Dave Litman
New Toronto Maple Leafs GM John Chayka has begun his very busy offseason. It started with a stroke of luck in winning the draft lottery. His next move was firing head coach Craig Berube. Could a trade of a player like William Nylander be on the docket next?
Insider Chris Johnston said on his podcast on Tuesday that everyone and everything but his captain is on the table.
One of the things I’ve been told by other teams is that the message that’s come out of the Leafs front office is that they’re willing to discuss any player on their roster, except Auston Matthews. They’re open to hearing what you have to say on any player but Matthews.
Wait… Does that mean that William Nylander is available? Apparently so.
“I found it kind of interesting that they’re willing to listen on a lot of players that maybe in the past, they haven’t been in the previous administration.”
Even MLSE CEO Keith Pelley publicly identified Nylander along with Matthews as the ‘foundational pieces’ he considered the Maple Leafs to have.
We must keep in mind, however, that Nylander has a full no-move clause, so it’s not like Chayka can just ship him out as he sees fit. But this is the first time, as CJ noted, that the Leafs have ever suggested (even indirectly, as in this case) that Nylander could be available.
If this becomes a thing, Toronto could bring in a big haul for a player of Willie’s caliber. He had three straight 40-goal seasons coming into this year, and though he dipped quite a bit, to just 30 goals, he was also limited to 65 games. He hadn’t missed a single game of the 82-game schedule for three years before this one.
Nylander also has six years remaining at an $11.5 million cap hit. It’s not like any club that traded for him would be getting a team-friendly deal by any means, but at the very least, it’s cost certainty in an era where the salary cap continues to soar, and who knows where contracts are headed.
If Matthews is the only ‘untouchable’, who else are the Leafs listening on?
But Nylander isn’t the only name that Chayka would be willing to listen on. Based on the ‘Only Matthews is Untouchable’ parameters, that list now can also expand to Matthew Knies and Easton Cowan as well, among others.
The narrative around how the new Toronto front office feels about Matthews could still change, too, of course. They’re working on meeting the captain face-to-face down in Arizona in the next little while. The big question we’d have about that meeting is: Who should be interviewing who?
