Toronto Maple Leafs: For The Love of God, End This

William Nylander may have played his last game for the Toronto Maple Leafs.

I want to preface what I’m about to say before I actually say it.

William Nylander is doing nothing wrong. 

Welcome to reality, folks. The sooner the bulk of this fanbase ascribes themselves to it, the happier we’ll all be.

Let me make something abundantly clear: I really do not care.

I don’t care if you think Nylander is a locker room cancer dismantling the Toronto Maple Leafs with his greed from the inside. And I certainly don’t care whether you fault him for having been born via the normal human way rather than arising from the literal salt of the earth as a metaphysical embodiment of grit.

Being upset is fine. Heck, it’d probably be weird by now if you weren’t. But pointing fingers is fruitless. Don’t do it. On a related note…

You do not know what you’re talking about. No one does.

Few people on earth can claim to have actually experienced the degree of frustration and uneasiness associated with Nylander’s current dilemma. We’re not crunching the numbers on a steelworker’s salary here. Regardless of which direction this ultimately goes, millions upon millions of dollars are on the table, and that money comes from someone’s pocket.

You don’t just say “screw it” and sign away.

Lost amidst the never-ending news cycle, as well, is that a young man’s livelihood is at stake and we know little to nothing about transpires behind closed doors. The public has been made aware only of what little information drip-fed to them by various insiders, and even that news comes primarily in the form of speculation. Speculation, mind you, almost certainly planted by either side as a means of furthering their respective agendas

What Nylander is doing, at the crux of it all, is exacting the lone source of leverage afforded to an NHL player in his position. And if you happen to think that’s a bold new take, let me assure you, it’s most definitely not.

The notoriously restrictive mechanisms that comprise the NHL’s CBA have been belted from the rooftops ad nauseam and yet, based on the current temperature of Twitter – that ridiculous cesspool of garbage –  they somehow still warrant constant mention.

Cool take, Ben. And good on ya for actually tagging Nylander himself. That’ll show him.

What Nylander v. Dubas truly reminds us of is the existence of hockey’s grey areas. Perhaps, in some roundabout way, it’s a reminder we all need.

Funnelling down any conflict into easily digestible black vs white, good vs evil certainties is human nature. It’s a defence mechanism, one which helps us process the situations that produce complex emotion.

Only, in this case, neither side earns the moniker of good or bad.

We’re not living in a Disney Channel Original Movie. Heartless Executive Kyle Dubas™ is not pushing to shut down the local community centre so he can build a strip mall and the Plucky Group of Leafs™ don’t need to band together to stop him, doing so most likely by the power of song.

Nylander is a 21-year-old young adult doing just about everything he can to secure his financial future. Dubas is a first-time general manager just trying to give his team as much flexibility as possible before they enter their window of contention. If fate somehow plopped you into either position, look me in the eye and tell me you wouldn’t chart an identical course of action given what’s at stake.

Boil it all down and everyone is merely doing their job. Sometimes, it really is that simple.

Which doesn’t mean the sides are blameless, either.

The fact that this negotiation remains unresolved by now is downright absurd. No one, not even the most optimistic observer, thought it would get to this point. Ever. We are absolutely in The Bad Place and there is no turning back.

It’s unfathomable, given how the December 1st deadline looms menacingly in the distance, that Dubas and Lewis Gross haven’t laid down their weapons, even for a moment, and agreed to a short-term bridge deal.

One year, two years, who cares? Nylander is a hockey player. Let him play hockey.

If Gross truly believes it’s a good idea to have his client sit out an entire season – wasting a potentially favourable shot at a Stanley Cup while burning a year of his prime, all for the purpose of ultimately gaining, give or take, $5 million of which will be paid out over a 6-8 year period, then he’s sorely mistaken.

Sure, Gross can try to back the Leafs into a corner. He can try to force them into thinking the only options left is to ship Nylander to whichever team appears willing enough to grant him the deal he wants. Then again, anyone can try to do anything. It’s one of the central pillars of a democratic society.

But that doesn’t mean they won’t fail.

The fact is, without Nylander’s hypothetical cap hit on the books, the Leafs have oodles of immediate cap space at their disposal. Cap space they can otherwise weaponize at the trade deadline for the purpose of a sans-Nylander Cup run. This is a team currently sitting in second in the entire Eastern Conference despite having lacked 2/3 of their top line for most of the year.

They’re not going to fold. Honestly, Nylander could be sent to the shadow realm and the Leafs would still cruise their way to home-ice in April.

Then, there’s Dubas.

Look, I’m startlingly aware of how it’s a General Manager’s job to save his team every last penny, which is exactly what Dubas is doing. But, let’s be real for a second.

Nylander is not projected to develop into a good player. He’s going to be phenomenal. As in, the type of possession-driving phenom any GM searches for their entire tenure. If losing Nylander amounts to the difference between paying him $6 – $7.5 million, just pay him.

For the love of god, pay him.

In any negotiation, there’s a time to hold firm and a time to make something happen. Well, stores have begun rocking their Christmas decorations and Nylander remains without a contract. I think the former’s time has now passed.

If you stuck with me this far, congratulations! You’ve wilfully enabled my inescapable need to vent about this mind-numbing topic. And for that, I am forever grateful.

Do I know how this will end? Honestly, not a clue. We can break down either perspective until the sun engulfs the Earth and mercifully eradicates all forms of life and nevertheless arrive right back where we started. It’s what makes Nylander v. Dubas so exhausting.

No one knows anything and everyone is upset. It’s a better slogan than #TMLTalk, at least.

Holy moly, I just want to talk about hockey again.

Thanks for reading.