The St. Louis Blues are preparing for the possibility that Alex Pietrangelo won't be signed before the start of training camp. "I've talked to the coaches about the 'what ifs' on a few different situations," Blues GM Doug Armstrong said. "We're not going to replace Alex in eight days. We're not going to replace him in eight years. Our goal is to get him signed and when we get him signed, he'll be here. But we do have to have the proper amount of players to run practices and to make sure that we're getting what we want out of those exhibition games. We want players getting ready to play, but we don't want to overburden them. With him out, is it going to increase the burden on other players or do we find a way to fill that from the outside?" Meanwhile, Armstrong has firmly stated that the next time Pietrangelo plays, it will be with the Blues.