So then why can't st. Louis keep him?

At his age he’s not Doing a bridge deal

A bridge deal to less $$?

Why would an established #1 D man take a bridge deal? Even if he did take a short term deal he could easily get more than 7M... Id argue that he would get even more $$$ on a short term deal than a long term one since teams wouldnt be risking a decline in his late 30s. Some real wishful thinking here

A bridge deal is a deal that expires in RFA, just saying

If he takes a bridge deal it’ll be in Saint Louis

I believe he is thinking short term deal due tonthe flat cap. I don't think he is wrong.

Too many teams are gonna be up against it.

If he signs in Toronto, the 3rd line looks more like a 4th line and the 4th line is the Marlies first line. See above. Winnipeg maybe in slightly better shape to compete, but they have no money left to fill a roster out. Vancouver will cap themselves out next year. Just looking at poosible fits.

I will not disagree he is worth $8-9 million per, but the money isn't there, outside of three teams, to support a larger deal.

People: the flat cap is going to have an effect on this UFA class. They will kot get the money they would have if the cap went up $2 million.

I say it's wishful thinking of Pietrangelo thinks ge is gettong his payday from a contender. If he wants what he is worth, I will personally throw up a welcome sign on the 417 saying "Welcome to Ottawa Alex!"

Bridge deal will cost more than a long term deal. Probably 14M.

Allegedly if Petro agreed to take a short term and cheap "bridge deal" in order to play for a contender, STL is the place he'd stay in.

At least they are a contender.

TOR is in one of the worst cap situations. If they can make changes to fit him in at 7M AAV then im sure other contenders can make changes and fit him in short term while paying him more than 7M.

Start playing around with some teams. Yes, Toronto is a hot mess. But I'd say at.least another 20 organizations could not bring in Alex withwatering down the team somewhere to the point of being non-competitive.

I stand by my position 100%

I won't comment on Pietrangelo, because it's not going to happen and I don't care about it. What I want to know is why Lizotte is now the 3C saviour. He's 22, really small and had 23 points last year. Why in earth would TO move two players who are much further along in their development for a 5'7" player?

TO is not in one of the worst cap situations. They have zero bad contracts. Stars getting star money is never a problem. It's old guys making too much or secondary players making too much that kills a teams cap. There is literally zero players on the team that would be hard to move due to their salary. (Ceci not withstanding but that doesn't matter now)

Why is TO a hot mess? Because they don't have defenceman who shoot right handed? If that's all you have then you are mistaken. They have no bad contracts. They have depth all over the place. This current season they had a terrible backup and more impactful injuries than everyone other than Pittsburgh. TO is in a fine position and they don't need Pietrangelo. He will want term and cost way too much.b

TOR has to water down their team to fit him too... look at that bottom 6. Plus they would have to move out even more cap if they wanted to make a competitive offer for him. Many teams could make changes just like this TOR AGM to move out cap and could make a much better offer for him. COL for example could offer him 10M on a 1 year deal, and he probably has a better chance at winning there too. I just dont see any scenario where 2x7 would be the winning bid on Pietrangelo. There will 100% be better offers

Not enough teams to comepete to drive that price. Avs could do it sure. Will they🤷‍♂️

Like I said, play with other teams..... Toronto if chasing the Golden Goose isn't alone. Not by a long shot.

I imagine the player would determine which teams he would want to field offers from. I don't at all support Pietrangelo coming to TO but it is his home town. If he leaves St Louis, going home makes a lot of sense. As others have mentioned the flat cap will impact FA's this summer. In a big way.

I still don't see it happening but to say any one can offer him more only works in video games. The comfort of the player is a huge factor. Otherwise JT would be making 12 million a year in San Jose.b

but the stars are making more than star money. overpaying star players is arguably worse than having star players on good contracts and having bad contracts, at least you can move out bad contracts and only be left with star players on good deals. TOR is stuck overpaying their stars.

If TOR paid Matthews 10M, Marner 9M, and Nylander 6.5M, they would have an extra 4M to work with over the next 4+ years. Not including Tavares since that was a UFA signing and needed to be an overpay. TOR cant add a good D man unless they ruin their depth at another position, they are basically playing hot potato to determine which position will have no depth. Last season it was RD, in this AGM scenario its the bottom 6.

Doesn't the fact that Toronto is one of the half-dozen-or-fewer teams that don't need the coveted "compliance buyout" refute the contention that the Maple Leafs are a "hot mess"? Whatever happened to evidence and logic?

I've watched Blake Lizotte in every game he's played in the NHL. He's a high-energy, 100%-effort kid. He'd be a good #3C on the Maple Leafs precisely because the nos. 1 and 2 are Matthews and Tavares. He won't make anyone forget Nazem Kadri, the previous occupant of that slot. Which is why my opinion of Marco Rossi is an outlier -- I think Rossi's a more talented Tyler Johnson, just like Blake Lizotte is a faster Tyler Johnson.

I'm going to bed now, so I can read all the flaming responses to this post tomorrow when I get up.

I think many teams will be in on him. There will be tons of interest in a #1 D man who just captained his team to a cup. No way there isnt a better offer than 2x7

Toronto has good defenceman. They don't have a top end right handed defenceman but they have two top pair left handed guys and really just need one of Dermott or Lehtonen to be good with Rielly. And then they have a very good top 4 and then Sandin and one of the aforementioned guys with him. The Leafs defence is fine and they have no bad contracts.

As for the star players, do you think TO would have any trouble trading any of them? None, they would all bring back major hauls. There isn't 1 contract that wouldn't be easy to move.

not needing a CBO doesnt mean they arent in a bad cap position. like I explained in another comment, its probably worse to overpay stars and have no cap dumps than to have stars on good contracts with cap dumps. At least the team with the stars on good contracts can send assets to get rid of their cap dumps. TOR is stuck overpaying their stars unless they make a huge trade with a core player.

Team A: 3 superstar players paid an average of 9M each + 1 bad contract who is paid 6M. 9x3+6 = 33M total
Team B: 3 superstar players paid an average of 11M each + 0 bad contracts. 11x3 = 33M total

Team A can trade picks/prospects to remove the bad contract and will still be left with 3 superstars and some cap space to work with. Team B cannot move out any significant cap without trading a significant player

I agree they have plenty of good LD, but their RD is straight up bad.

Teams would definitely be interested in trading for top players but they wont give you the same quality of player on a cheaper contract. You'd have to trade them for futures, or downgrade in skill and get a lower cap hit player in return, or a combination of both. Not that the Leafs would even want to do that anyway

This is a fair point. If Pietrangelo actually wants to play for TOR and is willing to sacrifice $ to do that then sure, but I can guarantee you that he will get offered more that 7M AAV elsewhere.

I've been saying this sort of thing since the shutdown of these leagues. People on capfriendly have their blinders on regarding COVID-19.

Interestingly, I was listening to an interview about why the NHL wants to complete this season and the thing most people don't know is that in some of the regional deals the NHL signed with networks stipulates that said team must play a minimum of 70 games (every deal is different and some go as high as 75 games) and so when we hear about the NHL returning...it's not just about the return as much as it is about losing possibly more $$$ than people realize.


I absolutely think UFAs will be affected by COVID-19 in that they will not get as much money as pre-COVID-19.