NHL team in prime position to offer sheet William Nylander.

Nylander could realistically receive an offer sheet.

HockeyFeed
HockeyFeed
Published 5 years ago
NHL team in prime position to offer sheet William Nylander.
Joel Marklund/Bildbyran/Zuma

We are now midway through the month of October and the Toronto Maple Leafs still have not reached a new agreement with talented young forward William Nylander. Even worse than that however is that thus far there has been nothing to suggest that the rather large divide between the two sides of this negotiation has closed in any meaningful way and there is now talk that the Leafs and Nylander are on borrowed time. 

Although nothing concrete has emerged as of yet suggesting that the relationship between the Maple Leafs and Nylander has come to a point of no return, there has been plenty of speculation regarding how this stand off may end. Most appear to believe that one way or another William Nylander will be playing for a team not named the Toronto Maple Leafs before this is all said and done and at this stage of the game I'm inclined to lean in that direction as well. 

Now of course the Leafs could simply cave in and give Nylander exactly what he wants but the Maple Leafs' offense has shown no signs of slowing down without Nylander in the line up and every successful outing without him makes him more and more expendable in the eyes of the organization, and likely in the eyes of their fans as well. Add to that the fact that Nylander is losing a ton of money every day he remains unsigned and it seems like all the pressure is on the young forward, while time seems to be entirely on the side of the Maple Leafs. 

There is one way however that Nylander and his camp could regain all of the leverage in these negotiations but that would require the help of a rival NHL franchise, I am of course referring to the dreaded and much maligned NHL offer sheet. Offer sheets have been extremely rare in the NHL largely due to the fact that they come with a ton of consequences for the general manager that chooses to use them against a rival team. There has long been a sense that other general managers would refuse to work with another general manager who made use of an offer sheet as a way to avoid their use altogether, but this may be the perfect opportunity. 

The Leafs, and more specifically general manager Kyle Dubas, are currently under a ton of pressure to get this deal done at a reasonable number, a number reasonable enough that it would allow the Leafs to also fit the next contracts of both Mitch Marner and Auston Matthews under the cap as well. That particular pressure point leaves them extremely vulnerable to an offer sheet as a significant offer could potentially push the Leafs out of that range, and that could genuinely result in them opting not to match the offer sheet. 

One team that is uniquely positioned to make the move are the suddenly successful Colorado Avalanche, not only because they have the cap space but because they also have the picks to make this deal a reality. Nylander is reportedly looking for a deal that will pay him an average annual value of $8 million per season and that type of contract offer would cost the team making the offer sheet two first round picks, a second round pick, and a third round pick. The Avalanche are in the unique position of currently holding the Ottawa Senator's first round pick in 2019 following the trade of forward Matt Duchene, which means they could give up their own pick this year while still retaining a first rounder in the 2019 NHL draft. 

Additionally the Avalanche currently have nearly $14 million in available cap space so fitting a deal of that size under the cap would be a non issue for the organization. Kyle Dubas and the Leafs could in theory match the offer and look to trade Nylander after the fact in order to make room for Marner and Matthews, but would a team be willing to give up more than two firsts, a second and a third? The Avalanche may avoid the move due to the stigma it would put on them, but the cap strap Leafs' would have very little recourse to retaliate and there may be no better time for them to pull the trigger off this type of move.

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