Edited Sep. 7, 2020 at 9:45 p.m.
Nylander is #4 on his team, he's behind 2 40-50 goal scores and a 90 point franchise guy, so it'd be pretty for him to be that leading guy.
Also, statistically, age difference aside, they've been relatively similar players in their first few seasons - again, not counting on ice leadership/defensive ability, cause MacKinnon sweeps the board there.
My point is, the guy has serious potential. Players take time to Blossom, MacKinnon it took him till season 5, Nylander is on season 4 (season 3 being a trainwreck). He will not become the player MacKinnon is, that's true - but to say he can't sniff Marner numbers is silly.
Quoting: justaBoss
Matthews and Marner are better talents over Nylander by quite a margin, and they've actually proved that. Nylander has yet to do that. I'm very skeptical of his ability to ever reach that level.
They are better as of now - it would make so much more sense to see if he blossoms into a better player. He won't eclipse Matthews, but for years there was a debate between Marner vs. Nylander, the guys are equal. Marner took a step, Nylander didn't - that doesn't mean Nylander won't, his contract year was a huge setback.
Just this year he cracked the 30 goal mark, next year he could easily crack 70 points under a new coach. Babcock absolutely hated him and would often times bench him out of spite - his ice time stats in his first few years were terrible. Under Keefe the guy had a career year, idk why that won't continue into the next couple seasons.
For me, unless the return is literally insane, we can't trade away a guy on a good contract who's entering his prime. Getting rid of his 30 goals would put such a gaping hole in the Top 6 from what it currently is now, and idk how you replace that.