Austrian coach who has been working with Nylander leaks info, new deal imminent?

It’s been 120 days since William Nylander was last officially a member of the Toronto Maple Leafs, but with negotiations heating up between Nylander’s camp and Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas, it appears as though a resolution may be in site.

Dubas was spotted in New York City this past weekend, presumably to meet with Nylander’s agent Lewis Gross and, of course, there was the meeting between the player and GM last week in Switzerland. 

This past weekend Sportsnet senior writer and NHL insider Chris Johnston reported that a long term deal, something that the two sides had always been working toward, was now off the table.

There is no long-term contract coming here. The Leafs can’t find an AAV that both fits in with their long-term cap projections and is large enough to entice Nylander to sign for six, seven or eight years at this time.

Johnston goes on to report that the prospect of having Nylander sit out the entire NHL season doesn’t seem likely either.

There is nothing to suggest he’s willing to stretch this past Dec. 1 — the deadline for when Nylander needs to sign a contract to be eligible to play in the NHL this season. It doesn’t make sense financially or philosophically to spend the year in Europe. Nylander could expect to earn roughly $40,000 (USD) gross per month if he played in Sweden, according to a prominent player agent in that country. But he’d have to commit to the entire season, with no out clauses permitted in SHL contracts.

Meanwhile, it’s been reported this morning that Nylander has left Dorbirn EC the club team he’s been skating with in Austria, leading many to believe that he could he heading back to North America:

Dornbirn head coach Dave MacQueen was on TSN 1050 radio in Toronto yesterday and dropped a few interesting tidbits about Nylander from his time with the club:

“We offered him a contract but we couldn’t afford the insurance policy, let alone pay him the contract . In all honesty, he just came in and fit in. I know he was on the phone a lot, which I would expect he would be, but other than that, I had a feeling he wasn’t going to be around for the rest of the week, but he didn’t say one way or the other what his plans were.”

“Over here, we don’t get a lot of North American highlights, so I’ve got an app on my computer that I can put on Sportsnet or TSN. So I went to him and said, “listen, William, I put the NHL highlights on for the boys in the morning because it’s really our lifeline over here. I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable because obviously, they’re talking about you a lot.”

He said, “No, no, I love watching the highlights. I love watching the Leafs highlights. Go ahead and put it on.”

While we may not have a deal to announce, it’s clear that there’s at least some activity between the two sides. Hopefully they can come to terms on a new contract in the next few days and we as hockey fans can put this whole drama behind us… at least until the Leafs open negotiations with Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews.