Toronto Maple Leafs: EIL Content Roundup October 6th

The Toronto Maple Leafs are back, baby!

The regular season is finally upon us, and the Editor in Leaf staff have been working around the clock to bring you, our loyal readers, right into the middle of the action. Every angle has been covered, and every stone has been overturned.

With so many stories hitting the wall all at once, it’s easy to lose a few in the shuffle. So, enjoy this roundup of this week’s notable pieces.

Toronto Maple Leafs v William Nylander – Pick a Side

I long for the day when William Nylander signs and everyone just shuts up about his contract so we can go back to enjoying the actual hockey being played before us.

Listen, Nylander will get signed. It’s going to happen. No player has sat out an entire season for over a decade and offer sheets simply are not a thing. Stop with the hot takes. Stop with the trade speculation.

Just, for the love of god, stop.

Anyway, Denver’s piece elaborates on which side of the negotiations fans should choose.

“In an article I wrote three weeks ago, I calculated that Nylander deserves around 6.6M AAV in his next contract.

I’ve read in multiple sources that Nylander and the Toronto Maple Leafs both want a long-term deal, but they disagree about the salary (i.e., William’s side wants more money; Shannahan wants Willy to take a “hometown discount”).

Some sources suggest Nylander is holding out for around 8M AAV per season.  But I don’t think the Leafs will pay Nylander any more than $7,000,000 a year.

If another team attempts to make an offer to Nylander while this contract debacle continues, the Toronto Maple Leafs have the ability to exercise their right of first refusal within one week of the offer being made as per section 10.3(a) of the CBA.  In other words, they can void that team’s offer at their discretion within seven days.

The only situation I could see the Leafs choosing not to exercise their right of first refusal is if the offer made to Nylander from another team greatly exceeds $8,400,000 AAV.”

No Reserves Beyond Garret Sparks

Welp, I don’t think the Leafs saw this situation coming. Both Curtis McElhinney and Calvin Pickard were claimed on waivers Monday, instantly depleting the organization’s strong goaltending depth and rocketing Kasimir Kaskisuo up to third on the depth chart.

Can Kaskisuo handle this new role? That remains to be seen. Nevertheless, Gord tackles how exactly the Leafs goaltending situation shakes out following the two departures.

“Garret Sparks found out he cracked the Toronto Maple Leafs roster shortly before the 5:00 p.m. roster deadline on Monday. Less than 24 hours later, Sparks discovered his grasp on the job had increased with the news that both Curtis McElhinney and Calvin Pickard had been claimed off waivers.

The situation led many to anticipate that at least one of McElhinney or Pickard would successfully pass through waivers and report to the Marlies, only to find out that either had been claimed by Carolina and Philadelphia, respectively. Should Sparks falter in the early going, this restricts Toronto in their decisions losing a pair of viable options that would otherwise have been just a call away.

Essentially, Sparks is no longer be at risk of being sent down in favour of one of his capable former combatants. It’s solely his job, at least for the time being, as we know how a similar situation turned out for Jhonas Enroth in 2016…”

The Toronto Maple Leafs are Wrong for Expecting Players to Take Less

Brendan Shannahan made some waves this week when asked about the Nylander situation by explaining how himself and his former Red Wings teammates all took less at the time in order to maintain a champion-calibre roster.

Unfortunately, he declined to mention that this all happened when the NHL lacked a salary cap. Whoops.

James dives into the concept of players taking less in the name of winning, determining whether its fair for any team to expect that in such a cutthroat business.

“I have a job where I can get traded to any city at the drop of a hat, I can barely go out in public, and If you include training and practice, I probably work 12 hour days, seven days per week, twelve months out of the year.

I have an extremely limited time in which to make money, the corporations I work for are billion dollar entities who, even at the absurd price they pay a professional athlete, still make a profit off my labour.  I risk a life-altering injury every day I go to work, I am encouraged to play through pain and I have to travel excessively, and live away from my family.  Not to mention the airports.  Countless, endless, airports.

Oh and did I mention the thing I’m good at, my special skill, cannot be replicated by 100 people on this earth?

So no, I will not take more money to “help the team”, Mr Shanahan. That’s your job.”

Thanks for reading! Keep your eyes peeled to Editor in Leaf for more rousing content.