The St.Louis Blues just recently signed defensemen Marco Scandella to a contract extension, but what does that mean for Alex Pietrangelo, and possibly the Toronto Maple Leafs?
On Thursday afternoon the St.Louis Blues signed defensemen Marco Scandella to a contract extension during the NHL seasons pause and it kind of ties in with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
The question is with the Blues signing Scandella and Justin Faulk to contract extensions what does this mean for Pietrangelo?
Is his time in St.Louis over after the 2019-20 playoffs? Could he sign somewhere else in free agency? Possibly the Toronto Maple Leafs?
Blues Extend Scandella
Thursday afternoon the St.Louis Blues extending defensemen Marco Scandella to a new contract. The contract for the Blues defensemen is 4 years x $3.275M. (Stats from CapFriendly.com)
Scandella who was traded to St.Louis from Montreal for a 2020 second round pick and a 2021 conditional fourth round pick back on February 18th just assured himself as a member of the Blues for the next four seasons.
This is too much money for a third-pairing player, and most likely signals the end of Alex Pietrangelo’s career in St. Louis.
The St.Louis Blues also extended defensemen Justin Faulk to a new contract worth 7 years x $6.5M back before the season started and now re-signing Marco Scandella to that 4 year x $3.275M contract the question is, where is the money to re-sign Alex Pietrangelo?
The St.Louis Blues currently have five defensemen on their team locked up for at least next season. Vince Dunn and captain Alex Pietrangelo have yet to agree on an extension. In my eyes I see them re-signing Dunn to a cheap bridge deal and letting Pietrangelo walk. (Stats from CapFriendly.com)
The money Alex Pietrangelo can get in the open market is ridiculous, and its defiantly in the $8M plus range.
Like I said I can totally see the Blues let Pietrangelo walk, they just won the cup with him last year and they kept him through the trade deadline because they obviously think they can repeat as champions.
Although when the offseason hits they are going to have to let him walk and sign somewhere else, he is currently 30 years old and I don’t see them being able to afford him when they already have five defensemen locked up.
Could the Maple Leafs Sign Pietrangelo?
Now the juicy stuff, can the Toronto Maple Leafs sign Alex Pietrangelo in the offseason? It would be difficult. It is possible but just like the Blues situation they are going to have to shed some cap to sign him.
To make signing Pietrangleo a possibility, the Toronto Maple Leafs would have to move Travis Dermott, Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson to free up cap space. Maybe Kerfoot as well.
They would also have to let both Cody Ceci and Tyson Barrie walk in free-agency.
The Leafs are set up to absorb this kind of roster exodus if it was necessary. They recently signed Alex Barabanov, and have many solid options for the bottom six.
They even have some players down in the Toronto Marlies that could play at the NHL level in the bottom six like Kenny Agostino, Yegor Korshkov, and Kalle Kossila, and obviously we’ve seen Adam Brooks and Pontus Aberg up this season that could play in the bottom six but they are both up for contract at the end of this season.
My Percentage That Pietrangelo Will Sign in Toronto
Final thoughts about if Alex Pietrangelo will end up signing in Toronto during the 2020 offseason and the percentage that I think he’ll come to Toronto is… 50%.
It seems unlikely, but not impossible. I can see him coming to the Toronto Maple Leafs but things will have to happen in order for that, and I can also see the Maple Leafs not wanting to lose too much in order to sign him.