Confirmed with Link: Torey Krug (7 years @ $6.5m)

[hockeywiz542]

Why the Leafs landed on T.J. Brodie – and abandoned pursuit of Alex Pietrangelo – The Athletic

GM Kyle Dubas checked in with Alex Pietrangelo’s camp early on Friday to see what it would take to land the St. Louis Blues captain. Dubas talked through various scenarios with his agent, Don Meehan, including what the Leafs could and could not afford.

The Leafs knew Pietrangelo was a long shot coming in, however. And they were prepared to lean into their backup plan: They signed T.J. Brodie to a four-year, $20 million deal later in the day.

In the end, Pietrangelo’s ask was simply too much for Toronto. And it was clear the Leafs were not his first choice, with Vegas the clear front-runner, even after some of Toronto’s top players tried to talk him into coming home.

Unlike Wayne Simmonds, who signed with the Leafs earlier in the day, Pietrangelo wasn’t going to take less to be in Toronto.

“Alex won’t be signing anywhere at a discount,” one source close to the player told The Athletic on Friday evening.

While the decision might read as $5 million over a shorter term for Brodie versus $9 million for Pietrangelo for seven years, that wasn’t really the call. The key difference is Brodie was keen on joining the Leafs – after they pursued him in a failed Nazem Kadri trade in the summer of 2019 – and a sure thing.

Trying to land Pietrangelo would have been a huge gamble – and the Leafs would have had to wait while he visited other suitors first. It also would have meant major surgery for their roster, given the enormous cap hit.

 

[Prosaic]

Question for everyone;

Would you rather have:

A) Justin Faulk and Torey Krug (13M combined hit, 6.5M each)

B) Alex Pietrangelo and Vince Dunn (13M, 9M for AP, 4M for VD)

 

[TheDizee]

ya seems to me that he likes to play the family guy/hometown discount gig but in reality he is chasing the paper just like most others would. his agents getting dunked on by army is great, i dont feel sorry for him one bit

what did lance berkman say again "ITS ALWAYS ABOUT THE MONEY". thats fine alex, just dont try to play the hometown family guy part. just say i wanna take care of my family for life and im chasing every penny.

 

[hockeywiz542]

 

[TheDizee]

Question for everyone;

Would you rather have:

A) Justin Faulk and Torey Krug (13M combined hit, 6.5M each)

B) Alex Pietrangelo and Vince Dunn (13M, 9M for AP, 4M for VD)

A because dunn is the worst dman i have seen play the blue note from a D end perspective in a long time. he reminds me of the D version of Chris Stewart/Brad Boyes.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

There is no way Seattle swallows that poison pill of a contract when they can just take a solid 3rd liner from us. That contract will still have 6 years on it past the expansion, and the only way I'm touching that if I'm Seattle is literally multiple 1st round picks.

The hyperbole lives loudly within you.

Seattle may not be interested in Faulk, but you make it sound like he’s not an NHL player. He’s arguably overpaid a bit, but if you’re not against the Cap that’s less of an issue. From Seattle’s point of view, they aren’t just trying to take every guy with the best contract. They have to build a roster out of this, including defense. It’s harder to get Top 4 defenders in an expansion draft where most teams will protect their 3 best guys. And they also have to get to the salary cap floor.

I highly doubt Armstrong is banking on Faulk being drafted. Frankly, I think he’ll protect him, Parayko and Krug. But if he dies get exposed, Faulk would certainly be a strong consideration for Seattle WITH the current contract.

 

[Stupendous Yappi]

I wonder if the abstract has finally become the concrete for Alex now. I hope he gets what he is looking for.

 

[Celtic Note]

Those saying we aren't a contender with Krug, let me ask you this: was Boston a contender with Krug? Was Boston's defense in 2019 not good enough?

Chara McAvoy
Krug Carlo
Moore Clifton

Obviously we aren't as good as we were last year, but this team will still be good.

Well McAvoy is a number 1 defender and we don’t have one of those at the moment, so I don’t think we compare to them.

 

[Celtic Note]

Yes. And if Army wasn't willing to go full No Movement or much past 8 million which is what things seem to be pointing at, Army set a hardline stance that was lower then what he could and should have offered.

In a negotiation both sides have to give and meet somewhere in the middle. Based on Armstrong’s comments, the Blues moved closer to the middle. It hasn’t been enough. But the same can be said of the Petro camp. Neither moved close enough.

 

[mk80]

Based on reports and discussion. I’m not upset about signing Krug, as much as I am that it does seem like we are losing Petro over easy concessions to make in signing bonuses and an NMC.

Instead of one contract unable to be moved in the $8.25-8.5M range, we have two albatross contracts in the $13M neighborhood.

