Should we strongly consider Trading W. Nylander while his value is high?

[SoftDumpNtheCorner88]

Let me just start off by saying I'm a fan of Nylander, I followed his career the day we drafted him, watched all the Marlies games he played in (some in person).

He's a dynamic player and will be a PPG player for awhile.... But isn't the guy to raise his level in the playoffs to drag his team/line into the fight and IMO his energy if anything kills it... With all his skill and speed I hate seeing him choose when he wants to start playing, the book is out on him... Play him rough and he'll disappear.

I KNOW he still got his points in the playoffs but that doesn't tell the whole story... He wasn't bringing the intensity/effort that Matthews and Marner and even Tavares (with his slow skating) was trying to bring to keep momentum going. Shying away from scrums and even giving up on plays.... ITS THE f***IN PLAYOFFS... That type of play KILLS your team's momentum, he's a highly valued player in the league... Even Phil Kessel would raise his play come play offs and take a hit to make a play... PHIL KESSEL.... I hated seeing him just poke at pokes and avoid contact at all costs. He isn't a rookie anymore and there's no excuses for that when Marner is jumping in corners and throwing the body himself. Reminder that he's older than Marner and Matthews and should do a better job of roading by example.


With our salary cap issues and some players who can't be traded (Tavares would be the player we should trade but no team will take in that cap and he has a NMC) I think we should be looking into our options with Nylanders great contract that he will be expecting a bigger raise... We should look elsewhere and collect on his HIGH VALUE now.. grab some high end picks and almost ready blue chip prospects.

We have PPG players in our team and we've already witnessed that JT can do well into he 2nd line with other players, we can sacrifice the finess speedy winger since we have enough in our system.. try to bring in plays like JT Miller play style in and create more of a dog fight team to complement the speed and skill.

We've wasted enough time keeping our own rentals without results.. I think it's time we send a message by Trading Willy and seeing what he can fetch.

I am not saying trade him for the highest bidder... The offer needs to be what we want and let a team desperate enough for skill and speed to over pay, but we should atleast make it clear he isn't untouchable.

We got Matthew Knies and Nick Robertson coming up soon along with Amirov that hopefully will recover and develop.

If we can get a 1st, 2nd, high end prospect, and a maybe a play off performing roster player that can help now I take that deal all day. Nylanders PPG resume and ideal contract for a few years should be enticing enough.

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[Maple Leaf]

1. Tavares
2. Marner

 

[SoVi3t]

We can't trade Matthews because he is too good.
We can't trade Marner because that contract is abysmal and everybody knows he is a playoff dud.
We can't trade Tavares because he has a no movement on his contract.

Willy is our only option, but he is also the one guy with a sensible contract.

Cold hard truth is, we are probably stuck with this core until they figure out how to play hockey, or get sent their separate ways when contracts are up.

 

[SoftDumpNtheCorner88]

1. Tavares
2. Marner

Both those players looked like they wanted it more in the Play Offs, and I agree JT would be better trade, but realistically nobody will take him unless we add sweetners and JT wouldn't agree to moving his family for his hometown.. he's planning the retire here.

 

[Mohar Ikram]

Willy is the easiest player to trade... But I have instinct that says it is another mistake by trading him.

Plus, Trading him is a lateral move. 6.9 mill cap space are huge but not huge enough for additions of good player.

Gotta break out between Matthews, Tavares, Marner or Reilly - If one of this big 4 getting traded, then you can add great complementary pieces.

Somehow, I just think Matthews - Tavares 1C/2C combo really underperforms (likes how can Bergeron/Krejci, Point/Cirelli, Aho/Trocheck and Zibanejad/Strome are more prominent in the playoffs). Can try to experiment with that.

 

[Maple Leaf]

Upgrade the goalie and try again

 

[SoftDumpNtheCorner88]

We can't trade Matthews because he is too good.
We can't trade Marner because that contract is abysmal and everybody knows he is a playoff dud.
We can't trade Tavares because he has a no movement on his contract.

Willy is our only option, but he is also the one guy with a sensible contract.

Cold hard truth is, we are probably stuck with this core until they figure out how to play hockey, or get sent their separate ways when contracts are up.

