Let's Make William Nylander A NY Ranger
By now most hockey fans are familiar with the William Nylander situation in Toronto but I’ll summarize real quick. The 22 year-old is a restricted free agent who’s holding out for a big-time payday. Possibly bigger than he deserves, but certainly bigger than the Leafs can afford with deals for Matthews & Marner on tap for next summer that will easily total over $20M annually. Both sides haven’t blinked, with the Nylander camp looking for a reported $8M AAV & Toronto offering significantly less. Once December 1 comes, if Nylander hasn’t signed or isn’t dealt, he’s ineligible to play for the rest of the year. So at this point, the Maple Leafs are at least listening to potential trade offers.
So what would they want in return for a young stud like Nylander? You could look back to the Ryan Johansen/Seth Jones swap from a few years ago to find a deal they’d love to emulate. The Leafs could certainly use some D help now & in the future. Rielly & Zaitsev will be occupying a spot on each side for a while with top prospects Dermott & Liljegren as future staples as well. After that, there’s some uncertainty. Gardiner’s a 28 year-old UFA who is due a significant raise from his $4M salary. 37 year-old Ron Hainsey is also an impending UFA playing top-pair right-side minutes as a lefty right now. Can they afford to keep Gardiner? Does Toronto wanna rely on a guy pushing 40 to continue eating major ice time? Turning an unhappy asset into back end stability would be the most a team on the cusp of truly contending could ask for.
It’s possible an elite D prospect could be the cornerstone of a trade but I gotta think they’d prefer a proven NHL commodity in exchange for a controllable youngster with a pair of 60-point seasons under his belt. Carolina has been considered to be “all in” on a Nylander deal and certainly have the defensive depth – especially on the right side where the Leafs could use more help. Justin Faulk makes some sense as a focal point, but the 26 year-old is only under contract through next season before a big raise. Brett Pesce is just 23 & inked to a very manageable $4M per through 2024 but there’s no offensive upside to his game – and as of this morning might miss a few weeks with a knee injury. Minnesota has some coveted RD options but Dumba’s $6M per might be a little too rich. Perhaps Spurgeon works (about $5.2M per through next season) but the Wild would still have a hard time fitting Nylander among their other big contracts without having to make more room. Even moreso with the Kings who also might have interest, although I’m not sure why Kyle Dubas would chase their 30 year-old options.
So considering the other rumored targets, why not Brady Skjei? I’m admittedly a big-time Skjei fanboy, but although he’s got room to improve he’s got all the tools. Skjei can skate, shoot, move the puck, block shots & throw the body. Left side or right side, PK or PP – the 24 year-old has done it all. I think his development was stunted a bit with last year’s shitshow carousel of minor league partners but he’s been the backbone of a defense that’s been surprisingly solid at even strength so far during a rebuilding season. Pair him with a stud like Rielly & you got a legit top duo of 2012 first rounders at barely over $10M for years to come. Brady checks all the boxes that’d make sense for Toronto. He’s young, versatile, has playoff experience & is locked up at an extremely reasonable $5.25M for 5 more years. It’d cost the Rangers more to land Nylander – perhaps they’d toss in a Zucc rental, a mid-tier prospect and/or a 2019 second-rounder – but as far as main pieces are concerned, Brady Skjei is as good as any.
The Leafs can obviously fit Skjei because if they could keep Nylander for the price he’d be signed. As far as the Rangers are concerned, it gets a little trickier when looking ahead to next season. Yes, Nylander’s $7M+ per fits when you consider Skjei, Zucc & Hayes will be off the books – but let’s not forget we’re also dropping $10M for UFA Artemi Panarin. But guess what? It still works after inking their slew of upcoming RFAs to qualifying offers & calling on Libor Hajek to step in for big D minutes on the big stage. The back end will be a continued work in progress, but that’s fine. The forwards will be outstanding:
Panarin Zibanejad Buchnevich
Kreider Chytil Nylander
Vesey Andersson Fast
Namestnikov Howden Spooner
Give them a year to develop chemistry. Let Hajek, Pionk & Deangelo mature in the NHL while Kravtsov & Shestyorkin dominate the AHL. Move Spooner and Vlad next deadline. Buy out Staal’s final year. Then 2020-21 comes, the Rangers have young studs all over the place with plenty of cash to burn for Grade-A blueline help & Henrik Lundqvist goes out a Stanley Cup champion. It’s that damn simple, but it all starts with a Nylander blockbuster in the next couple weeks. If the Leafs don’t bend – and I’m not sure it’s financially possible for them to do so – the Blueshirts should absolutely be atop their list of trade partners.