Proposed 4 player trade between the Leafs & Flyers would be a blockbuster.

The Toronto Maple Leafs are rapidly running out of time to finalize a new contract with young restricted free agent forward William Nylander and that also means that any potential trade window that they have to move Nylander is also rapidly closing. Unsurprisingly given the nature of that quickly closing window the trade talk surrounding the Maple Leafs, specifically as it pertains to Nylander, has really picked up significantly in recent weeks. 

The most frquently mentioned teams have without a doubt been the Los Angeles Kings and the Carolina Hurricanes, but during the most recent 31 thoughts podcast Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman revealed that there was a very interesting stealth possibility for a William Nylander trade.

“Now the interesting thing about this is they haven’t been a team that’s been mentioned a lot with Nylander, but they could do it,” noted Friedman when speaking about the Philadelphia Flyers. “They have pieces that I think Toronto could like. 

“So who have we mentioned. We’ve mentioned - if Toronto gets to this point - we’ve mentioned Los Angeles, we’ve mentioned Minnesota, Carolina definitely - they’re all over the place there - but I really do believe that a stealth team that has what Toronto would want would be the Flyers.”

Now Friedman did hint that the Flyers would have to get the pieces done, but he did not go into detail regarding who those pieces might be. However on Friday night during an NHL broadcast Friedman was asked to grade potential trade submissions from fans, and one such trade received an "A-" rating from the NHL insider who thought the deal made a lot of sense for both teams. 

The proposed trade would have seen the aforementioned William Nylander as well as defenseman Jake Gardiner and a 2nd round draft selection head to Philadelphia in exchange for forward Wayne Simmonds, defenseman Shayne Gostisbehere and a 4th round draft selection. Friedman's only criticism of the proposal was a suggesting that the Leafs would want more than a 4th back from the Flyers in this deal, with Friedman suggesting that a tweak to either draft pick, or both, could result in this trade being a legitimate deal between the two sides. 

It makes a lot of sense, both Nylander and Gostisbehere are long term building blocks for an organization while both Simmons and Gardiner are set to be unrestricted free agents at the end of the 2018 - 2019 NHL season. The question of course becomes would general managers Ron Hextall or Kyle Dubas seriously consider such a deal? Would you?

Who do you think would win this trade? Would you make the deal if you were the Flyers? Would you make it if you were the Maple Leafs? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.

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