Rumor: Alex Pietrangelo discussion #2- Will it happen?

[egd27]

Even if we go with this set up (Paul may change it) the two wings you want your best snipers which are Matthew and Nylander, obviously you want Tavares in front.

Who is in the center? On the point?

IF ......big IF that AP signs

		Tavares
AM or MM		Nylander		AM or MM
		AP

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Pucks goes through Marner......he has 3 shooters and a net front presence to work his magic with.

 

[Pinto]

Even if we go with this set up (Paul may change it) the two wings you want your best snipers which are Matthew and Nylander, obviously you want Tavares in front.

Who is in the center? On the point?

I’d put Piet on the point for his point shot. Having both Rielly and Marner on PP1 can make it a bit predictable at times because neither are a threat to shoot or are going to blast it by the goalie.

Net front: Tavares
Bumper: Nylander
Wings: Matthews, Marner
Defenseman: Pietrangelo

 

[A1LeafNation]

IF ......big IF that AP signs

		Tavares
AM or MM		Nylander		AM or MM
		AP

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

Pucks goes through Marner......he has 3 shooters and a net front presence to work his magic with.

Marner can't shoot his only role is play maker, which is why no one covers him on the PP and why its ineffective at times.

It worked in junior but all the top PKs have figured him out. He seemed better his first couple years when he was on PP2.

Marner is this decades Kaberle on the PP, tell me I'm wrong...

 

[egd27]

Marner can't shoot his only role is play maker, which is why no one covers him on the PP and why its ineffective at times.

It worked in junior but all the top PKs have figured him out. He seemed better his first couple years when he was on PP2.

Marner is this decades Kaberle on the PP, tell me I'm wrong...

You believe you need 5 shooters, I do not. That's fine

 

[A1LeafNation]

You believe you need 5 shooters, I do not. That's fine

I believe you need 4

-In front
-On the left
-On the right
-On the point

At any time on the PP, the puck could be there for an open shot, and you should be able to convert quickly.

 

[egd27]

I believe you need 4

-In front
-On the left
-On the right
-On the point

At any time on the PP, the puck could be there for an open shot, and you should be able to convert quickly.

Ok what does the 5th guy do?

 

[A1LeafNation]

Ok what does the 5th guy do?

QB

 

[cupcrazyman]

Would make more cap sense to target 2 second pairing dmen than blowing your cap space on Piertrangelo.The Leafs have too many 3rd pairing dmen on their roster right now.

 

[egd27]

QB

Right.....to me, that's Marner

 

[A1LeafNation]

Right.....to me, that's Marner

Fine if you have a left point shot. But with AP as your point shot, Rielly would be just as good as QB.

 

[egd27]

Fine if you have a left point shot. But with AP as your point shot, Rielly would be just as good as QB.

Ok.......whatever, replace Marner with Rielly on PP1, if that's what you think is best.

 

[Nineteen67]

I find Boston and Vegas to be poor choices for a 30 year old UFA to be honest. I love the Vegas brand of hockey and how they come at you in waves but I feel like they’re closer to the San Jose Sharks from a few years ago just before the wheels came off than a team with real long term Stanley Cup upside. They also have a ton of expensive cap hits and will be a struggle to get rid of in this climate.

Whomever goes to Boston I think there’s the real risk of a decline. Now that Krug is leaving, rumours that Rask will retire soon, the fact that Chara will retire soon and Bergeron and Marchand won’t be in their primes forever, how much time do they have left? With all the chatter about retooling, do you want to be showing up just as the party is wrapping up?

I think he’ll stay in the west not many viable options in the East. Philly, Rangers, Leafs, all meh.
Boy he’d be a great fit in Colorado or Vegas, if they could make the $$ work in their cap.

 

[ShaneFalco]

I say he re-signs and I'm ok with that
Love to have him, but there will be other options

 

[Suntouchable13]

I think he’ll stay in the west not many viable options in the East. Philly, Rangers, Leafs, all meh.
Boy he’d be a great fit in Colorado or Vegas, if they could make the $$ work in their cap.

