- Sportsnet pense qu'Alex Pietrangelo va débarquer à Toronto...
- Et que William Nylander sera ÉCHANGÉ...pour libérer de la MASSE.
- La CHANCE de Marc Bergevin...
- D'amener le Suédois à Montréal...
- Surtout que Max Domi FIT TELLEMENT à Toronto...
- Tu rajoutes Cale Fleury et ton 16e choix au total...
- Et Dubas n'hésitera pas à envoyer Nylander chez l'ennemi du Québec.
- À suivre...
1. The question must be asked (and not only because Toronto is the centre of the hockey universe): Does Alex Pietrangelo become a Maple Leaf?
I get it.
It’s almost comical that any time the top UFA happens to originate from the Greater Toronto Area, hockey writers pen speculative pieces that he might be coming home.
Understood, Pietrangelo prefers to re-sign in St. Louis, the city that drafted him 12 years ago, and remain close to his wife’s family and take a bunch more runs with the core he won a Cup.
But two things happened this week that make a Pietrangelo signing a little more likely in these parts.
For one, Kyle Dubas — feeling direct heat for the first summer in his tenure — began clearing salary-cap space, trading away tangible asset Kasperi Kapanen for futures and wiggle room. The Leafs GM noted afterward that the Kapanen deal “shows us that our players have good value around the league” and did not rule out dealing more players off his roster.
For two, Vladimir Tarasenko’s future in this game has become a giant question mark. Undergoing a third surgery on his shoulder, the explosive winger won’t even been re-evaluated for another five months.
The uncertainty surrounding Tarasenko should give Blues GM Doug Armstrong pause at another major investment on the blue line, where he’s already deep and must re-sign RFA Vince Dunn — at 23, seven years younger than Pietrangelo — for a raise.
Once Dunn is taken care of, does Armstrong not use his available cap room to find some scoring to boost a ho-hum offence that ranked 14th in the regular season and 14th in the post-season?
Armstrong’s words say he’d like Pietrangelo to stay put. His actions have him trading for both Justin Faulk and Marco Scandella during Petro’s contract year and signing each to an extension. Maybe that’s just smart insurance. Maybe it’s a sign.
The bet here is that the Blues do make an offer, but it’ll be lower than the one Pietrangelo could get on the open market. Maybe he takes less to stay where he likes. Hey, Steven Stamkos did.
But if Pietrangelo wants to maximize his next deal, increasingly it feels like that would be elsewhere.
Dubas likes big-game hunting (see: Tavares, John) and bold gambits (the Nazem Kadri trade).
In a pandemic that might handcuff other GMs, Dubas is backed by cash-rich MLSE and has always been able to structure player-friendly deals that might give him an edge.
Toronto’s biggest need is right-shot defenceman, and Pietrangelo is miles ahead of the UFA field in this category.
Yes, this would mean clearing even more cap space — and, perhaps, big chip William Nylander — and giving a 30-year-old leader more term than makes sense.
But Dubas can’t afford to think small. He has to at least explore the idea.