Important developments surrounding Nylander's trade situation

Contract negotiations between the Toronto Maple Leafs and free agent forward William Nylander are at a total standstill following a week of optimism following two meetings between Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas and Nylander’s agent Lewis Gross.

While the Leafs prefer not to trade the young forward but they might have no other choice. On Tuesday night, during a segment of Insider Trading on TSN, Bob McKenzie revealed that the Leafs might reach a point where they have to consider trading Nylander. Noting Dubas’ recent travels to see games in Los Angeles, Minnesota, Carolina, Philadelphia, McKenzie believes the more the Leafs wait around to take a decision, the more teams will get in line to call in about the free agent. 

"Are the Maple Leafs any closer to trading William Nylander because they can't sign him? The answer right at this moment is no, not necessarily. But I can tell you this: with each passing day where Nylander isn't signed, there is going to be an uptake in the number of teams that contact the Toronto Maple Leafs, and it may become more attractive for the Leafs to at least listen to what is being pitched from these teams that are starting to gather and thinking that Nylander might not get signed."

The Carolina Hurricanes for weeks now have shown interest in landing the young forward, as some insiders believe they could be a perfect trade partner for the Leafs seeing that they have great depth on the blue line. The Canes could use Brett Pesce as trade bait in the talks. NHL insider Pierre LeBrun mentioned again on Tuesday night he could be part of the trade package. 

"Carolina continues to be a team that is keeping a close eye on the Nylander situation, they really like the player, they'd like to add a top-six forward but haven't been given the green light by the Leafs to engage in this type of conversation now. The reason why I think the Hurricanes are a good fit is they're deep on defense, and we've mentioned the name of Brett Pesce, who's on a long-term deal at a reasonable cap price and the Leafs also view Carolina deep down as a team that if they ever wanted to open that door, they would probably have to contact. 

"They are not alone, but the Hurricanes make sense."

Nylander and the Maple Leafs have until December 1st to hammer out a contract or he’ll be unable to play in the NHL this season. We can assume that until this contract impasse gets resolved, several teams will try to get in on the sweepstakes and see where their offer stands.