SHOULD THE MAPLE LEAFS TRADE FOR PIETRANGELO?

Would you trade Kasperi Kapanen and prospect Timothy Liljegren for Alex Pietrangelo?

We know what head coach Mike Babcock would do. But he isn’t the general manager and so he might not be thinking two years from now, when Pietrangelo and Jake Muzzin — as well as Jake Gardiner and Ron Hainsey — could be gone as free agents while the Maple Leafs are locked into paying Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner a combined $22 million US.

That’s the dilemma that Dubas faces. There is talk the Muzzin trade won’t be the last move that the Leafs make heading into the Feb. 25 deadline. Toronto still wants more depth on defence and to potentially add some size up front in the form of Wayne Simmonds or Micheal Ferland. And because Matthews and Marner are both on entry-level contracts, the Leafs have the cap space to pull them off.

At the same time, doing either deal won’t come cheap.

By acquiring Muzzin on Monday, the Leafs played their ace by trading a first-round pick to the Los Angeles Kings. Any future trade that fetches a bigname player, such as Pietrangelo, Simmonds or Ferland, is going to mean giving up a roster player and dipping into their pool of A-level prospects (Rasmus Sandin, Timothy Liljegren and Jeremy Bracco).

It’s doable. But it’s the definition of going all-in.

With Matthews and Marner, as well as John Tavares and William Nylander, eating up a majority of the cap space, the team is going to need young players on entry-level deals to fill out the roster.

That’s why the Leafs desperately need Sandin, Liljegren and Bracco to develop into NHL regulars. If they don’t, there might not be enough money to find replacements in the open market.

So while a player such as Pietrangelo or Simmonds might make Toronto a contender this year, it could be a one-and-done scenario if the Leafs don’t have the prospects or cap space for the years ahead.