William Nylander Wants To Stay With Maple Leafs Through Retool

The Maple Leafs’ next general manager will likely be the most important move Keith Pelley makes as president of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment. He admitted as much in his media availability Tuesday after announcing the firing of Brad Treliving the night before (via Kristen Shilton of ESPN).

Teetering on the edge between a more conservative, short-term retool and a blow-it-all-up rebuild, that decision will determine whether the foundational pieces still remaining from their post-lockout decade of darkness have a chance to end their careers in Toronto. If it’s the latter option with the goal of returning to consistent playoff contention within a year or two, star winger William Nylander told Jonas Siegel of The Athletic on Wednesday that “I still want to be here” if the Leafs’ head executive doesn’t opt for a full teardown.

Of course, any full rebuild would involve at least entertaining the idea of moving Nylander, the Leafs’ all-around offensive centerpiece who turns 30 next month. He holds all the cards with a no-movement clause for all six years remaining on his $11.5MM AAV contract, but if it comes to that, his desire to stay would be “a different story,” he told Siegel. He stopped short of admitting it was a foregone conclusion that he would be open to a move if Toronto opted to sell off the rest of their valuable pieces, but it’s clear it would be something he would consider.

The retool-or-rebuild decision comes down to whether the Leafs’ incoming GM believes there’s enough they can do to return to a playoff spot within the next two years. Auston Matthews will be an unrestricted free agent in 2028. They’re not in a long-term position where they can even think about risking losing him for nothing.

If they can do enough surgery on the rest of the roster, which is headed for a bottom-three finish in the East this year for the first time in a decade, to give them a bright enough long-term outlook to convince Matthews to stay, then it makes sense to keep rolling as long as they can given their bevy of other long-term commitments on the books. If not, the best time to sell off names like Matthews, Nylander, and Matthew Knies is this summer, when their cost-control levels are highest, and they have the most years of effective play remaining.

Nylander has clinched his fourth consecutive season above a point per game and leads the Leafs with 71 points despite missing over 15 games this season with various injuries. The second of two Mikko Rantanen trades last season, which netted the Hurricanes a pair of first-round picks, a pair of thirds, and a long-term top-nine fixture in Logan Stankoven, would be a direct comparable if they did opt to rebuild and look to move him.

Of course, the three-time 40-goal scorer’s remarkable consistency in production as of late makes him, as Pelley said Tuesday, an incredibly strong foundational piece to continue building around. That remains ownership’s preference, but he signaled they would be open to a more aggressive rebuilding approach if that’s what his hire of choice believes is the best path forward.