Toronto Maple Leafs: Pros and cons of pursuing Alex Pietrangelo

Con: Making the salary work under the cap

With an eight-year $64 million deal reportedly on the table, many suspect that it’s more than just salary that is making it tough to get the deal done.

Unless the Leafs trade for Pietrangelo’s rights, they can only offer him a maximum of seven years and would they be able to convince him to take less than $9 million?  Despite the flat salary cap, there will probably be teams willing to offer Pietrangelo more than $9 million but you have to think the right situation is important for the 30-year-old.

Toronto currently has $6,106,467 of projected cap space and with Tyson Barrie and Cody Ceci expected to walk, they will also be looking to get Travis Dermott and Ilya Mikheyev re-signed. If GM Kyle Dubas wants to make a serious push for Pietrangelo, he will have to trim some of the fat with their forwards.

Some point to William Nylander‘s ($6.96 million) cap hit as an easy target along with Andreas Johnsson ($3.4 million) and Alexander Kerfoot ($3.5 million). Of course, Mitch Marner‘s $10.893 million is one some members of Leafs Nation would like to move as well.

You would have to think that Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Morgan Rielly won’t be in any trade conversation. However, the luxury that Pietrangelo provides isn’t cheap and the Leafs will need to decide sooner or later whether that’s one that they want to hand a big deal to.

Considering the scrutiny that Dubas has been facing for the way this season ended, you can be sure he is going to be extremely cautious when he navigates this off-season.