The purpose of this AGM is to get some feedback on what you all think the value of William Nylander is on the market this off-season. At this point, you might be asking yourself, why in the world would a 30-goal/80-point 26 year old on a great contract be traded, especially if the Leafs made it past the first round in this year's playoffs?
Regardless of how well or how poorly this team performs in the playoffs, something has to give with this salary cap situation. Even with the cap going up by $1 million this off-season, the Leafs are going to have a difficult time resigning young defenders Sandin and Liljegren to contract extensions, plus there is, you know, a starting goalie vacancy the team will have to deal with. Signing Jack Campbell, even with the up and down season he has had, is going to cost them.
If you take a look at the Leafs contract outlook, Nylander sticks out to me as a player with great value that could get the Leafs the most of any reasonable and potential trade over the summer. Sure, the Leafs may be forced to move on from Justin Holl and possibly even Alex Kerfoot, but that's only a combined $5.5 million. Then there is $3.8 million question in Petr Mrazk, a contract that may be impossible to unload without an additional "sweetener", something in my opinion, the Leafs cannot afford to do as they try to build back up their prospect cupboards to sustain this current "competitive window" they are now in.
So win or lose against Tampa, I think there is a very good chance William Nylander will be traded. The question I have for everyone is value. In my opinion, the Leafs would need back a top young player on a current ELC deal plus a big-time prospect or 1st round pick, at least.
Also, and perhaps as a side note, I just don't like the way Nylander sometimes hustles, or rather his lack of hustle at times, especially backchecking. He has the wheels, he has the skills, whether it is a motivation issue or not, I think the time to deal him is now.
The teams I've lined up are those I think will be most aggressive and have assets that best line up with what the Leafs would be looking for.
Let me know your thoughts on the few potential deals I've lined up for Nylander.
*CONDITIONAL 2023 1st round pick that is top-5 protected. In the event the condition is met, the pick would become a 2024 unconditional 1st round draft pick.
Despite whatever Nylander's real value is to Dubas and NHL GMs, you're going to get absolutely torched for these trades. Funny how a ppg 26 year old making $7M isn't worth much on here
A top six power forward and a top 4 dman can be hard to make up for Nashville and doesn't really fit the style they play
Columbus just took kent with the 5th pick and with the development he can get if they wait they can get a top center/wing that complements their shooters in laine and potentially a Kamell with the extra young depth doesn't make sense to me
Not a fan of either team just don't see these teams trading out of the rebuild/development phase rather stick to their guys
I'd take KJ's ongoing development and cheaper near-term future. Nylander ain't going to be receiving passes from Matthews and Tavares in CBJ - they'll be coming from Roslovic and Jenner, so I'm not entirely confident in his ability to keep his production up.
Plus, I don't think the investment into trading for him is worth it based on CBJ still likely being a fringe playoff team (at best) with him.
I'd take KJ's ongoing development and cheaper near-term future. Nylander ain't going to be receiving passes from Matthews and Tavares in CBJ - they'll be coming from Roslovic and Jenner, so I'm not entirely confident in his ability to keep his production up.
Plus, I don't think the investment into trading for him is worth it based on CBJ still likely being a fringe playoff team (at best) with him.
Exactly stick to the development of their young guys draft 2 studs this year maybe have one more year on the fringe and then they're scary tbh with what they are capable of columbus is definitely my favorite to be the top metro team in like 5 years
Keep in mind, he can't come with a guaranteed extension....no one should give up that much unless they are a cup contender and they have their window now or overloaded with talent.
For TOR, sure. For the Preds it doesn't. They're not deep enough right now for Nylander to put them over the top, and losing Jeannot and Carrier weakens them more than Nylander would bolster them. They have more cap space to play with than most teams and the no state income tax advantage, so they'd be better off signing a UFA forward than giving up the kind of assets the Leafs would want for Nylander. That or getting a forward for pennies on the dollar from a team in cap hell, like VGK.
If Leafs thought as highly of Mercer as we do, they’d offer Nylander for him straight-up.
If Leafs did not think as highly of Mercer as we do, I’m sure they would have no problem switching Mercer to Zacha, Johnsson, Foote, Gritsyuk, Zetterlund, Tatar, Boqvist or someone else.
He played with Tavares for 80% of the season, the rest with Engvall and Kampf/Kerfoot. Not like Tavares is a god either, most of Willys goals are individual efforts. 49 ESP too so not like he only generates on the PP playing with the top guys. Give it a rest
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