Salary Cap: Irrespective of playoff result, would you trade Nylander in the offseason?

[Stephen]

Though outside of a small handful of guys on the team with proven playoff experience (Muzzin). Nobody else, especially in the core, has demonstrated those intangible factors when needed while wearing a blue and white jersey.

So I don't necessarily understand focusing on Nylander with regard to this issue

I ran the numbers on the number of 'series wins' that each Leaf on the 2016-17 to 2020-21 squad shad under their belts and was actually quite surprised how low that number was year to year. For all the wisdom of the ages the Leafs have been adding, a lot of the veterans that have come through actually have very thin resumes.

Not an insult to Mark Giordano, who has been wonderful in the week that he's been here, but he actually only has 23 playoff games to his credit over a 15 year career. Actually very comparable to Travis Dermott at 22. Dermott is actually outscoring Gio in career playoff goals 2 to 1. Sometimes these things are weird.

 

[Brobust]

CJ on Overdrive: "No matter what happens in these playoffs, I think one of the Leafs core 4 forwards will be traded in the summer"

Matthews & Marner are too good to be traded, and Tavares as a full NMC. The 3 of them also make big money, making it hard for other teams to fit them in.

That really leaves Nylander. Whether it's a good trade or not depends entirely on the return. I would hate to see Willy go, but I can totally understand if the organization has rethought the way it needs to operate under a flat cap.

It's an obvious outcome, especially with the cap remaining stagnant.

 

[Brobust]

The Leaf team seems like a friendly bunch in general but I would suspect Nylander and Tavares have no chemistry in part because both of them are admiring their former linemates from afar. They just don't seem to embrace their identity as the second unit and play like and feel like the overlooked leftovers.

The issue is that since Kerfoot and Nylander are not great as forecheckers and can't win puck battles, it forces Tavares to basically turn into glorified grinder. They need a Bunting or Hyman type or just need to operate completely off the rush.

 

[cannucky]

Trade Nylander and have Tonya Hardings former security " expert " visit JT so we can LTIR that 11 million for the next 3 years .

 

[ULF_55]

There's certainly some truth to that.

The Wings of the late 90s would be a great object lesson in demystifying the perceived value of one line over another to that apparent detriment.

It's still a young foundation. Time to learn those lessons. The sooner the better.

Not sure they have a leader, unless Giordano can take that role when he is settled in.

 

[ULF_55]

The issue is that since Kerfoot and Nylander are not great as forecheckers and can't win puck battles, it forces Tavares to basically turn into glorified grinder. They need a Bunting or Hyman type or just need to operate completely off the rush.

Galchenyuk was quite capable enough last playoffs.

Structure not talent.

 

[JayfromNB1219]

Why?

Do you know what we're getting back in return for him?!

I know, I know.... any trade involving any of Nylander/Marner/Matthews we automatically lose because you say so.

Before you start, I've heard the whole story before.

So for a win now team what exactly do we get for nylander... Again knowing we are in win now mode not pick up a bunch of picks for the future aka Arizona mode... Lots of talk but in yet to see anything remotely close to what we have with him

 

[Tak7]

That is quite the change in organizational philosophy if true. If it is Nylander, I would hope there's a wider restructuring which includes a Muzzin disposal, moving off Kerfoot and Mrazek as well. And they can rework the upper middle class comprehensively.

To be fair to CJ, he did qualify his comment as his own speculation, not insider information or reporting - and he said it's his belief purely because of the salary cap being flat due to the pandemic.

But I do agree with you - if you are going to do it, might as well go nuclear and try and make a much bigger transaction.

 

[Tak7]

It's an obvious outcome, especially with the cap remaining stagnant.

I don't know if I agree with that - this was the first year in a while that the Leafs had accrued cap space available to them at the deadline. Dubas has done a pretty remarkable job trying to operate under the flat cap with this big 4 roster construction.

However, it basically means that you have to hit on almost all of your punts, and if you don't (Ritchie, Mrazek), it gets really expensive to undo those mistakes. I could totally understand if the organization isn't cool with putting that sort of pressure on themselves anymore.