Marner seems to be learning and actually showed up this playoffs against the back to back champs.. finished checks and played in the corners. Whenever I seen willy and his line come on the ice right after, there was a noticeable drop in intensity and he becomes a liability in the Dzone with no effort to win battles... I was HOPING to see it in this playoffs but it was far and between... Again... If not now in the playoffs with all these embarrassing 1st round exists then when?

 

[LastOne2100]

Nylander is definitely the easiest trade to make, but the chances we use that 6.9M better than Nylander is slim.

Easy trade to lose, near impossible trade to win.

 

[Mickey Marner]

Messages needed to be sent years ago. He's 26 and still pulling the chute in elimination playoff games because there's no accountability or consequences in this organization. We could trade him, or not, I don't really think it matters either way at this point. Changes need to start from Shanahan on down. Otherwise, whoever we trade Nylander for will just develop the same complacent attitude this organization instills in people.

 

[saffronleaf]

I'm open to getting rid of anyone and everyone

 

[GojuLeaf]

We trade nylander we lose the trade and become a worse team. If that is what you want, then sure may as well trade him.

 

[Mohar Ikram]

Marner seems to be learning and actually showed up this playoffs against the back to back champs.. finished checks and played in the corners. Whenever I seen willy and his line come on the ice right after, there was a noticeable drop in intensity and he becomes a liability in the Dzone with no effort to win battles... I was HOPING to see it in this playoffs but it was far and between... Again... If not now in the playoffs with all these embarrassing 1st round exists then when?

In this series, I will not blame Marner but he need to have his offence and defence game at high level without sacrificing one for the other. In game 7, He did have an amazing defensive performance (lots of interception and takeaways and checks) but so underwhelming in offence aside from that Reilly breakaway goal. Tampa defence eats him and knows what he gonna do and that's not good (same as Nylander).

 

[Myopic]

I don't trust the current GM to make any more moves. His philosophy has been to trade Mason Marchment without ever giving him a chance, and to draft Rodion Amirov instead of taking big talented defenseman Kaiden Guhle.

He needs to go. They need toughness, speed and skill, instead of signing washed up players like Simmonds & Clifford.

Dubas has left the prospect cupboards relatively bare and the pipeline dried up. He mortgaged the future by giving away draft picks, and has to rely on min wage stop-gaps to fill in the lineup. Yeah I like Robertson and Knies but the blue chip talent pool should be 5X that size.

 

[Stephen]

I'm not advocating this, but just thinking out loud. I would debate long and hard on the merits of trading Nylander to New Jersey for the 2nd overall with pluses here and there. Draft Juraj Slafkovsky who is projected as a harder hitting Mikko Rantanen, and spend the $7 million in free agency upgrades. In one year's time you have a younger hungrier forward group with Knies, Slafkovsky and Robertson on cheap pushing up.

That would be the only real scenario I could see. A simultaneous cap restructure and re-energizing the organization with some elite young talent.

 

[Stephen]

I don't trust the current GM to make any more moves. His philosophy has been to trade Mason Marchment without ever giving him a chance, and to draft Rodion Amirov instead of taking big talented defenseman Kaiden Guhle.

He needs to go. They need toughness, speed and skill, instead of signing washed up players like Simmonds & Clifford.

Dubas has left the prospect cupboards bare and the pipeline dried up. He has mortgaged the future and has to rely on min wage stop-gaps to fill in the lineup.

In hindsight, Schneider would have looked better in that spot too.

My problem with Dubas drafting is I'm kind of concerned with how projectible some of the talent is. Do we feel comfortable that relative successes like Robertson, Abruzzese, Sandin and even Niemela will grow up into players that thrive in a series like Tampa? Feels like we need to be bigger, more athletically robust and harder to play against but we're overstocked in brainy, intelligent and undersized talent. Knies is the crown jewel in that respect. He's got upside, projects well and will solve current and future needs. I'm not sure where the development system meets up with today's playoff needs. They don't speak to one another.

 

[therealkoho]

Both those players looked like they wanted it more in the Play Offs, and I agree JT would be better trade, but realistically nobody will take him unless we add sweetners and JT wouldn't agree to moving his family for his hometown.. he's planning the retire here.