Again reports I’ve seen indicate that Armstrong and Petro’s side were in agreement with dollar amounts and term at least towards the end of negotiations. But the signing bonuses and NMC were the sticking points, and while I do understand the POV of not giving those out freely to everyone. If that’s all it takes to lockup your elite defenseman along with a reasonable dollar amount in the $8.25 range, that should be a very easy trigger to pull.

 

[Vladys Gumption]

The hyperbole lives loudly within you.

Seattle may not be interested in Faulk, but you make it sound like he’s not an NHL player. He’s arguably overpaid a bit, but if you’re not against the Cap that’s less of an issue. From Seattle’s point of view, they aren’t just trying to take every guy with the best contract. They have to build a roster out of this, including defense. It’s harder to get Top 4 defenders in an expansion draft where most teams will protect their 3 best guys. And they also have to get to the salary cap floor.

I highly doubt Armstrong is banking on Faulk being drafted. Frankly, I think he’ll protect him, Parayko and Krug. But if he dies get exposed, Faulk would certainly be a strong consideration for Seattle WITH the current contract.

I mean based on last year’s play he’s overpaid by a lot. I expect him to be better this year. I think there were a lot of factors that didn’t help him last year, not the least of which was not being used in the role he’s best suited to. But even then he’s got a lot of improvement to do to come even close to being worth that contract.

 

[mike1320]

He declined their latest offer and decided to test free agency but Armstrong is still 100% at fault, eh?

 

[fcpremix88]

In a vacuum: the Krug contract is fine. Faulk's extension is meh. Schenn's extension is meh. Scandella's extension is meh.

The problem is that none of this was in a vacuum. Armstrong did not prioritize the franchise player: the captain of the franchise's first Cup. That's why I'm upset/disappointed/frustrated. It's the principle.

If Roman Josi and Nashville can agree to an 8 year deal, then this is on Armstrong. If he makes a trade and brings in Pietrangelo, then I'll eat all my words and marvel at his brilliance. But I'm just not seeing it.

 

[DeuceNine]

Name a better way to spend 9 million per season to get this team another cup.

Replacing Tarasenko will be a priority, and I have zero doubt that Army is thinking about having to do that six months from now.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

I honestly feel gutted for Pietrangelo Armstrong completely f***ed him over

Right. How mean of DA to offer him richest contract in franchise history that would have made him like 5th highest paid D in league.

 

[Bye Bye Blueston]

Oh I’m sorry! I didn’t realize that the Blues had David Pastrbak and Brad Marchand. How silly of me!

What a purposefully obtuse, ignoramus thing to say.

Please. We have Schenn, Schwartz, Perron, ROR. But that isn't point. You're saying he isn't good enough to play top 4 for a contender but that is obviously wrong on its face. But you know that. You're just whining bc your favorite player decided to leave.

 

[Stealth JD]

“Alex wasn’t interested in one thing over the other. He wanted everything the way he wanted it.” Per source close to Alex, in JR Athletic article.

That speaks volumes. Let’s stop asserting that DA screwed this up - it seems like Petro is the one that refused to compromise.

If Pietrangelo wanted (/wants) to be here, it would happen. He seems to be surprised to have found out the hard way that Armstrong doesn't play games and his BAFO means just that. It shouldn't come as a surprise after the very-public GM-rankings in which agents said he was one of the most difficult GMs to take advantage of. Armstrong has a line in the sand, states up front what he's willing to do and simply does not budge or acquiesce to public-perception or agent-demands. There's a certain level of admiration owed to Armstrong for working with ownership and his staff to determine what that figure is, and having the ability to leave emotions and ego out of the final equation. Newport and Pietrangelo should have known well before Thursday night at midnight that Armstrong and the Blues don't play around. If there is no longer room to fit him into the picture, that's on the player not on the Team. Krug, Schenn, Faulk, Perron and others showed they wanted to be in St. Louis. Petro, likely at the urging of Newport, wanted something more than to sign an agreeable contract with St. Louis. It goes to show than no one person is greater than the team.

Maybe he'll (Pietrangelo) will have a change of heart...but you can bet Armstrong certainly won't. It's just a matter of whether the offer is still on the table to be accpeted.

 

[joe galiba]

Which posters are these?

i didn’t say posters
i said Blues fans
i don’t just read here, i read other sites, talk to other Blues fans
not every one thinks the money for the term was worth it

 

[hockeywiz542]

 

[EastonBlues22]

The problem is that we, and DA, won’t know if Petro overplayed his hand until we see what contract he ends up with. I do think DA should have given Petro’s camp a heads up that if they don’t agree to a contract by x time, then the Blues would be looking elsewhere...but these are the risks both sides take when a player opts to hit FA; the player is under no obligation to provide the same courtesy to their previous team, and the player controls his own destiny. DA decided that he would control is own destiny, too, and not be beholden to Petro’s decision and timeline, which could have precluded DA from obtaining players that he otherwise could have obtained.

