Where & what does Alex Pietrangelo sign?

I mean, the difference between an elite player and a 2nd line player is far greater than the difference between a 3rd liner and a replacement player. Look at the Pens, they've been using that model for a while now and it's worked pretty well for them.

These are professional athletes, they can handle playing 20-25 mins a game.

Give Matthews line 20-25 mins, JT's line 20-25 mins and you have 10-20 mins left to split between your 3rd and 4th lines. As long as they can keep the puck out of their net for those 10-20 mins most of the time you'll win that game. And most of the time those responsible forwards in their own end are overlooked because most people don't see the intangibles they bring, they only see the points so those players are relatively cheap in FA.

Also, I just want to point out that I'm pretty sure that Piets will stay with the Blues, all I'm saying is that in the event that he does go to FA, the Leafs are able to make the cap space available to sign him.