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.
If they do, McKenzie’s colleague Darren Dreger believes that a Western Conference club will be in line to inquire about what is needed to land the talented forward. While NHL insider Pierre LeBrun has maintained that the Carolina Hurricanes are very interested in acquiring Nylander, Dreger believes the Vegas Golden Knights will get involved as well and he explained the situation on the air of Vancouver’s TSN 1040 on Tuesday evening.
“The Toronto Maple Leafs wouldn’t be doing their due diligence if they didn’t at least start talking about it internally. The deadline of December 1 is looming. If he’s not signed by then, he’s ineligible to play in the NHL. So what, are you going to get caught with an asset that’s not playing in your league? That doesn’t make any sense. I don’t think that they’ve reached the stage yet where they’re entertaining offers, or they’re trying to percolate more of the interest.
“Pierre LeBrun in the (Insider Trading) segment talked about Carolina’s ongoing interest in William Nylander. I think there are lots of teams that would obviously have interest. The Vegas Golden Knights are another team that definitely have interest in William Nylander.
“You’ve just got to get to the place - well, it’s twofold. What’s the expected rate of return, and what is William Nylander really going to sign for. If he’s unwilling to budge off a $7.5-8-plus million Average Annual Salary, is Carolina willing to pay that? That doesn’t sound likely. What about Vegas or any other team that’s interested.
“So I think we’re just creeping into the place where Toronto is at least willing to look at trade as a potential option.”
The Golden Knights surely have the room for Nylander’s desired contract and the kid could be tempted to play for the team that ended up in the Stanley Cup final this past spring.
Carolina is said to be talking about trading a defenseman in return, often mentioned is Brett Pesce, it remains to be seen what Vegas could put on the block to land Nylander.