So after all those lean years, and tanking for Matthews, Leafs are still meh going into 20-21? That’s concerning.

 

[Morbo]

I say he re-signs and I'm ok with that
Love to have him, but there will be other options

He'd be the best option, but yeah there are others if he goes elsewhere. the Leafs can make a pretty good deal for a dman with the ammo they have, and sign another from the FA market to fill the 4 slot (Holl is best suited for 3rd pairing duty against good teams).

 

[080]

I'm of the belief that the the ENTIRE Leafs defence DOES NOT need a major overhaul, but getting help for Rielly is a must.

Outside of Rielly...

Muzzin, Dermott, Holl, Sandin, Liljegren and Lehtonen is very good depth outside of the top pair in my honest opinion, especially because they can all move the puck.

Now if the Leafs can land a legit partner for Rielly AND get some asshole forwards in the bottom six that are pesky and can play D, they'll look much better on the defensive side of things.

And of course, your starting goalie needs to play like one as well.

No it's not. Muzzin is a solid #3 and Dermott looks like a good #5 with #4 potential but the rest of those guys are fringe NHL players. How can you even say Lehtonen is good depth when he's never played an NHL game? How can two AHL players who got destroyed when we called them up be considered 'good depth?' Sorry but this is nonsense.

 

[Martin Skoula]

No it's not. Muzzin is a solid #3 and Dermott looks like a good #5 with #4 potential but the rest of those guys are fringe NHL players. How can you even say Lehtonen is good depth when he's never played an NHL game? How can two AHL players who got destroyed when we called them up be considered 'good depth?' Sorry but this is nonsense.

What does "good depth" look like? Is it dumpster diving for Schenn, Shattenkirk, and Bogosian? Just about every team's #5-8 depth is made up of AHL tweeners or rookies/sophmores, I don't see how All-Star caliber #1D in the AHL and All-Star caliber #1D in the KHL is a big downgrade on a sheltered bottom pair. If it makes you feel better, I'm sure Gravel or whatever other physical bottom pair tweeners we pick up for minimum wage will give the others some competition in camp.

 

[080]

What does "good depth" look like? Is it dumpster diving for Schenn, Shattenkirk, and Bogosian? Just about every team's #5-8 depth is made up of AHL tweeners or rookies/sophmores, I don't see how All-Star caliber #1D in the AHL and All-Star caliber #1D in the KHL is a big downgrade on a sheltered bottom pair. If it makes you feel better, I'm sure Gravel or whatever other physical bottom pair tweeners we pick up for minimum wage will give the others some competition in camp.

Shattenkirk is not dumpster diving and Bogosian was a top pick in his draft for a reason -- he never met expectations but has always been a decent defenseman in this league. Same goes for Schenn.

All three of those guys are head-and-shoulders above Holl, Liljegren, Lehtonen, and Sandin.

There is no possible defensible stance that we have good depth on defense. Teams that have good depth can lose a top four defenseman and keep trudging along until he's back. If we lost Muzzin (or when we lost him) our defense was a f***ing joke. Same thing when we lost Rielly.

Dermott is a 5 and Holl is a 5/6 playing in the 4 spot. And we don't even have anyone playing in the other 1/2 spot with Rielly. If Rielly goes down, our #2 defenseman becomes Justin Holl.

 

[Nineteen67]

So after all those lean years, and tanking for Matthews, Leafs are still meh going into 20-21? That’s concerning.

I don’t know if the Leafs are a good fit considering all the other holes, high AAV contracts, and IFs they have now.
Id be building to win in one of Matthews final two years, so does Pietrangelo fit in that window? If so, at what cost?

 

[TML Dynasty]

If he does make it to free agency, I hope he makes his decision quickly. It’d be terrible to wait for him and see other great options start signing with teams. That negotiation period really needs to come back!!

