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William Nylander

East Notes: Cole, Nylander, Backstrom

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The Blue Jackets would like to keep defenseman Ian Cole in the fold, notes Aaron Portzline of The Athletic (subscription required).  The pending unrestricted free agent was acquired from Ottawa (who had previously added him from Pittsburgh) at the trade deadline and he played an important role, logging over 18 minutes a night in 20 regular season games and better than 19 minutes per game in the playoffs.  Cole is set to earn a considerable raise from the $2.1MM cap hit on his current deal; Portzline surveyed some NHL agents and their expectation for his next contract checks in around $4.5MM per year.

Elsewhere in the East:

  • While the league, in general, has been gravitating towards bypassing the bridge contract in favor of a long-term deal as entry-level contracts expire, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman speculated in an appearance on 630 CHED in Edmonton (audio link) that Maple Leafs winger William Nylander could be a player to get a bridge deal. He notes that Nylander’s end to his season (which saw him briefly dropped to the fourth line) will have hurt his leverage and accordingly, it would make more sense for the 22-year-old to go short-term and try to boost his value.  Doing so would also give Toronto a bit more flexibility to work with in terms of trying to add to their roster this summer.
  • It doesn’t appear the Capitals will have center Nicklas Backstrom in the lineup for Game Two of their Conference Final series against Tampa Bay on Sunday. Head coach Barry Trotz told reporters, including Isabelle Khurshudyan of the Washington Post (Twitter link), that while Backstrom is working out on his own, he wouldn’t be participating in any on-ice work today.  He is dealing with a hand injury that kept him out of their series-clinching victory last round against the Penguins.  Trotz also added that he is optimistic that he will play at some point in the series and that he remains listed as day-to-day.

Performance Bonuses Still A Consideration For Maple Leafs

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are one of the teams in the league who are almost always right up against the salary cap ceiling. With their tremendous financial backing from corporate ownership, and a rabid fan base that is hard to scare away with even the most futile rosters, they use their situation to get every advantage possible. With that in mind, they’ve previously completed moves that a less wealthy team would just not be able to—moving David Clarkson (who was healthy but ineffective at the time) for the injured Nathan Horton for instance.

Auston MatthewsLast year brought the next wave of Maple Leafs stars, with rookies like Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, William Nylander, Connor Brown and Nikita Zaitsev all finding great success as freshmen. While all of them were on inexpensive entry-level contracts, their excellent play earned them all hefty performance bonuses. Leading the way was Matthews, who earned $2.85MM thanks to his 40-goal performance. Chris Johnston of Sportsnet broke down the bonuses for the Maple Leafs, which totaled a whopping $5.37MM on the year, the second most of all-time.

Because the Maple Leafs were using long-term injured reserve (from the aforementioned Horton along with a few others) last season and were above the salary cap ceiling, that entire bonus pool of $5.37MM was applied to this year’s salary cap as an overage. That hurts their ability to manipulate the cap, but not nearly as much as it could in the future.

The Maple Leafs are still in relative safety when it comes to the cap, with their stars still vastly underpaid and a pair of long-term injuries to use as a cushion of sorts. They were able to use some of that room to bring in Patrick Marleau and Ron Hainsey to augment the roster, while seeing almost their entire core return from last year. The problem arises when these entry-level contracts start to expire.

Much has been written over the past year on the Maple Leafs impending contract negotiations with Matthews, Nylander and Marner, but little of it has concerned the impact bonuses could still have. With the team again over the cap and using LTIR, any bonuses earned will again be carried over. With the roster they’re currently carrying, there is the possibility for up to $6.25MM in bonuses, though it doesn’t look early like they’ll have to pay the maximum.

Matthews, with his explosive start looks like a good bet to max out at $2.85MM, though he’d have to finish in the top-10 in goals once again. He’s currently tied for fourth, though obviously it is still early. Nylander and Marner each could earn up to $850K again.

Calle RosenThe two wildcards are Swedish defenders Andreas Borgman and Calle Rosen. The pair have rotated in and out of the lineup early on, and are generally limited to the bottom pairing. If that changes because of injury, or they show improved ability and force head coach Mike Babcock into giving them more minutes they too could each earn up to $850K.

While performance bonuses are never exactly a bad thing—they do after all reward success—the Maple Leafs don’t want to have to deal with overages as they head into the next contracts for their big three. Though right now they project to have over $26MM in cap space for next season, that’s not including Nylander’s new deal or possible new contracts for James van Riemsdyk, Tyler Bozak or Leo Komarov. Hacking 20% off that amount with another $5MM bonus penalty will certainly hurt their ability to re-sign the pending unrestricted free agents, and push them even closer to the 2018-19 cap ceiling where they really need to be careful.

