Toronto Maple Leafs: Nylander Isn't Getting Traded (Ever)

The Toronto Maple Leafs are not trading William Nylander.

William Nylander is untouchable. The Toronto Maple Leafs would have to be run by complete morons to even consider such a thing. All evidence suggests they are not.

An article came out yesterday, by veteran Leafs Reporter Howerd Berger ,that suggested the Leafs will have to trade one of their prized soon-to-be-elite forwards. Lucky for us it will never happen.

It’s a worthwhile piece by Berger because it is a legitimate concern. I don’t think, however, that it is a concern that will ever come to fruition.

In order to show you how, I’ll respond in a point-by-point fashion. All block quotes in this post are from the article in question.

Overcoming Objection #1

"It’s a subject that has the most fervid Leaf supporters in denial. Yet, there’s virtually no way around the fact that one of William Nylander or Mitch Marner will be traded before the hockey club can move into solid Stanley Cup contention."

Well, this one was easy, since the Leafs are already in Stanley Cup contention. If the season started today, I see no reason why they shouldn’t be the favorite to win the East – they’ve got a good goalie, room for a ton of internal growth and by far the best forward collection in the NHL.

By virtue of their current status as obvious contenders (they almost knocked off the Captials and, don’t forget, they lost 15 games in over-time/ shootout last year) the Leafs have already proven Berger wrong.

Overcoming Objection #2

"As for the other two? Not so safe. Salary cap requirements all–but insist that a team can carry a maximum three core players… and that at least one of the three must be an elite defenseman."

The Chicago Blackhawks had three star core forwards – Patrick Kane, Johnathan Toews and Marian Hossa, in addition to their two star defenseman – Seabrook and Keith. All five players were on the Hawks for the duration of their dynastic run.

The Blackhawks are no-ones poster child for proper cap management, but if they can manage the cap while retaining five basic core players and a goalie, the Leafs can too.

I’d also be remiss if I didn’t point out that the Penguins – in addition to having Malkin, Crosby and Letang – also had Hornqvist/Neal and Staal/Kessel.

While those are just two examples, they’re kind of the main two teams the Leafs are attempting to become.

If you’d like a third, I present the Sharks, who not only had Marleau, Thornton and Burns, but also Vlasic and Pavalski and Couture.

I can do this all day.

Overcoming Objection #3

At this point Berger kind of goes on a somewhat bizarre pro-Bozak rant that seems odd in the overall context of the piece. I’m not sure what Bozak has to do with trading Nylander, but I couldn’t pass this up:

"Bozak, with one season left on a contract that carries a $4.25–million cap hit, will not be easily replaced."

Um……Bozak is easily replaced, by………..William Nylander. The Leafs have so far kept the natural centre in his off-position specifically because of Bozak. With seemingly no market for getting a fair return on James van Riemsdyk, the Leafs could very easily clear salary by sending Bozak to (let’s take a wild stab and say Pittsburgh) for a second-rounder, thus clearing salary and improving the team all in one fell swoop.

Berger wonder’s why people don’t appreciate Bozak, and the answer is that because his best skill – faceoffs – doesn’t really help the team win games. (As has been mathematically proven). Also, his defense is atrocious.

With Nylander at centre, the Leafs potentially have the best 1-2-3 combo down the middle in the entire NHL. One of the specific reasons to keep Nylander is that he is a centre and projects to be an elite one. In the NHL you do not trade elite centres. Ever.

Overcoming Objection #4

Berger makes a fair point about the Leafs salary cap future. He states that the Leafs will run into trouble once all three of Matthews, Nylander and Marner need to be re-signed, with the addition of a mythical $9 million defenseman.

"the Leafs, while forming a 23–man roster, will have enormous cap issues going into the 2019–20 season. There’s virtually no way Matthews, Marner and Nylander can stick around and consume $25 million in cap space."

This just isn’t the case. The Leafs are stacked with team friendly deals at the moment. But if money is needed, they can simply make smart decisions to free some up. Nazem Kadri is a nice player, and so is Jake Gardiner. They’re currently in their primes and key (if not core) pieces right now. But those are the guys you trade.

You can pay your stars and move out your secondary complimentary players. It’s not that hard, especially when the Leafs have those players on team-friendly deals.

Furthermore, if the team keeps drafting and developing players smartly, they’ll be able to move out expensive pieces and replace them with cheaper pieces each summer.

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They could buy out the third year of Marleau’s deal. Marleau could find himself on the LTIR. Zaitsev, as a right hander making under $5 will always be tradable. They could trade Kadri. Buy out Martin. Just saying, there are ways to free up money that don’t involve trading one of the best players your franchise has acquired in 30 years.

Plus the cap goes up every year (usually).

Conclusion

There are so many options that the Toronto Maple Leafs have that I don’t see them having to ever choose between Nylander and Marner. Special players of this quality are so rare (e.g if the Leafs only had one of them, whichever one it was would be their best player since Sundin) that they can (and the Leafs will) come up with creative solutions to fit them all in under the cap.

Don’t forget that teams have now been dealing with the cap for a decade now, and are just learning how to properly manage it. With no horrible albatross contracts, the Toronto Maple Leafs will be in fine shape to keep the core of their team together for as long as they want.

Next: Hard to Believe Leafs Have These Rules in 2017

Barring a complete and utter reversion to the idiocy that used to prevail in running the Toronto Maple Leafs, they will happily be able to keep their core of Matthews, Marner, Nylander, Rielly and Liljegren together through multiple Cup victories.

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Toronto Maple Leafs: Nylander Isn’t Getting Traded (Ever)

By James Tanner | Jul 10, 2017