"He wants to be the guy that everyone leans on," Blues defenseman Joel Edmundson said of Pietrangelo. "He's the leader of the team and he wants to show that on and off the ice. Even in practice, he's one of the hardest-working guys. He puts in his time off the ice. He's had a great start to the year so far. It just shows he's a character guy, he's a great guy in the dressing room. When he goes out there, he does what he does and the rest of the team follows in his footsteps."
Voting totals (points awarded on a 5-4-3-2-1 bases):Alex Pietrangelo, St. Louis Blues, 73 points (nine first-place votes); Erik Karlsson, Ottawa Senators, 61 points (six first-place votes); Victor Hedman, Tampa Bay Lightning, 50 points (two first-place votes); Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings, 33 points (one first-place vote); John Klingberg, Dallas Stars, 14 points; John Carlson, Washington Capitals, 8 points; Shayne Gostisbehere, Philadelphia Flyers, 6 points; Kevin Shattenkirk, New York Rangers, 6 points; Zach Werenski, Columbus Blue Jackets, 6 points; Roman Josi, Nashville Predators, 5 points; Ryan Suter, Minnesota Wild, 3 points; Seth Jones, Columbus Blue Jackets, 2 points; Ivan Provorov, Philadelphia Flyers, 2 points; Morgan Rielly, Toronto Maple Leafs, 1 point