Breaking: 2 massive updates on Nylander trade rumors in the early hours of the morning.

Two new reports on the Nylander front.

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HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
Breaking: 2 massive updates on Nylander trade rumors in the early hours of the morning.
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The talk surrounding the Toronto Maple Leafs are forward William Nylander has really ramped up over the past 24 hours with a blockbuster trade rumor emerging last night after Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas was spotted scouting two rival organizations in the National Hockey League. 

The news came off of the heels of reports over the week-end that suggested that the possibility of the Leafs and Nylander reaching an agreement on a long term deal was now dead in the water. Following a face to face meeting in Switzerland between Kyle Duabs and William Nylander Sportsnet insider Chris Johnston reported that a short term bridge contract or a trade were now the final 2 possibilities that made sense from the perspective of both the Leafs and the Nylander camp.

From Johnston:

The list of possible outcomes has been whittled down in the 118 days since Kyle Dubas met with Nylander’s agent, Lewis Gross, at the NHL draft in Dallas and travelled to Zurich to speak directly with the player this week.

Option B isn’t in the cards. 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.

Dubas set the rumor mill on fire following that report when he was spotted in New York, personally taking in a game between the New York Rangers and the Calgary Flames at Madison Square Garden. When you consider the sheer level of trade speculation around Nylander after this long holdout, Dubas' presence raised a ton of eyebrows around the league and had many thinking that the talented young Leafs' forward could be headed to either New York or Calgary. That however was purely speculation based on Dubas' presence at the game, which could merely have been a coincidence. 

In fact in the early hours of Monday morning TSN NHL insider Bob McKenzie was quick to comment on the rumors that emerged last night, although he appeared to be throwing a bit of cold water on the them by doing so. Although McKenzie did acknowledge that it is indeed possible that Dubas was in the building for a scouting or trade mission, he also offered two possible alternative explanations for the Leafs' general manager being present at the game. 

The first and least existing of the two possibilities is that accordingto McKenzie, Dubas simply enjoys taking in hockey games. Although I suppose this is indeed possible I do not believe for a second, given the timing of his presence at the game, that this is purely a coincidence. The second and more interesting possibility however is that Dubas was in town to speak to Nylander's agent. According to McKenzie Nylnder's agent, Lewis Gross, lives in Manhattan and Dubas being in town to meet him after his trip to meet with Nylander in Switzerland would make a lot of sense. 

That being said though another report from this morning once again points to the very real possibility of this being a trade mission. Joe Fortunato of Blueshirt Banter is now reporting that the Rangers also had scouts In Toronto over the week-end, and that is too big of a coincidence to simply be ignored in my estimation. 

Only time will tell however where this is going.

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