Obviously, the Maple Leafs are quite a distance away from being locked into any cap situation. But they have to be considering how to manage the cap for the 2019-20 season when the rest of the big three (Matthews and Marner) move onto their next contracts. That’s not even considering a Jake Gardiner extension, as he’s headed for UFA status in the summer of 2019 as well. When the Maple Leafs are spending next offseason, don’t be surprised if they leave themselves a little bit of extra room to avoid an overage. If not, they could be putting themselves in a very tricky situation.

Photos courtesy of USA Today Sports Images

William Nylander Extension Not Expected During Season

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As Nikolaj Ehlers and Jack Eichel sign their respective long-term extensions, many fans in Toronto looked at the contracts as parallels for their own young stars. While Eichel compares favorably to Auston Matthews, Ehlers is almost a direct comparison for William Nylander. The pair were selected back to back in the 2014 draft, and have similarities in both style and production.

The Jets inked Ehlers to a seven-year extension today worth $42MM, but the Toronto forward won’t be negotiating during the season according to Chris Johnston of Sportsnet. Like many other athletes, he instead wants to focus on his team’s success and his own game rather than where his future contract status lies.

In reality, it’s probably a good move for the Nylander camp. Entering the final year of his entry-level contract, Nylander is poised to spend the entire season riding shotgun with Matthews and racking up points. The two combined for 130 last season and could easily surpass those totals, especially given the innate chemistry they’ve shown once again in the preseason. If Nylander sets a new mark for points this season he could easily demand more than Ehlers’ $6MM per season. If not, he likely won’t be asking for much less.

It’s easy to bet on yourself when you’re as talented as Nylander, but the Maple Leafs likely want to know where Matthews’ salary falls before getting into any real negotiations anyway. As the Edmonton Oilers are finding out, when you have several superstars ready to get paid it is a tough job to fit them all into a salary structure and leave yourself any room. The Maple Leafs also have Mitch Marner to worry about, and eventually will have to decide if Jake Gardiner is worth a long-term extension. Waiting on Nylander may just be out of necessity.

William Nylander Not Focused On Contract Extension

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William Nylander spoke to the media after an optional skate in Toronto today, and one of the first questions asked was about a potential contract extension. Nylander is heading into the final year of his entry-level contract, and proved last season that he’s ready to step into a starring role on the young Maple Leafs squad. The 21-year old was non-committal when talking about whether he’d thought about his next contract yet.

I’m just focused on the season right now. Nothing big, just want to be ready and be prepared for when the season starts. 

I don’t know, [my agents and the Maple Leafs] have talked a little bit, but we’ll see what happens. I just want to focus on the season right now.

Nylander exploded onto the scene in 2015-16 with 13 points in 22 games, before outdoing himself as a (technical) rookie with 61 points last season. That 0.72 points-per-game rate puts him right up among some of the best players in the NHL already, and there is still plenty of room to grow. We featured him in our look at who could earn in-season contract extensions this year, and it’s good news that the two sides have at least begun to talk about a potential deal.

This year, if Nylander plays with Auston Matthews once again there could be room for even more offensive production and with it an even higher price tag. Looking forward for the Maple Leafs, the team will need to figure out how to fit their trio of top forwards—Nylander, Matthews and Mitch Marner—into a cap structure that allows them to still compete. Just recently we learned that pending free agent forward James van Riemsdyk is looking for something around $6MM per season, something that the Maple Leafs might just not be able to afford.

Eastern Notes: Toronto’s Defense, Prospects, Butcher

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have received plenty of attention this offseason with their moves, including the surprising signing of San Jose veteran Patrick Marleau to a three-year deal. Add Marleau to the young cast of offensive weapons the team already has like Auston Matthews, Nazem Kadri, James van Riemsdyk, William Nylander and Mitch Marner, the team has hopes of making a run towards a Stanley Cup Finals this season.

However, Steve Simmons of the Toronto Sun is quick to point out that the Maple Leafs need to emphasize defense too. He writes that many people have forgotten that the team finished 22nd in goals against last year. Every team that finished behind them didn’t make the playoffs. And when you look at the moves the team made, very little of it was to help the defense. The team did sign 36-year-old Ron Hainsey, but how much will that help? He’s 36 years old.

