The calendar is about to turn over to November, and like the seemingly daily updates that have come out for the past few months there is no progress in talks between the Toronto Maple Leafs and restricted free agent William Nylander. Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet calls the situation “a deadlock” in his latest 31 Thoughts column, and notes that the team will have to start considering a trade at some point. That leads right into Frank Seravalli of TSN’s first Trade Bait board of the season, which lists Nylander at the very top of a group of 15 players. Seravalli reports that “teams have been calling the [Maple] Leafs left and right” to inquire about Nylander, though Toronto is continuing to turn them away.
Now just a month away from the December 1st deadline—which would make Nylander ineligible to play at all this season should he fail to have a contract by then—pressure is starting to really build between the two sides. Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic again pointed towards the Carolina Hurricanes as a team that has interest in Nylander, something that Seravalli agrees with noting that they’ve made it “explicitly clear” that they would put in an offer if Toronto makes him available. While there is no reason to believe a trade is the likely outcome at this point, there are obviously teams ready to pounce if the young forward is ever shopped around.
There’s good reason for that interest, given the consecutive 61-point seasons Nylander has recorded and strong overall performance for the Maple Leafs. Though he hasn’t played yet this season, there is considerable upside for any team who could pry him loose and get him under contract. Remember though that any team that is trading for him would need time to work out their own contract before the deadline, making the real deadline for Toronto even sooner than that December 1st threshold.
All of this is moot if the two sides can get together on something, but from all accounts Toronto GM Kyle Dubas has stuck to a number or salary range that would allow him to fit everyone into their structure going forward. With Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner still to sign next summer, Maple Leafs President Brendan Shanahan has publicly stated that some players may have to take a little less in order to win in Toronto. He pointed to how John Tavares turned down more lucrative offers in free agency, while explaining that his former Red Wings teammates may have done the same when they were trying to make a dynasty in Detroit. There has been no sense from the Nylander camp one way or the other how they feel about that kind of a situation, other than the high priced long-term asks at the beginning of the negotiation.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
I hope he gets boo’d if he does resign
You trolling the queefs again? LOL
Hard to troll the team you cheer for
BSR is the Leaf troll
note2sb Don’t be too butt hurt, skippy. Hard to “troll” a team that never beats the team you root for and support.
Atlantic Division Game 7 in 2013 OR 2017, anyone? LOL oops, too soon toronto fanboys?
ZzzZzz
I bet he signs tomorrow and this has all been cap circumvention
Leafs have a ton of space this year and later he signs lower the annual AAV
With this team even a couple hundred k will help in the future
Yes. It makes sense from Nylander’s perspective to take less money later in the year simply to help the leafs circumvent the cap.
Kevin Bacon would have been awesome in the original “A Nightmare on Elm Street”. Just sayin’
Would you and him have been an “item” in Footloose and beyond if Bacon had gotten that horror role instead of J. Depp?
Hmmmm…… makes ya think, doesn’t it?
I’m a big believer in Dubas, and I’m curious to see how this plays out.
I get the feeling like he’s playing chess in a league full of checkers players.
That said, the Nylander family has a history of being difficult, so this should not have been unforeseen. It would be really interesting to see what a Nylander trade might look like, though I suspect he eventually signs for a shorter contract.
I get the feeling both Dubas and Shanahan’s game plan is falling apart.
We’d love having him in Raleigh.
I still don’t see this ending any other way than him being traded to the Hurricanes for some sort of package including Pesce, Foegele, McElhinney (because they’re infatuated with him) and a 1st.
So the ‘Canes are the ONLY team that could get him via trade? LMAO silly boy.
I’ll have what you’re smoking. Like are you high bud?? Nylander isn’t worth that many pieces, not even remotely close. TOR’s defense is SO BAD. Pesce is an ELITE shutdown dman, one of the best in the NHL. It’ll be a 1-1. Nylander is overrated. He’s good, but not as good as leaf heads think. Without AM34 he’s trash. It won’t be a good RHD + for willy. He isn’t worth it.
LoL most Toronto fans think that ’18 roster is amazing and that they’re on their way to the Stanley Cup…… What happened?….
The REALITY is that they’re on a sweet losing streak currently, with very “strong” defense leaking like a sieve. HA HA clowns. Hope Nylander screws around all season long, the sideshow drama in Ontario is making the Montreal Crabs look good. Really hard to do and quite embarrassing for their fanbase and organization.