TSN: Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brad Treliving when asked about how William Nylander’s start to the season has affected their contract negotiations.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Reporter: “How much has Nylander’s start impacted, if at all, your talks with Lewis Gross?
Trevliving: “Well, I’m not going to delve into, you know, I think you guys will get to know me, I tried to give you as much as I possibly can, but I’m not gonna, I’m not gonna get into those discussions either than say, nothing’s changed on our end. We continue to, you know, our desire and our hope at the end of day is we’re gonna get really signed.
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And there’s a process that you go through. Willy’s had a tremendous start to the year but you know, I think he’s, uh, he’s, uh, I don’t think this is just a hot start, I think he’s a really good player.
And I stated from day one here, our objective was to get Austin (Matthews) signed, we got him signed. Our objective is to get Willie signed and we’re working on it. So you know, he said it, he had his great start. Great for him. Great for us. But that doesn’t change in any way. We just continue to work at it.
Kevin McGran of the Toronto Star: The Toronto Maple Leafs need to get some clarity on John Klingberg’s status, an issue that has been with him since October 19th this season.
“We knew the history of the player, but we didn’t anticipate that there was going to be an issue,” Treliving said. “The event was in the Florida game on that first road trip. And it hasn’t improved.”
When they find out more on how long he’ll be out, then they’ll now what money they have to find another defenseman. They’ve been linked to Nikita Zadorov and Chris Tanev. Treliving said it’s his job to look at all options.
“That’s your job all the time because you’re trying to help your team now,” Treliving said. “The idea that you’re always just going to trade yourself out of issues isn’t realistic.
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“Coming in here, obviously, we did some things over the course of the summer. Some have gone well. Some are a work in progress. Some haven’t gone as well. So you look at where you’re at and you’re always trying to find ways to help the team.”