It's impossible not to see Torey Krug as Alex Pietrangelo's replacement with the St. Louis Blues.
He took Pietrangelo's spot in the team's defense corps when he signed as a free agent. Krug's contract was funded with the money that had been earmarked for Pietrangelo, if he and the Blues could have overcome their negotiation impasse.
Pushing this comparison into unexpected levels of absurdity: Krug is literally living in the house that Pietrangelo and his family vacated before the former Blues captain signed with the Vegas Golden Knights.
But there's no creepiness or animosity here. Pietrangelo actually called Krug when their respective transactions were done, and suggested he purchase the Pietrangelos' old house to make the transition from Boston to St. Louis less cumbersome for Krug's young family.
"I reached out to him. Just more so to help him, and not so much for [selling the house]. That just kind of came up. But I mean, it's not the first time it's happened. It happens more often than you guys think, so it worked out well for both of us," Pietrangelo told ESPN this week, ahead of his first game against the Blues as an opponent on Tuesday (9 p.m. ET, streaming on ESPN+).
"My wife's from there. We're so well connected in that city. Look, I was going through the same thing here. I know how difficult it was. If I could help out a fellow player, that's the least I could do."
Pietrangelo was a member of the Blues for 12 seasons, drafted by St. Louis fourth overall in 2008. He captained the team since 2016 before Ryan O'Reilly was given the "C" this season. He was the first St. Louis player to ever lift the Stanley Cup, skating nearly 26 minutes per game in the Blues' 2019 championship run.
But none of this guaranteed another contract with the Blues for the 31-year-old free-agent defenseman, especially when one of his demands -- a full no-movement clause, which the Golden Knights granted him -- wasn't something St. Louis GM Doug Armstrong was going to hand him.
"When you give someone a no-movement clause, they basically have more power in your organization than the owner does," said Armstrong, who did end up offering a partial no-move to Pietrangelo during their talks.
There were some signposts en route to the offseason that seemed to indicate the Blues were going to move on from Pietrangelo. Such as the trade and long-term deal for veteran defenseman Justin Faulk at the start of last season, as well as the fact that St. Louis even allowed Pietrangelo to get within sniffing distance of the open market.
But he didn't know he was gone -- until he was gone.
"It was never official until I signed here. That's usually what I tell people. I mean, it's the truth. You never really know what's going to happen until you put pen to paper. That's the way we went about our business," said Pietrangelo, who signed a seven-year, $61.6 million free-agent contract with Vegas. "We had some good discussions with St. Louis before free agency started. We couldn't work it out. We both decided to take a deep breath and see what happens. And then it ended up working out well for me here [in Vegas]."
In a sense, he's not over having to leave St. Louis, because he had so much time to prepare himself for the possibility that he might have to go.
"I don't know if there's really getting over it. Any time that it's leading up to free agency and you're going to be a free agent, I think your head's wrapped around the possibility. Again, we didn't know what was going to happen, honestly. We had no idea," Pietrangelo said.
What happened: The Blues signed Krug before Pietrangelo signed anywhere, signaling the end of his tenure in St. Louis.
Krug has two points in six games for the Blues, one of them coming on the power play, which is his calling card. Pietrangelo has three points in six games with Vegas. They're inexorably linked together this season, but Krug doesn't believe they should be.
"I think the players understand. They've played against me enough. And they've seen me, what I've done. My résumé speaks for itself around the league, so they know who I am and what I am," said Krug, via NHL.com. "To someone who doesn't know the game very much, they lose a big name, and, frankly, a great defenseman in Pietrangelo, and they see that they paid me a lot of money to come here to play. I just hope that comparison doesn't stick too long."
Krug has a big contract, signing for seven years and $45.5 million. Pietrangelo's contract is larger and took its toll on the Golden Knights' salary cap, as they shipped out veteran players Paul Stastny and Nate Schmidt in cap-saving moves while adding Pietrangelo at $8 million in average annual value.
"I don't really pay attention to the contract pressure kind of stuff. I came here to win. I came here to help this team win the Stanley Cup. That's the goal, right?" Pietrangelo said. "Anytime you sign a contract, people are going to put expectations on you. Some of them are realistic and some of them are unrealistic. You just have to go out and play. They signed me here for a reason -- to play in all situations. That's what I'm going to do. I can't pay attention to any outside noise."
The veteran captain joined a team that has been notable for its chemistry, tracking back to the "Golden Misfits" days as an expansion franchise three seasons ago. Pietrangelo said there wasn't any "new kid in school" awkwardness because they all share a common goal.
"[The team] is obviously fun. That was one thing that was apparent when I came to visit. They share a passion for winning [a Cup]. Everyone wants that goal. You can see it when Bill [Foley, Vegas owner] talks about how he wants to bring a Cup here. The team's come close. I've said it before: Now that I've had the opportunity to win one, I want to have an opportunity to win two. I think this organization gave me that opportunity. They share the same passion," he said. "Look, this organization knows how to win here. I just hope I can be the piece that helps them go to the finals and win. That thing that can push them over the top."
He might not be the new kid in school, but he's gotten an education. Coach Peter DeBoer has the Knights playing a different style than what Pietrangelo played in St. Louis.
"Anytime you come to a new team with a new language and new teammates, there's an adjustment period. I think he's adjusted faster than most players. A world-class player," DeBoer said. "The most impressive part for me has been [his] learning the new system and some of the new things that haven't been familiar to him during his time in St. Louis. That's contagious in your group."
Pietrangelo said there are some tactical differences between playing for Craig Berube in St. Louis and playing in Vegas.
"Our possession in the neutral zone is different. There's more possession. There's a little more north/south, chipping the puck and dumping pucks in than I'm used to, so that's different. I can grasp the new system pretty well. The hardest thing is when you're playing in the game, sometimes you revert back to your old habits without realizing that you're doing it. It's just a matter of repetitions. Getting used to it," he said.
It's been a matter of months, but Pietrangelo and his family are getting used to life in Las Vegas. He and his wife, Jayne, have triplets who were born in 2018, and a daughter they welcomed last September. They own a house in Summerlin, where most of the Golden Knights players live, and where Pietrangelo has been dealing with his most arduous off-ice assignment:
Potty training.
"Actually, it's gone surprisingly well. I just think it kinda clicks one day. One of them just starting going to the bathroom by himself randomly one day. There are good days and bad days. And a lot of washing clothes, let's just say that," he said.
And bribery, if we're being honest. "We all say we're not going to do it, but you have to do it," Pietrangelo said.
What has surprised him about life in Las Vegas? Besides, say, the snowfall that greeted him on the way to practice on Monday?
"It's still the snow," he said with a laugh. "I was not expecting snow when I signed here, I'll tell you that much."
He also wasn't expecting to have to face his former team with such frequency this season, in the NHL's realigned and truncated schedule for 2021.
"It's eight times this year. I better get over it fast," he said.
DeBoer said the Golden Knights know what this reunion means for Pietrangelo. "Everyone recognizes the importance of these games, especially when Alex is a former captain and Stanley Cup champion with that group. He grew up with that team."
The first battle will be a little awkward, as Pietrangelo faces friends with whom he still exchanges text messages. ("It's not a whole lot about hockey, to be honest. Most of it is just the usual stuff," he said.) But he knows when the butterflies will really flutter for him: When the Golden Knights visit that arena located a few miles away from Torey Krug's new house, with thousands of Blues fans packing the stands, whenever that can happen again.
"I'm sure the first time when I go back to St. Louis and the building is full, that's when it'll really hit me," Pietrangelo said. "But for now, I'm OK. I've wrapped my head around it."