Not a fan of trading Dowd when you have space, especially for that return. Suzdalev and Cristall realistically won't be ready next year, and Leonard may not be either, which leaves space for Lapierre/Protas to move up in the lineup and Dowd+Malenstyn staying on the 4th line. Caps also can't sign Nylander to an 8 year deal in this scenario.

Yes

Not to be nit picky but as a FA you can only sign for a max of 7yrs so in order to sign for 8yrs the Caps would have to acquire Nylander before the TDL this yr.

Leafs don’t have the cap for that

Think if the highest external bid is 10.5 he'd sooner stay here for 9.75 or 10, has consistently said he loves Toronto and wants to stay. Also doesn't seem to be shaken by the media as much as most Toronto players can be

10.5 x 7 is 73.5
9.25 x 8 is 74

and the leafs would pay it all out in bonuses because they can, he is staying.

yup that too I forgot about the 7 vs 8 years. Gonna take a very large overpay to get him in FA.