No matter how unrealistic, hopefully JT decides to help the team out and file his retirement thus taking his 11m NHL contract off the books next year. After a year of rest and recuperation plus learning some front office skills at 1yr 4m he can then re-sign a contract starting in 23-24 a little more favorable to the teams cap structure spreading the 7m he lost across 6 years plus a more reasonable 5m per. So essentially a 6 year 37m deal. It would be more money than he'll earn with his current contract and help the team out.

Like I said its highly unrealistic, but hey if I were running the show I'd at least ask, they need everybody's hands on the oars, this would be just another way of trying to win, or we can just do what Tampa did and have a superstar sit on LTIR until the cap doesn't matter.

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

I'm not advocating this, but just thinking out loud. I would debate long and hard on the merits of trading Nylander to New Jersey for the 2nd overall with pluses here and there. Draft Juraj Slafkovsky who is projected as a harder hitting Mikko Rantanen, and spend the $7 million in free agency upgrades. In one year's time you have a younger hungrier forward group with Knies, Slafkovsky and Robertson on cheap pushing up.

That would be the only real scenario I could see. A simultaneous cap restructure and re-energizing the organization with some elite young talent.

I doubt Jersey would do it...but I think it would make sense all the way around. No way Willy is re-signing here anyways and it's not like he does so well in the playoffs that you can't live without him. We are being greedy when we think we can just tinker around with the spare parts and not touch the core and be successful. You need to give to get...

 

[Gary Nylund]

Among our forwards in these playoffs, Matthews had the best on ice goals % and best on ice expected goal %. Nylander was 2nd to Matthews in both categories despite not having another star player on his line so here's a thought - instead of trading him, why don't we try giving him some more minutes?

I was ranting about this a few days ago because Marner at that point was playing 5 more minutes per game than Nylander. Keefe was double shifting Matthews to get him more minutes so why not send out Nylander with him, that would be one hell of a 4th line!

That's my one big criticism of Keefe and I do think that 4 more minutes per game for Nylander could have us preparing for Florida today. Live and learn (I hope).

 

[Gabriel426]

Honestly at this point, everyone is on the table and it all depends on the returning package.

 

[1specter]

For the love of God no.

 

[ER89]

Marner seems to be learning and actually showed up this playoffs against the back to back champs.. finished checks and played in the corners. Whenever I seen willy and his line come on the ice right after, there was a noticeable drop in intensity and he becomes a liability in the Dzone with no effort to win battles... I was HOPING to see it in this playoffs but it was far and between... Again... If not now in the playoffs with all these embarrassing 1st round exists then when?

Um so? You're gna trade the guy who gets paid 4m less and contributes the same as an 11m Mitch? Who gives a f*** about intensity. The only thing that matters are the results in the playoffs. I could give a rats ass if we lost the advanced stats f***ing battle or the intensity battle if we win a damn series. And William Nylander at 6.9 million contributes just as much in the two stats that matter in the playoffs as our 11m players. He puts up goals and assists and always shows up and creates chances. Always. Ffs.

 

[Alexanderthe89]

No place for floaters on a team that wants to go deep in the playoffs. That clip of him giving up on the dump-in when he realized he’d have to take a hit was embarrassing. How do you look your teammates in the eye. Like others have said, even Kessel didn’t pull that kind of weak garbage in the playoffs.

Trade him.

 

[Jozay]

It all depends on what you can get back. Obviously not gonna trade him just to trade him.

 

[BertCorbeau]

I think a better question is - would you retain some $ on Tavares to move his contract and get a better package?

You would only have some dead cap 1 year into Matthews new deal and makes re-signing Nylander more plausible.

I'm open to a lot of ideas this off-season, including re-loading on some assets, even if it means a step backwards.

It'd be foolish to move Matthews or Marner at this point. I think you need to find better core players that you can win with to compliment them. Pretty generic statement, and an easy thing to say. But some re-tooling is needed. It's not a full tear-down situation.

 

[BayStBullies]

1. Tavares
2. Marner

Both home town guys. Which moving Marner probably makes Matthews walk and you can't move Tavares.