William Nylander Discussion Thread

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

The criticism of the contract was Dubas caving not the contract itself.

if I characterized a deal getting made with 20 minutes remaining on the deadline after the player's camp reached out as "caving", i'd never bring it up again out of pure embarrassment

 

[ACC1224]

By virtually all accounts it was Nylander who caved not Dubas. It was Nylander who phoned with minutes left to come down from his ask. If the contract isnt a problem, then Dubas can't have caved. That implies giving in which doesn't fit with what we know about what transpired.

Yes there are some that believe that. Irrelevant now.

 

[leafsfan5]

He can't be playing only 15 minutes while Marner gets something insane like 26 (playoffs play him 26 sure but regular season I'd like to keep that down). Willy's been great and should be on 18-19 minutes a night.

 

[ruaware41]

We need to find a way to keep this guy angry. I like angry Nylander. What a beast he was last night.

Tell him he’s a Calgary cowboy and not a real Swede

 

[Wafflewhipper]

That was not his best impression last night. Somewhere closer to worst impression. Why this guy so flat and Lazy looking in big games is concerning. Just snap of the fingers and he can break a game open. Keefe needs to get him on the notice he’s getting more ice time.

 

[Stinger8]

He can't be playing only 15 minutes while Marner gets something insane like 26 (playoffs play him 26 sure but regular season I'd like to keep that down). Willy's been great and should be on 18-19 minutes a night.

I will never understand all the Willy love. He has 26 points in 37 games, translates to about 57 points in an 82 game season, 13 goals translates to about 29 goals, LIVES on the wall contributes very little physically and defensively. Overall an OK player when you look at his total contributions. If I am making the decisions I am moving him for a top level defenseman who can QB the power play effectively OR a top 6 winger who scores at a decent rate and has significant grit to his game

 

[zeke]

Sick feeds to Galy and Tavares last night that both should have buried.

 

[cannucky]

if I characterized a deal getting made with 20 minutes remaining on the deadline after the player's camp reached out as "caving", i'd never bring it up again out of pure embarrassment

Both sides moved to the middle so they both caved , yes Dubas should have held his number and let the kid sit at home , it would have put a whole different dynamic at play around negotiations with Mitch and Matty . Not Bridging Nylander at 5-5.5 after paying 11 per for a piece we didn't need meant Mitch and Matty were in the drivers seat to get paid .

 

[ToneDog]

Pasta and now Ehlers have left Willie in their rearview mirrors. Needs a good playoff showing or it might be time to move him to a GM that still sees him as sweet and sexy. If Marner were bridged, they probably could have given this core another year but being up against a flat cap, another playoff failue could signal the breakup of this core.

 

[Dekes For Days]

Irrelevant now.

Irrelevant, you say (once you're shown to be wrong), yet you bring up your false claim about the negotiation pretty much every chance you get.

yes Dubas should have held his number and let the kid sit at home , it would have put a whole different dynamic at play around negotiations with Mitch and Matty . Not Bridging Nylander at 5-5.5 after paying 11 per for a piece we didn't need meant Mitch and Matty were in the drivers seat to get paid .

"Letting the kid sit at home" would have been beyond stupid. Bridging him almost as stupid. Tavares was a need, and it didn't affect the Matthews/Marner negotiations at all. They got paid properly relative to their comparables.

 

[Antropovsky]

Pasta and now Ehlers have left Willie in their rearview mirrors. Needs a good playoff showing or it might be time to move him to a GM that still sees him as sweet and sexy. If Marner were bridged, they probably could have given this core another year but being up against a flat cap, another playoff failue could signal the breakup of this core.

Ehlers is notoriously streaky.

Nylander and Tavares need to produce more no doubt.... not sure if it's Nylander or Tavares bringing the line down. Tavares has missed out many great chances, fed by Nylander.

 

[BertCorbeau]

Pasta and now Ehlers have left Willie in their rearview mirrors. Needs a good playoff showing or it might be time to move him to a GM that still sees him as sweet and sexy. If Marner were bridged, they probably could have given this core another year but being up against a flat cap, another playoff failue could signal the breakup of this core.

I don't see why that would matter at all.

 

[hotpaws]

I will never understand all the Willy love. He has 26 points in 37 games, translates to about 57 points in an 82 game season, 13 goals translates to about 29 goals, LIVES on the wall contributes very little physically and defensively. Overall an OK player when you look at his total contributions. If I am making the decisions I am moving him for a top level defenseman who can QB the power play effectively OR a top 6 winger who scores at a decent rate and has significant grit to his game

what's worse than the Willie love is the Tavares love

10g - 28pts 37 games

which translates too

22g - 62pts in 82 games

at a 11m dollar cap hit we'd be lucky if anyone would take him without giving cap dumps back

 

[zeke]

Pasta and now Ehlers have left Willie in their rearview mirrors. Needs a good playoff showing or it might be time to move him to a GM that still sees him as sweet and sexy. If Marner were bridged, they probably could have given this core another year but being up against a flat cap, another playoff failue could signal the breakup of this core.

So Ehlers has passed willy because he's been hotter for the last....20gms.

P.s. the leafs don't have cap issues.

 

[zeke]

what's worse than the Willie love is the Tavares love

10g - 28pts 37 games

which translates too

22g - 62pts in 82 games

at a 11m dollar cap hit we'd be lucky if anyone would take him without giving cap dumps back

What's even worse is you guys crying about all the awful players on your wire to wire first place leafs.

