On the report of potential overseas interest in William Nylander
Chris Nichols of Nichols on Hockey: Darren Dreger was on TSN 1050 radio talking about the report that a KHL team has a ‘strong interest’ in Toronto Maple Leafs restricted free agent William Nylander. Interest isn’t as high as $7 million, but it is around there.
“Right, and none of this should be surprising,” began Dreger. “The KHL often will look at NHL players, particularly NHL players without contracts – and Nylander doesn’t have one of those – and of course they would have some interest. The question is does William Nylander have the type of interest whereby this is going to go anywhere.”
Dreger added that he hasn’t looked into it, but would guess there is interest in Nylander from teams in the Swedish Elite League as well as other leagues. Most people believe that the Leafs and Nylander will eventually agree on a deal even though little progress has made.
“If he’s not willing to budge by December 1, then at some point Lewis Gross is going to have to consider some of that outside interest, and the KHL is a league that pays.”
On if the Toronto Maple Leafs have interest in Josh Anderson
Chris Nichols of Nichols on Hockey: Nick Kypreos said over the weekend that Columbus Blue Jackets Josh Anderson had been moved down to the fourth line. He’s not happy, but hasn’t asked for a trade. Kypreos added that the Toronto Maple Leafs and Montreal Canadiens have shown interest in the past.
Darren Dreger was on TSN 1050 yesterday and was asked if he could confirm or deny if the Maple Leafs would be interested in Anderson. Dreger couldn’t confirm or deny it, but added:
“But you remember was it a year ago there was a stalemate there, and there were all kind of trade rumors percolating around the National Hockey League. I recall at that point Toronto being in that, in the sense that Toronto was being speculated as having considerable interest. And that’s likely where that’s generating from now.”