Deadline for Nylander is fast approaching
Pierre LeBrun: “The Maple Leafs’ priority/hope is still to re-sign William Nylander but my understanding with that with just two days to go to the signing deadline, Toronto has circled back to some teams suggesting they put their best foot forward on trade offers… which makes sense”
Gord Stellick: “Respect both sides being firm in their positions, but if the deadline passes with no deal for Nylander…then both sides have failed in how they negotiated. Hope and trusting Babcock’s optimism is the true scenario!”
Scott Walker: “Remember, even if the Leafs sign Nylander to a long-term contract today, he won’t have a typical AAV cap hit. A 6.9M deal with term would carry roughly a $9-9.5M hit this year and then $6.5M~ for the remaining years. A good thing for the Leafs … The ripple effect, naturally, is that it makes a trade pretty difficult. Wouldn’t be shocked if he sat out if they can’t get a deal done.”
With the Dec 1, 5:00pm ET deadline almost upon us, here is an updated table highlighting the prospective year 1 and years 2+ varying cap hits for a potential William Nylander deal, with 127 days left in the season, and based on the two most speculated contracts reported. pic.twitter.com/YhsRaFUKeS
— CapFriendly (@CapFriendly) November 30, 2018
Chris Johnston: Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock: “We think Willy’s going to be here and we think Willy’s going to be here a long time. We think Willy’s going to be a career Leaf.”
TSN: The deadline for the William Nylander to sign a contract to be eligible to play this season is tomorrow.
Pierre LeBrun: The Toronto Maple Leafs are still telling teams they intend to sign him, but they have sent out to interested teams that if you are serious, it’s time to step up.
“Tell us what you’d be willing to give up for William Nylander. It doesn’t mean there’s going to be a trade, but I think this is the Leafs making sure that if this goes down to the wire on Saturday – and certainly it appears that way right now – that they have Plan B ready to go and, keep in mind, it still means that if he doesn’t sign that they necessarily trade him but this could drag on to Feb. 25 and into the off-season.”
Bob McKenzie: The Maple Leafs don’t mind the potential higher salary cap hit this season for Nylander, but it poses a problem for some interested teams like the Los Angeles Kings, Anaheim Ducks and Minnesota Wild.
“It’s not impossible for the Toronto Maple Leafs to trade William Nylander, but as time has marched on, the market for Nylander and a trade with the Leafs has been shrinking for the reason we have been talking about for weeks now. When a player doesn’t sign at the beginning of the season and he signs partway through the year, it affects the way the cap hit is allocated. So if Nylander gets a contract in the high-sixes from the Leafs with an AAV (average annual value) of $6.8 or $6.9 million. The first-year cap hit is going to be up around $9.5 million.”