Rumor: Pietrangelo's enormous contract demands revealed.

The situation between star defenseman Alex Pietrangelo and the St. Louis Blues appears to have deteriorated to the point of no return, although you won't catch me saying that definitively until it actually happens. That being said what we have seen and heard over the last few days has not been promising, and the latest news that fits that description is newly released information regarding Pietrangelo's alleged contract demands.

That news comes from Blues insider Andy Strickland of Fox Sports who reports that the initial ask from Pietrangelo's camp may have been as high as $9.25 million in terms of average annual value, a monster demand from the talented blue liner. As Strickland points out that number would place him just above of Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi, but you have to remember that the Josi deal was signed in October of 2019. That means that Josi's deal was signed when the Predators had no idea the salary cap would remain flat for 2 consecutive seasons, a factor that could drastically alter what teams are willing to pay players in the near future. 

If this was indeed the ask from the Pietrangelo camp then the news we have been hearing over the last several days starts to make more sense. It was TSN insider Darren Dreger who first broke the news that Pietrangelo had been advised by the Blues themselves to pursue free agency after talks had broken off.

St. Louis Blues insider Jeremy Rutherford also made similar comments on Friday when he revealed that he had spoken to Pietrangelo directly and had been informed of Pietrangelo's belief that he will in fact be headed to free agency. To be fair to Pietrangelo here he reportedly told Rutherford that he remained hopeful things would work out between him and the Blues, the team he captained to a Stanley Cup championship just one year ago, but that does seem very unlikely given all that we now know.

Rutherford also reported that the Blues offer was very far from the number cited by Strickland, with the Blues reportedly offering Pietrangelo $7.7 million. Strangely though Rutherford also reported that Pietrangelo was being asked to accept the deal with a bizarre caveat, one that would have blinded him to the structure of his own contract.

It's not over until the fat lady sings, but it sounds a lot like she has already started humming her tune.