 

[hotpaws]

what trade value could a soft floating winger who only gives a half assed effort have

good we kept him for this years playoff run so we have a scapegoat if we don't go deep , but dump him in the summer for a 5th and hope we don't have to take a cap dump back , we'll worry about next seasons scapegoat in Sept

 

[Holls Blackmail]

lol @ people giving him a raise. Holy f***.

 

[Legion34]

The only way trading willy made sense before was for a d man. We traded kadri for Brodie but it got nixed and went with the wrong plan b

Rielly. Brodie
Gio. Lub
Sandin Lilly with niemela coming probably is a good start.

Now I would look more towards getting a forward with less cap for controlled years who doesn’t come up the same year as Matty.

 

[Le Cobra]

Tom Wilson is a game changer. When was the last time you saw Bunting drop his gloves?? Nobody is afraid of Bunting. Not the case when Wilson is on the ice. You better know when Wilson is on the ice and have eyes in the back of your head or you might be in for a whole world of hurt.

Wilson is the modern day Scott Stevens

 

[Maplebeasts]

what trade value could a soft floating winger who only gives a half assed effort have

good we kept him for this years playoff run so we have a scapegoat if we don't go deep , but dump him in the summer for a 5th and hope we don't have to take a cap dump back , we'll worry about next seasons scapegoat in Sept

Surely you're not serious? Even with his defensive shortcomings a 30 goal scorer who is scoring at a 75 point pace is worth 6.9 million easy on the open market.

 

[seanlinden]

Honestly... it's a tough call. I can see an argument made for trading Nylander... he certainly has some shortcomings and $7m is a lot of cap to free up, but I can also see that argument applying to Marner; who would certainly open up a TON of cap space.

Nylander's compete level has always been a "challenge", but he has turned turned it up in the playoffs much moreso than his highly paid teammates.

In reality, the guy who's certainly becoming the biggest cap challenge is Tavares, who's seemingly slowing down, and has that same $11m cap hit... with of course the challenge being that trading him would be far, far from easy.

If I was in Dubas shoes... I guess the default would be Nylander, but I'd also want Matthews & Marner broken up. I think Tavares needs Marner to be effective much more than Matthews does. I'd almost consider putting Ilya Mikheyev up with Matthews; as his ability to take the neutral zone with speed would open up a ton of space for Matthews.

 

[Leafsfan74]

what trade value could a soft floating winger who only gives a half assed effort have

good we kept him for this years playoff run so we have a scapegoat if we don't go deep , but dump him in the summer for a 5th and hope we don't have to take a cap dump back , we'll worry about next seasons scapegoat in Sept

Kessel won two Cups and he is softer on the puck than Nylander.

I wasn't a big fan of Kessel either, but he was a safe 30 goal.sxorer. I read somewhere that his lackadaisical.attitude didn't work.well with the driven Pens core. I hope.Nylander.and others.can figure it out this.postseason.

 

[hotpaws]

Kessel won two Cups and he is softer on the puck than Nylander.

I wasn't a big fan of Kessel either, but he was a safe 30 goal.sxorer. I read somewhere that his lackadaisical.attitude didn't work.well with the driven Pens core. I hope.Nylander.and others.can figure it out this.postseason.

Surely you're not serious? Even with his defensive shortcomings a 30 goal scorer who is scoring at a 75 point pace is worth 6.9 million easy on the open market.

i thought it was obvious i was being sarcastic , i guess not , lol

 

[Maplebeasts]

i thought it was obvious i was being sarcastic , i guess not , lol

Oh ok good. I don't usually have a hard time picking up on sarcasm but I did there.

 

[Hockey 4 Life]

I think Mikheyev on line two would get both JT and willy going. Try everything before you trade him.

 

[Maplebeasts]

lol @ people giving him a raise. Holy f***.

Maybe not a raise if the cap doesn't go up but anyone thinking a 30 goal 75 point guy isn't worth 6.9 million is also out to lunch.

