons since his departure. They found someone in <\/span>Colton Parayko<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Blues Find New Pietrangelo<\/span><\/h2>\n

Pietrangelo Brought Much to the Blues Table<\/span><\/h3>\n

The first step in understanding how Parayko is the new Pietrangelo is understanding what Pietrangelo brought to the table for the Blues. First and foremost, Pietrangelo was exceptional in the offensive zone. Pietrangelo was never afraid to pinch in the offensive zone to create sustained pressure for the team. In the eight full seasons, Pietrangelo played in, excluding seasons he did not play in many games and seasons shortened by lockouts or COVID-19, he recorded an <\/span>individual point percentage<\/span><\/a> no lower than 40.59%. This means Pietrangelo scored a point in no less than 40.59% of<\/span> the Blues’ goals while on the ice. In other seasons, Pietrangelo hovered around an IPP of 50%. Pietrangelo played a big part in the Blue’s offense.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pietrangelo was also a strong defender defensively. He saw regular time on the penalty kill and could be trusted on the ice to protect a lead late in the game. He was a frequent shot blocker. Furthermore, Pietrangelo used his stick skills to get the puck out of the zone when needed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Heir to the Throne<\/span><\/h3>\n

When Pietrangelo left, it seemed possible that Parayko was meant to be the new Pietrangelo. Parayko’s IPP was lower than Pietrangelo’s, and he never recorded the point totals Pietrangelo did. However, Parayko was strong on defence. He, alongside <\/span>Jay Bouwmeester<\/span><\/a>, was part of a shutdown defensive pairing during the Blues Stanley Cup run in 2019. While the offence did not quite match Pietrangelo, his defence matched, if not exceeded it.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, the Blues had traded for <\/span>Justin Faulk<\/span><\/a> prior to the 2019-20 season<\/span><\/a>. Faulk had similar statistics to Pietrangelo during his time with the <\/span>Carolina Hurricanes<\/span><\/a>. Furthermore, the same off-season Pietrangelo left the Blues, the team signed <\/span>Torey Krug<\/span><\/a> to <\/span>fill the offensive void<\/span><\/a>. It appears the Blues may have been looking to fill Pietrangelo’s absence with three defencemen instead of just one.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Faulk and Krug had some good moments with the Blues, the window to another championship closed. The Blues entered a retool in the 2022-2023 season. The same season saw Parayko win one of the worst seasons of his career. He was responsible for more goals opponents scored than the Blues scored.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two Strong Seasons: Parayko is the New Pietrangelo.<\/span><\/h3>\n

Parayko bounced back in the 2023-24 season. He scored double-digit goals for the third time in his career and posted an IPP of 42%. Parayko’s bounce-back season came as the Blues nearly returned to the playoffs but fell just short. Many wondered if Parayko would replicate that success in the 2024-25 season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Indeed, he did. Parayko has already scored ten goals; he could make a push for 15-20 goals. His IPP at this point in the season is 42%. Defensively, Parayko has excelled. He currently ranks in the top five in <\/span>blocked shots<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0 His large frame helps him get in the way of shots. He also uses his large frame to get his stick into space to break up passing lanes. Parayko is someone who uses his body to make plays.<\/span><\/p>\n

Offensively, Parayko does not have the point totals as Pietrangelo did. However, his strong defensive play makes up for that\u2014and then some. Above all else, however, Parayko is the clear workhorse of the Blues’ defence. He averages around 23 minutes a game and plays on both sides of the ice.<\/span><\/p>\n

It may have taken five seasons, but the Blues have found their new Pietrangelo in Parayko.<\/span><\/p>\n

Main photo by: Jeff Curry-Imagn Images<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alex Pietrangelo will be one of the best St. Louis Blues defencemen ever. The former Blues captain scored 109 goals and was named to the All-Star team twice in his 12-year Blues career. Furthermore, he became the first Blues captain to lift the Stanley Cup in 2019. However, Pietrangelo’s time with the Blues ended when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3464,"featured_media":461169,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[32,4547,4548],"tags":[718,5865],"class_list":["post-461168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-hockey","category-nhl","tag-colton-parayko","tag-st-louis-blues-analysis"],"modified_by":"Andrew Willis","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3464"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461168"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":461170,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461168\/revisions\/461170"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461169"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/hockey\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}