Simmons writes that Toronto leadership knows the importance of defense. Coach Mike Babcock, who has won a Stanley Cup in 2008 with the Detroit Red Wings, had a team that was first in goals against that year. General Manager Lou Lamoriello won his last Stanley Cup with the New Jersey Devils in 2003, they were also first in goals against.

However, the team’s defense should be stronger. The team boasts a number of young, developing defensemen like Nikita Zaitsev, who is just 25 years old. Morgan Rielly is only 23 years old. Jake Gardiner is 27. Martin Marincin is 25 as well, while Connor Carrick is 23. That’s a young defense and maybe a major reason why the team brought Hainsey in. However, even with a year of development, how much better can this defense be?

  • With rookie camps just a week away for many teams, Fanrag’s Craig Morgan put together a detailed list of rookies who could make an impact on the team. While it has the usual candidates like Nico Hischier, Nolan Patrick and Clayton Keller, there are quite a few lesser known ones as well. Players like Washington’s Jakub Vrana, New York Islanders’ Ryan Pulock and Columbus’ Pierre-Luc Dubois are players rarely mentioned who could make an impact this year.
  • Sports Illustrated featured New Jersey Devils Will Butcher after he chose the Devils last weekend. Butcher claims he sees similarities in his game to three NHL players including Chicago’s Duncan Keith, Boston’s Torey Krug and New Jersey’s Andy Greene. ”If I was fortunate to make the big team, he would be a great mentor to me, just because he does everything,” Butcher said of Greene. ”He penalty kills, power play, all situations. He is a smart player, not necessarily the biggest guy, but he uses his abilities to defend well and play the game of hockey.”

Tavares To Toronto Highly Unlikely

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Although it seems to occur every time a high-profile free-agent could hit the market, Toronto media have once again conjured a dream of landing a superstar. John Tavares is experiencing major difficulty in coming to terms with the New York Islanders, primarily because of the uncertainty of their arena situation. The team needs to prove that they are both competitive and can secure a home for the foreseeable future. Enter Toronto, who believes that the contract negotiation difficulty automatically propels them into a top-3 competitor for Tavares’ services. If this story may sound familiar, that’s because it occurred just last off-season when Steven Stamkos was stalling his new deal with Tampa Bay.

Toronto inarguably is in a far superior negotiating position than they were in 2016. They’ve made the playoffs and took the Washington Capitals to their limits, and flaunt a young core who established itself as dominant quite before most believed possible. Given another season of success, the Leafs could be serious contenders for any UFA on the market. That said, a Tavares signing would be absurdly difficult and ultimately impractical for a multitude of reasons. The Leafs’ fanbase is already (rightfully) fretting over the difficulty of keeping Mitch Marner, Auston Matthews, and William Nylander together while staying under the cap ceiling. Each player will command hefty money on long-term deals, and the best case scenario (cap-wise) is that one of the three might have a “down” statistical year.

Even ignoring those future contracts, Toronto already made matters more complicated by signing Patrick Marleau to a 3-year contract worth $6.25 MM AAV. Assuming that the team keeps one or two of James van Riemsdyk, Leo Komarov, and Tyler Bozak (all UFAs in 2018), they will have precious room to devote to Tavares beyond 2018-19. After that point, Matthews and Marner will both be on new deals with heavy cap hits. Craig Button of TSN suggests that the Leafs could offer Tavares a one-year deal, but there is little to no security in such an arrangement. If the Islanders are unable to move Tavares or simply fall short of securing a new contract, Tavares will be likely seek a long-term arrangement. His primary stated concern at present is security, and a one-year contract elsewhere certainly doesn’t achieve said goal.

By signing Marleau, the writing for Toronto fans should have been clear and visible. Still, the Tavares hope persists. It’s not impossible that Tavares could sign a long-term contract in Toronto, but it would take a major roster overhaul to achieve. One of Marner or Nylander would necessarily need to depart, and the amount of money spent on the offense would only increase further. It seems likely that GM Lou Lamoriello will simply build upon the core that has been so successful without gutting the progress made. It would be unrealistic to expect Lamoriello to not at least inquire about Tavares if he indeed hits unrestricted free agency, but it would require a major organizational commitment without any real certainty in the matter. Tavares will receive a long-term contract, whether it is from New York or another franchise, but as of now the Leafs are not in a position to extend such an offer.

