The Toronto Maple Leafs made their first big move of the summer.
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced Kyle Dubas as their new general manager yesterday, and now they can get down to business. But what is their business? What do the Leafs need to accomplish this summer?
Tons! They’ve got to name a captain, improve their defense, replace four UFAs (Bozak, JVR, Komarov, Plekanec). Find a centre, decide if Nylander is a centre, then, if not, find another one. They’ve got a ton of stuff to do, but one thing looms heavily over everything else:
Sign Nylander (and Possibly Marner and Matthews).
This is priority #1. The Leafs might sign Matthews and Marner, but they might not. Their deals aren’t up and they may wish to attempt to have even better seasons in order to get even more money on their upcoming eight-year contracts.
It would nice for the Leafs to get the certainty of knowing what they’ll be paying their three franchise players for the next (almost) decade. But it might not be possible.
A best case scenario is that all three get signed before anything else happens so that the Leafs have cost certainty. But at the very least, Nylander must be signed. (or, and I hope not, but you never know: traded). And before that happens they’ve got to decide if he’s a centre or a winger.
Once the Leafs decide, and once they have Nylander signed, they can then know what they can afford to spend on their defense. In a best case scenario, they’d sign all three before doing anything else – which would mean it’d have to happen over the next month before the Stanley Cup is awarded.
Nyalnder
As the first of the so-called Big Three to come up for a contract, what the Leafs decide to do with Nylander will alter the franchise for years to come. Though it’s the first of many decisions Dubas will have to make, it may be the biggest one of his career.
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Either way, a bold move is necessary. Do you lock him up for eight years? Do you decide immediately if he’s a centre or a winger? Or are they unsure, in which case, do they risk bridging him? (i.e give him a short term ‘bridge’ contract sure to increase his AAV once they eventually lock him up). Or do they trade him?
I really don’t think they can trade him. Any similarly young defenseman is more of a risk than Nylander (who we know is a legit franchise level player) and any dman old enough to know what you have has already used up some of his best years. It’s a lose-lose to trade Nylander. But then again, if he’s never going to be an NHL centre, and if the Leafs are going to commit to eight years with three core players, should two of those players be wingers?
Next: Leafs UFA and RFA Review
There’s a lot to sort out, but that’s why they pay Dubas the big bucks. Whatever he decides to do with Nylander will go along way to defining his term as the Toronto Maple Leafs GM.