 

[socko]

at a 11m dollar cap hit we'd be lucky if anyone would take him without giving cap dumps back

That might be the understatement of the week. If anyone offered to take that contract with no strings attached, I couldn't get to the fax machine fast enough (Jonas Hoglund joke).

 

[Garthinater]

Pasta and now Ehlers have left Willie in their rearview mirrors. Needs a good playoff showing or it might be time to move him to a GM that still sees him as sweet and sexy. If Marner were bridged, they probably could have given this core another year but being up against a flat cap, another playoff failue could signal the breakup of this core.

Ehlers: 7 years at 6 mil

Pasta: 6 years at 6.66 mil

Nylander: 6 years at 6.9 mil

Somehow nylander makes more than the other 2 as well.

Great player with so much skill. But there's a segment that extremely over rates nylander.

Back around 2017-18 I saw some leaf fans posting that nylander was already better than John tavares lol

 

[socko]

Willie got a salary of $7.5 million ($7 million cap in following years because he already sat out 1/3 of the season) when the going rate for a young 20 goal scorer (Ehlers, Larkin) was about $6 million. That's about $1.5 million overpay. Nylander owned Dubas in that negotiation. But that's old news now. I like Willy, he's a really good player, very streaky, but he has high end talent.

 

[Menzinger]

Pasta and now Ehlers have left Willie in their rearview mirrors. Needs a good playoff showing or it might be time to move him to a GM that still sees him as sweet and sexy. If Marner were bridged, they probably could have given this core another year but being up against a flat cap, another playoff failue could signal the breakup of this core.

I don't understand how Nylanders value to the Leafs has anything to do with Pasta or Elhers?

Pasta is the best goal scoring winger in the league beyond Ovie. Most forwards in the league aren't as good as him. That doesn't mean their value to their teams suddenly vanishes...

 

[Menzinger]

I will never understand all the Willy love. He has 26 points in 37 games, translates to about 57 points in an 82 game season, 13 goals translates to about 29 goals, LIVES on the wall contributes very little physically and defensively. Overall an OK player when you look at his total contributions. If I am making the decisions I am moving him for a top level defenseman who can QB the power play effectively OR a top 6 winger who scores at a decent rate and has significant grit to his game

A players scoring pace will ebb and flow in the season (like Matthews' saw his drop off during his recent slump). At the moment Nylander gets 2nd line usage, while producing at a first line level. I don't see the issue here? Particularly since I'd wager his end of season pace will be higher than it is on April 3rd

And I'm not sure I'd agree about your assertion he's not contributing defensively though. His (and Tavares) defensive numbers this season are among their best while with the league. Nylanders goals against numbers are a fraction of the previous season alone. Simply put, the Leafs score way more goals when he's on the ice than they give up.

 

[Jojalu]

I will never understand all the Willy love. He has 26 points in 37 games, translates to about 57 points in an 82 game season, 13 goals translates to about 29 goals, LIVES on the wall contributes very little physically and defensively. Overall an OK player when you look at his total contributions. If I am making the decisions I am moving him for a top level defenseman who can QB the power play effectively OR a top 6 winger who scores at a decent rate and has significant grit to his game

So your assesment is he is OK, but somwhow you move hime for a top level Dman??

Or a top 6 that scores at a decent rate? There are 20 players who have scored more goals than Nylander in in the past 2 seasons.

How do you judge his defensive play? Nylander is almost never on the ice for a goal against. Luck?

 

[Garthinater]

if I characterized a deal getting made with 20 minutes remaining on the deadline after the player's camp reached out as "caving", i'd never bring it up again out of pure embarrassment

Giving nylander 10.27 mil aav for year one so that willy still gets his 7 mil after sitting out on the team for 2 months is caving.

Then add on he gets 24 million in signing bonuses compared to 0 signing bonuses for ehlers and 7 mil for pasta. Its fairly obvious to see that dubas caved on the nylander contract.

Which created an unfortunate snowball effect for the matthews and marner deals.

 

[hamzarocks]

I dont know who to blame for nylanders underwhelming production this year.

Keefe and his weird usage of him (only getting 16ish mins and 2nd pp while the top unit sucks ass)

JT for failing to drive the line and play like an elite 1C. JT producing at a pathetic 62 pt pace which is simply unacceptable from him

Or Nylander himself as he has been careless at times and inconsistent. The worse things I've noticed about him is that he is playing a cycle heavy game way to often. Him and JT tryand cycle the puck for an entire shift and hes not making the skilled stud plays he was making last year.

I hope he can end with a 60-65 point year which is slightly disappointing but acceptable and then hopefully a 70pt playoff pace helping lead the offense as we chase the cup

 

[Martin Skoula]

Both sides moved to the middle so they both caved , yes Dubas should have held his number and let the kid sit at home , it would have put a whole different dynamic at play around negotiations with Mitch and Matty . Not Bridging Nylander at 5-5.5 after paying 11 per for a piece we didn't need meant Mitch and Matty were in the drivers seat to get paid .

Yeah, that dynamic would have been that you have 3 RFAs who are resentful at you and can say "Pay all of us or you don't have an offense next season".

 

[ToneDog]

So Ehlers has passed willy because he's been hotter for the last....20gms.

P.s. the leafs don't have cap issues.

Ehlers has been very good all year. Yup Leafs do not have cap issues. They should be able to load up with another 1/2 dozen players willing to take the minimum. I hear Marleau might be available