 

[meefer]

I think the comparison to Kessel is somewhat on point. Some people are wired differently, they march to their own drummer, regardless of the outside noise attempting to get them to conform to set ideals. Hockey has a culture that asks of a player certain things, and giving a shit through effort is one of the most important aspects as to how a player is viewed by the hockey world at large. The 'I'd go to war with that guy' mentality is bred into players from the get go, and the level of respect a player receives from the community is largely based on how well that player conforms to that ideal. I'm not sure Kessel or Nylander possess that mindset, at least not to the degree that a grinding 82 game season requires. Once the 'boredom' of the regular season is over, we've seen the driven play both are capable of offering, which benefits the teams they play on, but I suspect drives the fans, the coaches, and I'd guess their team mates crazy. It's just so different from the accepted norm.

In the end, you can catch fire in a bottle as Pittsburgh did with Kessel, but it's a short lived flame. Perhaps, the Leafs will do the same with Willy come these playoffs, he is that talented a player. But, I don't see him as a long term Leaf because I perceive his mentality to be so different from what I believe a team needs to be successful. Then again, wtf do I know

 

[justloveleafs]

For a brief period of time, the other night, Tavares played like his job was on the line, and going wild in the dance with Gudas, played really well.

Was Willy on his line at the time? I dunno, I was out shopping, had to be done. But came back later.

Saw the replays and I was shocked at how aggressive Tavares was.

My point? Well if Nylander was shuffled off to another line at that point, to me, it indicates that Tavares likes Nylanders effort less than Keefe does.

I mentoned weeks ago that its been rumoured Nylander and Marner are not very chummy to say the least.

So? Find someone for Tavares and find somewhere for Nylander to play with.

Not easily done, let me assure you.

One player like Nylander can cause a coach to lose hair, wives, all kinds of things. ITs that stressful to coach guys like this.

I think Keefe going off on Nylander was another Kyle Davidson situation for Dubas. Pretty well known, by league GM's that Willy, ain't fun to coach.

And now that he is rapidly losing his hair like Alexander and his father and keeping that rat moustache, he has lost that rock star look that might have gotten an owner to tap his gm on the shoulder and say, "that blonde swedish kid will sell tickets". Willy to me, has slick talents, but he doesn't have the lateral prowess to bring anyone out of their seat.

Not me anyways. I have never really liked him, but he has tricked me, on quite a few occasions.

If he goes on a hot playoff run, then you trade him in the off season.

Always try to sell high and never sell low. Again, much easier said than done.

 

[LeafsOHLRangers98]

Unless somehow a #1 RHD falls in your lap via trade, I just don't see how you get better moving Nylander.

Even if you trade him for assets and sign somebody you're still weakening your team in the present.

Kerfoot and Mrazek both go before we even think about a move like this.

Start looking towards the next 5 years with:

Matthews-Marner
Tavares-Nylander

Rielly-Liljegren
Sandin

Figure out the goalie situation and hope guys like Holmberg/Steeves/Knies/Anderson/Robertson/Kral/Niemela cna transition to the NHL level and keep the window open.

 

[Visnovsky]

If Winnipeg were to retool this summer, would something around Pionk and Nylander as the main pieces make any sense?

 

[horner]

CJ on Overdrive: "No matter what happens in these playoffs, I think one of the Leafs core 4 forwards will be traded in the summer"

Matthews & Marner are too good to be traded, and Tavares as a full NMC. The 3 of them also make big money, making it hard for other teams to fit them in.

That really leaves Nylander. Whether it's a good trade or not depends entirely on the return. I would hate to see Willy go, but I can totally understand if the organization has rethought the way it needs to operate under a flat cap.

I voted yes to trade Nylander .
At the beginning of the season he really changed my mind about him because he was talking over games . It's not just about how many points you , it's about getting involved in the game on a consisted bases . He just looks so disinterest in playing now.
After next season he has a M-NTC
Knives could be the one that pushes Nylander out the door.
I hope we sign Knives this season to see what he has.
Also Bunting will need a new contract next season.
Mik and Engval needs a new contract next season both these players have really stepped up there games .

We can't keep losing played and trying to find players

I would trade JT and give Nylander another yr but he can't be trades.