It is to the advantage of both sides to communicate this sort of thing. The player wants to make sure every party has made their final offer before making his choice, which means keeping everyone at least somewhat in the loop as to what's going on, and it benefits the team to let the player know if they have a time limit on the offer or are chasing other options, because that puts a little pressure on the player and gives them a chance to actually take your offer before you move on.

Pietrangelo being "caught unaware" should never happen, and it smacks of Armstrong and Pietrangelo's camp not doing their jobs. Not sure if that's because of their previous history or what, but it sure feels like things got personal here and it threw a wrench in the works.

 

[mike1320]

If Pietrangelo wanted (/wants) to be here, it would happen. He seems to be surprised to have found out the hard way that Armstrong doesn't play games and his BAFO means just that. It shouldn't come as a surprise after the very-public GM-rankings in which agents said he was one of the most difficult GMs to take advantage of. Armstrong has a line in the sand, states up front what he's willing to do and simply does not budge or acquiesce to public-perception or agent-demands. There's a certain level of admiration owed to Armstrong for working with ownership and his staff to determine what that figure is, and having the ability to leave emotions and ego out of the final equation. Newport and Pietrangelo should have known well before Thursday night at midnight that Armstrong and the Blues don't play around. If there is no longer room to fit him into the picture, that's on the player not on the Team. Krug, Schenn, Faulk, Perron and others showed they wanted to be in St. Louis. Petro, likely at the urging of Newport, wanted something more than to sign an agreeable contract with St. Louis. It goes to show than no one person is greater than the team.

Maybe he'll (Pietrangelo) will have a change of heart...but you can bet Armstrong certainly won't. It's just a matter of whether the offer is still on the table to be accpeted.

This is good stuff. Thanks

 

[Falco Lombardi]

Please. We have Schenn, Schwartz, Perron, ROR. But that isn't point. You're saying he isn't good enough to play top 4 for a contender but that is obviously wrong on its face. But you know that. You're just whining bc your favorite player decided to leave.

Couple things.

1. Petro isn’t my favorite player (or even in the top 5 probably)
2. He’s good enough to be the 4 in a heavily insulated role. We can’t do that because of the other liabilities we already had.
3. While I love the names you listed, Schwartz and Schenn and Perron aren’t the caliper of the two I named (you may notice I didn’t mention Bergeron because we have a guy equal to him)

If Faulk was gone and Petro were here? Yeah Krug would be part of a contender because we could hide him and let him be a 4th forward.

This d core as constructed isn’t a contending core.

 

[EastonBlues22]

I'm noy saying he "wanted" to sign with the Blues necessarily, he just assumed that there would be more options than there currently are. And he thought someone might offer $9 million per year. He probably assumed the Blues would still be an option even if those offers didn't materialize. In the end, he may not get any offers that are significantly better than the Blues offer and he'll be stuck going to a team that wasn't even on his radar before.

Clearly Army drew a line in the sand and wasn't going to be pushed beyond that line. In a normal offseason Petro would have all the leverage, but now he's finding out that isn't the case. I still think there are more factors at play besides the money, who knows what Petro's priorities are. For all the talk of having a wife from STL that doesn't automatically mean him and his family want to stay here permanently.

That being said, it would be amazing if we could move Dunn and someone else and still re-sign Petro although I realize the chances of that happening are not high.

Sure. My point is that if the Blues had the best offer on the table and Pietrangelo couldn't get better elsewhere because the market just wasn't there, then Armstrong effectively walked away from getting a much better player on his terms because he could't bother to wait a day or two for an answer.

It is stupid to play hardball, take the risk of letting Pietrangelo test the market, and then walk away at the very moment that gamble actually pays off and you find yourself in the negotiating driver's seat.

 

[Em etah Eh]

i didn’t say posters
i said Blues fans
i don’t just read here, i read other sites, talk to other Blues fans
not every one thinks the money for the term was worth it

Well, yeah, there are plenty of morons out on the internet. I’d like to know how they feel about 8x8 for Petro now that we’ve paid 45.5 for Krug.

Edit: Im bad at math.

 

[Em etah Eh]

A because dunn is the worst dman i have seen play the blue note from a D end perspective in a long time. he reminds me of the D version of Chris Stewart/Brad Boyes.

Okay, so don’t qualify Dunn or trade him and use the 4M elsewhere.