The Toronto Maple Leafs may or may not be done for the season.
At this point, the Toronto Maple Leafs season is “on pause” and no one really knows what that means.
But whether or not the current NHL season resumes in time to award a Stanley Cup, at some point the NHL will resume, and there will be an off-season.
So what should the Leafs priority be during this off-season, whether we’re in it now or not?
That’s easy.
The Toronto Maple Leafs #1 Off-Season Priority
Sign Unrestricted Free-Agent Alex Pietrangelo. Some rumours just never go away, and where there’s smoke, there’s fire.
The 30 year old Pietrangelo is (along with Ryan Ellis, Dougie Hamilton, Morgan Rielly, Victor Hedman and Roman Josi) one of the NHL’s best defensemen.
In fact, he is probably the best in the NHL at this point in time, and he will most likely win the Norris Trophy this year (and it’s overdue).
Pietrangelo is expensive and he’s past 30.
Doesn’t matter. He is the missing ingredient the Toronto Maple Leafs need. He’s an elite player, and he’s right handed, he is a 6’4, and he’s a Stanley Cup winner.
As a future hall of fame player, who is still elite at 30, Pietrangelo will most likely age gracefully since his game isn’t built purely on speed or physicality.
Not to say that those aren’t facets of his game, just that they aren’t his main attributes. Pietrangelo’s main attribute is his intelligence. Much like John Tavares, I expect he will age better than most players because as his skill declines, his mind will make up for it.
Look at Mark Giordano, who won the Norris at age 36. That almost never happens, because most players can’t even play in the NHL at that age. He’s not as purely talented as he once was, but since he almost never makes bad decisions, he has adapted his game to make up for his physical decline.
There is no reason that Pietrangelo can’t do the same. This year he is a 53-55% player across the board, and has followed up winning the Stanley Cup with his best career season. (Naturalstattrick.com).
As an aging player who will still command as much as $9 or $10 million per season, the Leafs won’t have much competition for his services. If they can be creative, I think they can easily sway him to their side.
Who wouldn’t want to play on this team? Especially in their home town? (AP is from King City, about 30 or 40 minutes from downtown Toronto).
Now could the Toronto Maple Leafs afford him?
Sure, why not.
The Leafs clearly believe in a studs and duds cap approach, and it’s 100% backed up by the math (i.e mid-range players aren’t better than league minimum players by any degree that warrants paying them).
The Leafs could clear out almost nine-million from trading Andreas Johnsson, Kasperi Kapanen, and Justin Holl.
Assuming the cap is still going to go up, the Leafs could easily afford to sign Pietrangelo just by doubling down on what they have already done with the rest of their roster.
A team build around Matthews, Tavaers, Marner, Nylander, Rielly, Muzzin, Pietrangelo and Andersen would be something to behold.
With Liljegren, Engvall, Kerfoot, Campbell, Sandin, Hyman also already signed, the Leafs would need just six cheap(ish) players to fill out their roster.
Given Dubas undeniable talent for finding value players at the league minimum, this should be no problem.
Signing Alex Pietrangelo should be the Toronto Maple Leafs top off-season priority.