On the Toronto Maple Leafs and Arizona Coyotes …
Brian Lawton: “Chatter seems to be picking up about #OEL @ArizonaCoyotes A couple of known insiders talking about possible William Nylander for OEL deal. What a great deal that would be @MapleLeafs Obviously on the flip side that would be a disaster for @ArizonaCoyotes as elite D R a rarity!!!”
Bob McKenzie of TSN: The Arizona Coyotes are in Toronto today, so the topic Oliver Ekman-Larsson to the Maple Leafs is bound to come up.
notes: “The funny thing is, outside of some creative thinking by those who believe OEL to the Leafs makes a lot of common sense for both teams, there doesn’t appear, at this moment anyway, to be any real basis in fact to it.”
Then late Saturday/early Sunday someone cautioned about being so dismissive, that there might be something to it. They mentioned that an OEL to the Maple Leafs for William Nylander had been floating out there.
There has been some talk that Ekman-Larsson and new head coach haven’t hit it off and OEL has struggled to start the season. He mentioned to Pierre LeBrun that their arena situation could play into his long-term future with the team.
trying to pinpoint what is real and what is imagined.
“- As of Sunday night, my best information is that the Leafs and Coyotes haven’t had a single conversation regarding Ekman-Larsson. (By the way, I hate reporting what’s not happening with such great certainty because, well, what if they were to have a conversation today?).
– If, and this is a rather large IF, Arizona were to trade OEL to Toronto for, as rumoured, William Nylander, I don’t believe Arizona, and many other teams, probably including even the Leafs themselves, view Nylander as an NHL centre. And if you’re the Coyotes, you don’t contemplate moving a top-pairing D man for a winger. They would want and need a centre in return.
– I don’t believe the Leafs have, at this point in time anyway, altered their core principle that they can build a Cup contender, both from a hockey and a salary cap perspective, with the three kids (Matthews, Marner and Nylander) up front.”
doesn’t think the Coyotes are interested in trading Ekman-Larsson at the moment, and the same goes for Maple Leafs and their top three young forwards.