Sportsnet: Chris Johnston when asked if it just comes down to whether or not the Toronto Maple Leafs are trading William Nylander.
** NHLrumors.com transcription
“I think that is fair. You know, the thing with Nylander is that he’s probably the most valuable contract on their entire books. Obviously Auston Matthews is their best player, he’s their cornerstone thing, but given what he’s paid, that he’s paid fairly, he doesn’t bring as much value.
William Nylander for the next four seasons he’s owed, I believe, $20 million or thereabouts. He’s like a $4 to $5 million player in actual money, his cap hit is just under seven. But for some teams the cap hit is an issue, and I think he’s going to deliver value even at seven (million).
So, if they traded him, I think there would be huge appeal. He’s had 200 points in the NHL at an age not many guys get there. I know we probably micro analyze his game throughout the season, but the view of him more broadly is everyone sees what a strong skater he is, how well he hangs onto the puck, they see his age, they see his cap number, and I actually think he some ways he may be their most enticing trade piece to use.
That being said, I can’t tell you right now, I can’t even make up a trade rumor. I don’t know which team would want him, would have sort of D the Leafs would have to get back to do it. Because I think to do it you have to be acquiring a fairly sure thing for your blue line as opposed to a young player you think could be something. And you’d want it to be somewhere in the same age range as the Leafs core. I don’t think you are trading for a 31-year old even as good as you might think he be for that kind of player. And you probably want him signed at a cap number that gives you some security.
So once we go through some of those sort of boxes, I think we’re down to very few guys in the league. I don’t know, you think of Aaron Ekblad, he’s the one that maybe comes to mind, that not saying Florida would trade him, but they are going through an upheaval. He’s 24 and signed, you know what he is.
The truth is, there just aren’t that many players that we could conceivably see moved that tick all those boxes. So I think the Leafs are probably prepared to more or less run this thing back with some tweaks around the fringes and hope that there is incremental improvement internally. That is going to make for an interesting year next year if that is what happens, because obviously what we’re seeing now, the way they are being discussed, there won’t be a whole lot of grace period with that team, especially if that’s the approach they’re taking.”
