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Blues, Pietrangelo might just settle for a ‘bridge’ contract

alexpgetty

Once again, the St. Louis Blues provided a non-update to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch regarding unsigned star Alex Pietrangelo on Thursday. At this point, it’s clear this situation could stretch intro training camp (and possibly the regular season).

It’s worth mentioning that the 23-year-old standpoint is represented by Newport Sports, whose clients P.K. Subban, Drew Doughty and Ryan O’Reilly missed regular season games while they were mired in their own contract negotiations.

There’s still plenty of time for Pietrangelo and the Blues to avoid such a scenario, however.

One option the Post-Dispatch brought up with GM Doug Armstrong is signing a “bridge” contract rather than a long-term deal. (Perhaps this would echo the settlement Subban reached with the Montreal Canadiens.)

Armstrong mentioned earlier this month that he wants both sides to feel like they got a fair deal.

“It’s just finding out is it a maximum-term contract of eight years or do both sides feel it’s better to go short?” Armstrong said. “We’re going to work hand-in-hand with Alex because it’s not a win-lose. We’re hoping to find a win-win for both sides.”

We’ll see if Pietrangelo needs to watch the Blues win and lose for a while before getting that win-win deal, though.

Follow James O’Brien @cyclelikesedins