I just don't think Pietrangelo is a realistic option for you guys, even if he does give himself only a $500,000 raise -- a 20-man roster just isn't enough to survive the inevitable effects of an 82-game season.

Exchanging Heinen for Kerfoot seems hardly worth the effort for us, and Petan for Johnsson (effectively) hardly seems worth the effort for you. I think you're locked into spending no more than $5 million on an RD and $1 million each on the two additional bodies you'll need.

They aren't locked into anything, or trades just wouldn't exist and players wouldn't have contracts they would have pay stubs. That being said Pietrangelo will most likely stay put. If he really does want to stay there, they will make it work. I don't see the team telling him to piss off so it is what it is.

"I want to stay a Blue, of course I do," Pietrangelo said in a season wrap up interview with reporters over Zoom. "(St. Louis) is the only place I've known in professional hockey. This organization means a lot to me."

For all those Leafs fans saying that Pietrangelo will want to return to Toronto since he "grew up there", just know that Pietrangelo himself doesn't see things that way.
"I grew up here, this is the only place I know professionally," he said about the city of St. Louis. "The family is here, I grew up here as a player and a person. I've got sister-in-laws, brother-in-laws, nieces and nephews (here)."

He's not a Toronto boy. He's a St. Louis boy.

Agree with everything you say except your first sentence. By "locked in," I mean this is the realistic figure that they can budget for those positions, whether by trade or free agency.

Overall this was really to see what it would take to get Pietrangelo, and I agree. It's not likely. He's reportedly looking for more like $8mill and up. Johnsson moving out was a salary dump, and the Kerfoot for Heinen was to get rid of some salary while adding a versatile guy with more size. I am not really a Nic Petan fan, but it was a fourth line set that needed filling and he's cheap.

I agree, the real play is likely for a $5mil defenceman, keeping Kerfoot and maybe Johnsson as the third-line with Robertson, then the fourth is Engvall - Goat - Spezza.

Probably someone more like Tanev on defence. Will be an interesting free-agent time this year tho!

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Overall this was really to see what it would take to get Pietrangelo, and I agree. It's not likely. He's reportedly looking for more like $8mill and up. Johnsson moving out was a salary dump, and the Kerfoot for Heinen was to get rid of some salary while adding a versatile guy with more size. I am not really a Nic Petan fan, but it was a fourth line set that needed filling and he's cheap.

I agree, the real play is likely for a $5mil defenceman, keeping Kerfoot and maybe Johnsson as the third-line with Robertson, then the fourth is Engvall - Goat - Spezza.

Probably someone more like Tanev on defence. Will be an interesting free-agent time this year tho!

What most people don't think about with Johnsson and Kerfoot is during a time when teams aren't making the money they should most of their cap is already paid. This means that their actual pay is much lower than their cap hit.