Graney: Alex Pietrangelo raises play during Knights’ playoff run

I’m not a big believer in supreme athletes entering any type of contrived zone, and that has nothing to do with Syracuse basketball befuddling opponents for decades.

I just think the best ones naturally raise their game when winning is paramount.

Sort of like what Alex Pietrangelo is doing for the Golden Knights.

The weight of expectation can be burdensome. The presumption of how a player will — and perhaps should — perform upon signing a free agent contract for seven years and $61.6 million is immense.

This is the reality from which a world-class defenseman in Pietrangelo arrived this season.

“I’m sure from the outside there were expectations from people in regard to the contract,” he said. “I put pressure on myself to perform, and I was brought here to play at a certain level. It’s my job to do that and provide that type of leadership.

“Outside noise and what people say doesn’t really matter to me. What matters is what the group in the locker room thinks of my play.”

That group thinks it’s pretty good right now.

A deep dive

The Knights open a best-of-seven NHL semifinal series against the Montreal Canadiens on Monday night at T-Mobile Arena, and it’s not a stretch to say Pietrangelo has been his team’s best player through two rounds. He assuredly was in the six-game elimination of the Colorado Avalanche.

A quick glance at numbers tells you Pietrangelo underperformed during the regular season, his 41-game totals of seven goals and 16 assists not near assumed production. Lots of mishaps at the blue line.

Knights coach Pete DeBoer, however, suggests a deeper dive into the analytical pool of Pietrangelo’s output. It sure doesn’t paint a picture of someone drowning.

At five-on-five, the team had a 53.58 scoring-chance percentage and 54.00 high-danger scoring chance percentage with Pietrangelo on the ice.

St. Louis, the team for which Pietrangelo captained to a Stanley Cup title in 2019-20, had a 53.27 scoring-chance percentage and a 50.58 high-danger scoring chance percentage with him on the ice at five-on-five.

Pietrangelo was plus-8 at five-on-five for the Blues that season.

He was plus-13 at five-on-five for the Knights this season.

He also is tied for second in points (eight) in the playoffs for the Knights and is logging a team-high average of 23:59 of ice time.

“Maybe one of the things that’s not visible to people just watching the game is the poise, confidence, calmness he brings to a team is really valuable,” Knights general manager Kelly McCrimmon said. “I don’t underestimate what a person gains in experience by being a champion.”

There it is. The holy grail.

Nobody knows how Pietrangelo’s contract will be viewed, say, four years from now. He will be 35. Maybe he’s just as good or better. Maybe not. Maybe it’s thought a worthy one. Maybe a terrible one.

But for this particular section of society, for players and coaches and management, nothing means more than winning the Stanley Cup. It’s an indescribable emotion for those chasing it.

And if the Knights can do so with Pietrangelo helping lead the way — be it this season or next or eventually over the course of his deal — it all will have been worth it.

Great ones understand

His regular-season struggles. The contract. Trading one of the team’s most popular players (Nate Schmidt) and a top-six center (Paul Stastny) to make financial room for it. Playing short in critical games this season because of salary cap issues caused by it.

If the Knights win the Cup, none of it matters.

“I played 10 years before I ever got to the finals,” Pietrangelo said. “It’s not easy. It takes everybody. I’ve always said I’m not the flashiest player. That’s fine with me. My job is to go out and get the job done, regardless of whether it’s pretty or not.”

What he has been lately is the team’s best player.

Not because of any zone.

Because the great ones just naturally understand when it’s time. Winning is everything.

Ed Graney is a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing and can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4618. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on Twitter.