Penguins’ 3rd-Line Center Options

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With the loss of Nick Bonino to Nashville via free agency, the reigning champion Pittsburgh Penguins have a gaping hole down the middle. For the first time in over a decade, the center position is now one of relative weakness. It’s always a possibility that Matt Cullen decides to re-sign for one more year, but he will not be able to carry the load of a typical 3rd-line center. Cullen showed signs of slowing down toward the tail-end of the team’s playoff run, and he was only averaging 13:55 a game through the regular season. At 41 years old, he simply won’t be a viable long-term option. The Penguins likely have high hopes for Zach Aston-Reese to make a push in training camp, but he is an unknown quantity at the NHL level. GM Jim Rutherford had 5 potential trade options in the works prior to July 1st, according to the very reliable Josh Yohe of DKPittsburghSports. Talks either fizzled or were put on the back-burner, but one might imagine the number of available targets is far fewer now. With Dallas’ three-year signing of Radek Faksa, there is one fewer name left for consideration. Vegas seems to be content with merely flipping defensemen from here on in, although names such as Cody Eakin and William Karlsson shouldn’t be thrown out entirely. Erik Haula is likely a pipe-dream, but he’s another possible target. Matt Duchene was linked for a time, but between the high cost and the stubbornness of Colorado GM Joe Sakic to make a move, he seems incredibly unlikely.

Who are the safest bets for an off-season move? Or will Pittsburgh enter the season with someone unproven slotting behind Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin?

Tyler Bozak

Bozak has made tons of sense since his name was first mentioned. A lot has been made of his relationship with Phil Kessel. When they played on a line together in Toronto, Kessel saw some of his best career production. More than that however – the Leafs are in a bit of cap pinch as they will look to free up dollars for Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner, and William Nylander in the next two seasons. They certainly aren’t in any hurry to drop underneath the ceiling due to LTIR intricacies, but moving out Bozak’s $4.2 MM for this next season would be a forward looking move. If he’s due a raise, it’s likely they’ll lose him for far less, as his contract expires at the end of 2017-18. The move makes sense for Pittsburgh because of the Kessel relationship, but also because he fits the mold of the Pittsburgh squad. He’s a solid skater, sees the ice well, and hustles back into his own zone. His playmaking abilities would be a wonderful fit on the cheap to aid the high-powered offense, and the player would be a positive possession asset to remove the stress from the bigger guns. Bozak does have a modified no-trade clause, but it’s hard to see Pittsburgh being included on his list of non-tradeable teams.

Jordan Staal

Staal saw a lot of success in Pittsburgh before he was traded away to Carolina at the 2012 draft. Jordan was traded to that team in particular due to his desire to player with his older brother Eric Staal. Seeing as Eric is no longer in the picture, it would make sense that Staal might be open to a Pittsburgh reunion. Staal is one of the better defensive centers in the league, and has been forced to take a more uncomfortably offensive role in Carolina. Staal’s biggest downside is that he isn’t the most agile skater, but he’s not any slower than Nick Bonino was. That said, he can play the shutdown role and be a total nuisance for top opponents. Rutherford loves the player, as he was the GM of Carolina when they initially acquired the player, for a hefty sum of Brandon Sutter, Brian Dumoulin, and a 1st-round pick (which became Derrick Pouilot). According to Yohe, Staal is apparently open to a return, and the nostalgic element of the team’s fanbase is clamoring for this to happen. Rutherford stated on a local radio segment with Ron Cook that “to his knowledge he (Staal) isn’t available”, but he’s played coy with the media in the past.

Out Of Left-Field

Rutherford has been known to throw the hockey world for a loop with some of his trades. The James Neal–Patric Hornqvist trade shocked just about everyone, and the Phil Kessel trade is still being discussed to this day. If there’s one thing we should expect from him, it’s the unexpected. There are a few lesser options out there for Rutherford to explore, and management may want to have the Conor Sheary and Brian Dumoulin contracts put to paper before making any sort of transaction. It seems unlikely that anything will happen until those deals get done. Rutherford told Jason Mackey of the Post-Gazette that there are “hundreds of names on (his list)”, and that it’s “a patient process”. Could Detroit be willing to move Andreas Athanasiou? Could Bryan Little be pried from Winnipeg for a young defenseman? It’s hard to speculate as to where exactly management have set their sights, but Rutherford is generally willing to overpay to “get his man”. There is the slight likelihood that they enter the season with that hole left unfilled, but it’s hard to imagine. Until more dominoes fall, Rutherford is likely to bide his team and search for the correct deal.

