Alex Pietrangelo: Unofficial NHL Rookie of the Year

2008: 8 GM 0 G 1 A 1 P 0 +/-

2009: 9 GM 1 G 1 A 2 P -9 +/-

Take a closer look at these numbers, because this is the reason why Alex Pietrangelo will not be winning the 2010 rookie of the year award. 

Due to a strange technicality in the rules, if a player plays more than six NHL games in the preceding two seasons, then he will not be eligible for the award. 

Combined, Pietrangelo played a total of 17 games before this season.

Meanwhile, Logan Couture, a heavy favorite to be among the finalists this year, played a full 25 NHL regular season games last season, which is the maximum amount of games in a single preceding season that a player can play while still remaining eligible; to add insult to injury, Couture played in an additional 15 NHL playoff games last season. 

Could someone please explain this rule to me in layman's terms? The NHL is going to try and convince me that Logan Couture and his 40 NHL games last season is eligible for the rookie of the year honors this season, but not Pietrangelo and his scattered 17 games? 

Let's get real. 

It's a shame that the league that once again pulls out a rule that no one seems to understand. Unfortunately, NHL fans have become used to this, but I'm going to throw Pietrangelo some props nevertheless.

His progression throughout the season has been so meteoric that the Blues decided to part ways with former No. 1 overall pick Eric Johnson, as well as Eric Brewer. 

That is quite the accomplishment in your first full season as a pro. 

Back in August, I had written an article featuring the top 15 emerging defensemen. In it I wrote this about Pietrangelo:

Many have not heard of Alex Pietrangelo yet, but that should change this season. He models his game off of Chris Pronger and could be a Calder candidate in 2010.  

Rated by many as the top NHL prospect, he has a lot of expectations to live up to.   That won't be a problem for this 6'3'', 205 pound blueliner. St Louis has taken a developmental approach with him letting him refine his game in the minors after two short stints with the big club.

A franchise defenseman in the making, his superb on-ice vision is only matched by his impeccable hockey intelligence. With all the skills one could want from a player, he will be a household name for years to come.

At the time, I wasn't aware of the glitch in the rules, but it's safe to say that the NHL brass should re-examine this criteria at some point so players like this do not get passed over.

In that list, I had Pietrangelo fifth among emerging defensemen, one spot ahead of Eric Johnson. I got some slack over this because how on heaven's earth could I put an unknown rookie ahead of an established blue chip player? 

Here are a couple of the comments:

Why is pietrangelo even on this list and that high hes barely even played i understand hes a great prospect but still

I understand why you have Pietranglo on the list but having him ahead of Johnson and Bogosian is blasphemy. Johnson should be 3rd behind Doughty and Myers.

Needless to say, I stand by my assessment of Pietrangelo, but this isn't about tooting my own horn because there were several others on that list that I over/underrated. Trying to figure out which prospects will enthrall and which will bite the dust is not a perfect science.

This season, four other defensemen have garnered most of the headlines for their play as a rookie, but Pietrangelo either matches or exceeds the play of all them.

The other four in question are Cam Fowler, P.K. Subban, John Carlson and Kevin Shattenkirk.

All five players have played in 50-plus games this season. Pietrangelo leads them all with eight goals and 26 assists, and the most multi-point games. He has done this despite the fact that Fowler, Shattenkirk and Subban all see more power play time per game than him. 

In fact, Shattenkirk and Fowler do not even see time on the penalty kill, but both rank lowest in this group with a minus-9 and minus-22 plus/minus defensively. That is not a good stat line to have and neither should be mentioned in the Calder race this season as one-dimensional players. 

They have both been nice stories this year, but they are nothing more than raw offensive specialists still searching for that overall game. 

This leaves us with Carlson and Subban. Both play equal amounts of time in all situations, so the pedigree of all three is not in doubt.  

Pietrangelo has the least amount of giveaways in the group by a fair margin. All three are about equal in blocked shots and takeaways. Subban leads the group in hits and Carlson has the most blocked shots.

Narrowing it down even further, I would eliminate Subban from contention due to his inconsistency and mistake-laden play. He has had far too many ups and downs this season, including multiple stints in the press box. 

Therefore, the only other rookie defenseman in Pietrangelo's class this year has been John Carlson. I am giving the edge to the Blues blueliner due to his point totals, mistake-free play and increasing role on his team. 

Carlson has been outstanding, but his offensive game hasn't developed as fast due to Mike Green stealing power play time and the team's new approach to defense-first play. 

Tonight, I got the chance to see Pietrangelo play in person versus the Vancouver Canucks and it pretty much cemented my thoughts on him. He had a team-leading 34 shifts and 24 minutes of ice time and seemed to be everywhere on the ice. He's gone overlooked all season due to the eligibility issue, but he is the undisputed No. 1 defensemen on his team at the moment. 

Taylor Hall's recent hat-trick might look nice on the highlight reels and Jeff Skinner's breakout season and all-star appearance could qualify as a sexy story, but no rookie has meant more to his team or had a more significant impact as a rookie than Pietrangelo.

Much like Tyler Myers did last season, Pietrangelo is proving that young players can come into this league and dominate and if I had it my way, a defenseman would win the Calder for the second year in a row.