 

[Stephen]

I think he’ll stay in the west not many viable options in the East. Philly, Rangers, Leafs, all meh.
Boy he’d be a great fit in Colorado or Vegas, if they could make the $$ work in their cap.

Inwouldnt characterize us with Petro as a meh team. We would climb the charts pretty quickly with that revamped defense.

 

[egd27]

I don't see how All-Star caliber #1D in the AHL and All-Star caliber #1D in the KHL is a big downgrade on a sheltered bottom pair.

Weren't Zaitsev and Ozhiganov pretty highly rated KHL defensemen?

 

[stickty111]

So after all those lean years, and tanking for Matthews, Leafs are still meh going into 20-21? That’s concerning.

Nah Leafs are a good team that just haven't taken the next step. A meh team doesn't make the playoffs 4 years in a row.
Your statement applies to the Oilers.

 

[Martin Skoula]

Weren't Zaitsev and Ozhiganov pretty highly rated KHL defensemen?

Zaitsev would be fine as bottom-4 depth if he hadn't been signed to a terrible contract for one season of good, not great play. I don't think anyone would object to keeping him if he was on a reasonable contract and not expected to be the #2.

Shattenkirk is not dumpster diving and Bogosian was a top pick in his draft for a reason -- he never met expectations but has always been a decent defenseman in this league. Same goes for Schenn.

All three of those guys are head-and-shoulders above Holl, Liljegren, Lehtonen, and Sandin.

There is no possible defensible stance that we have good depth on defense. Teams that have good depth can lose a top four defenseman and keep trudging along until he's back. If we lost Muzzin (or when we lost him) our defense was a f***ing joke. Same thing when we lost Rielly.

Dermott is a 5 and Holl is a 5/6 playing in the 4 spot. And we don't even have anyone playing in the other 1/2 spot with Rielly. If Rielly goes down, our #2 defenseman becomes Justin Holl.

Schenn's career was in the dumpster, he was literally an AHL tweener by the time Tampa got him. 35 AHL games since 2018/19 vs 51 NHL games for 3 teams. Shattenkirk got paid not to play for NYR any longer. Bogosian is an injury riddled mess that had a decent streak of ~20 games for TBL. Are you really going to try to argue that their draft position over a DECADE ago really matters when we're talking about who these guys are in 2020?

Holl alone played more minutes against top competition this season than those 3 have played COMBINED against top competition in the last 2 years.

Both Muzzin and Rielly were injured at the same time for stretches this season. How does Tampa's D look with Hedman and McDonagh injured? Cernak-Sergachev followed by a whole bunch of barely NHL capable tweeners.

If you think Luke Schenn and Bogosian are "good depth", we can probably get both of them for a mil each in FA. Defense fixed, right?

 

[Menzinger]

Colton Parayko or Brett Pesce.

Both guys that fit into the age bracket of this team, and can likely be added without having to completely decimate depth. Even in 2 years when both Parayko and Rielly would be up for new deals, you can probably bring both back if Nylander is on his way out.

The $2.5m for Parayko, or $4m savings on a guy like Pesce are going to be instrumental in being able to maintain the depth required so that if somebody gets hurt, you're not completely screwed.

Even if you have to trade Nylander to do get a guy like Parayko, honestly, so be it. A winger is easier to find/replace than a defenceman the quality of Colton Parayko. Auston Matthews has been proven to score when placed on a line with Kapanen & Johnsson. You might already have an ideal winger or two for him in the form of Mikheyev, Johnsson or Robertson. Maybe you can get a Sammy Blais, Zach Sanford, or Jordan Kyrou out of St. Louis recognizing that Nylander has twice the term remaining that Parayko does. Maybe you trade Johnsson and get a guy like Rakell out of Anaheim.

The problem with this is these guys likely aren't on the trade market.

Just because the Leafs would be willing to offload a core piece in such a deal doesnt mean other teams will be willing to sell.