Toronto Signs Patrick Marleau To 3-Year Deal

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have announced that they have signed unrestricted free agent Patrick Marleau to a three-year deal, $18.75MM with the average annual value set for $6.25MM. Sportsnet’s Chris Johnston tweets he has a full no-movement clause included in his deal. TSN’s Pierre LeBrun tweets that the deal will include a large signing bonus, just as the case was for Carey Price’s deal earlier today. He will receive $14.5MM in signing bonus money, split up with $7MM coming to him in the first year, followed by $4.5MM in year two and $3MM in the final year of the contract. The three-year pact means that Marleau will be 40 during the last year of his $6.25 contract.

Reported earlier on PHR, the 37-year-old wing was considering several offers, including a two-year offer from San Jose, but the rumor was that Toronto had the most impressive offer and Marleau took it. Having spent the past 19 years in San Jose, he will move on to the young, rising Maple Leafs squad and team with the young core of Auston Matthews, William Nylander and Mitch Marner to help them take the next step. With this move, it seems obvious that the Maple Leafs plan to go all-out in hopes of capturing a Stanley Cup while they have their young core under rookie contracts. It is likely Marleau will be paired with both Matthews and Nylander as their first line.

For San Jose, the veteran team loses one of its most important players in their history. Marleau accumulated 508 goals and 1,082 points in his tenure with the Sharks and was rarely hurt, having played every game for the last eight seasons and only missing a total of 31 games in his career, according to Johnston. Although the team was able to lock up38-year-old Joe Thornton yesterday to a one-year, $6.5MM deal (although that deal is not official yet), the team lost out on one of their top goal scorers and will be hard-pressed to replace him, especially after the team struggled in the playoffs and were bounced in the first round. Those two have been playing together for the last 12 years.

 

Nylander Wins MVP At World Championships

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The Toronto Maple Leafs must be happy after William Nylander and the gold-medal winning Team Sweden captured the International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships over Canada Sunday. Nylander, coming off his first full season with Toronto, was named the World Champion MVP after scoring seven goals in the tournament.

Nylander, the eighth overall pick in 2014, completes an eventful year with that award. He already had been named NHL Rookie of the Month twice (in October and March), helped the Maple Leafs reach the playoffs for the first time since 2013 by scoring 22 goals in his first full season. His success in Germany at the world championships dealt with more than just the seven goals. He tallied seven assists for 14 points. He also finished with the best plus-minus in the tournament (+11) and was named a World Champion All-Star and a Top 3 player on his team.

Nylander capped off the overtime shootout victory by body slamming his own goaltender New York Rangers’ Henrik Lundqvist after the victory. His success only further heightens the anticipation of the Maple Leafs’ season next year after he and Auston Matthews teamed up to almost knock off the Washington Capitals in the first round of the playoffs.

Morning Notes: Babcock, Maple Leafs, Borowiecki

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The Toronto Maple Leafs fan base has been abuzz over the last few days after seeing pictures of Mike Babcock at games 3 and 4 between Nashville and Anaheim, even being joined by GM Lou Lamoriello for the latter. His appearance immediately made many think that he was scouting Ducks defensemen eligible for the expansion draft, though Sportsnet’s Luke Fox has an additional theory.

Predators captain Mike Fisher will be a free agent this summer, and though he’s obviously tied strongly to the Nashville community—he’s married to country music star Carrie Underwood after all—the numbers might just not leave enough room for him. Nashville has a busy offseason ahead of them, with both Ryan Johansen and Viktor Arvidsson hitting restricted free agency. If Fisher were to hit the open market, Toronto would likely be interested after the comments Babcock made earlier this year about him.

  • Maple Leafs fans will also be happy to see the success of their two young stars at the World Championships. Mitch Marner and William Nylander have been some of the best forwards in the tournament thus far, with Nylander especially finding incredible chemistry with playoff-foe Nicklas Backstrom. Nylander and Backstrom have a long history, going back to the latter’s rookie season in Washington when he was welcomed into the home of then-teammate Michael Nylander, William’s father. The two, almost 10 years apart, spent a lot of time together during those first two seasons playing ping-pong in the basement or mini-sticks in the hallway. It seems all that time spent so many years ago has created a sort of familiarity on the ice, that has blossomed into some incredible goals since Backstrom joined the tournament.
  • The Ottawa Senators won’t get Mark Borowiecki back tonight, though he took the morning skate with the team. According to Bruce Garrioch of Postmedia, the bruising defenseman suffered a setback pushing too hard to try and get back on the ice. He still hopes to return in this series, which would stretch to next Thursday should it go all seven games. The Senators will try to take a commanding 3-1 series lead tonight as they take on the Penguins at home.

 

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