Eastern team now has no other choice but to make huge push for Nylander!

It is so quiet on the William Nylander contract dispute front that fans in Toronto are getting worried the Maple Leafs won’t be able to make the talented forward sign a contract agreement before the Dec. 1st deadline… And now according to NHL insider Elliotte Friedman, one Eastern Conference team could have no other choice but to make a trade pitch for Nylander, and might just be able to pull it off. 

On the air of Vancouver’s Sportsnet 650 on Tuesday, Friedman noted that the Florida Panthers make more and more sense as the ideal trade destination for Nylander. 

“I’m really curious about trade partners too. I think there’s a few teams interested, but I think Toronto knows it’s still got a good player and wants to get a lot for him,” said Friedman before he talked about the Panthers being an option. 

“My question with Florida is not the assets - it’s how much do they want to pay him,” countered Friedman. “If you take a look at their guys, they’ve got a lot of good, long-term contracts signed there. Barkov is just under $6 million, Huberdeau is in the same area. If this is a guy who’s looking between 7 and 8, maybe settling in the 7 or low 7s, that’s going to be more than your best players. And I could see some teams being resistant of that. 
“So to me, I think Florida probably could do it. I think they would have some pieces Toronto would want. But I’m not sure that salary-wise that’s what the Panthers would want to do.”

The Panthers might feel the need to get the scorer fast, especially now that they have lost forward Vincent Trocheck long term to a gruesome leg injury on Monday night. Trocheck underwent surgery on Tuesday and is expected to be out for a very long time. 

“So yes, I do think there’s a lot of internal pressure there. I would not be surprised at all if they’re looking around pretty seriously. But Trocheck is going to be a hard guy to replace. It’s going to be hard to find somebody who can do what guy did without really subtracting from your team. 

“So you’re looking at losing Trocheck, and then you’re looking at losing whatever you have to lose to get him back - or something like him back. There’s not a lot of teams that can do that. I think it’s going to be very hard for them to do that and pay the salary that Nylander is going to be asking. 

“But I do believe that Florida is looking at this year as, ‘We’ve got to get there, or there could be consequences.’”

The clock is ticking, the pressure is on - sure seems like the perfect mix for a blockbuster move!