Toronto Maple Leafs: Acceptable William Nylander Trades
The Toronto Maple Leafs have about two weeks to figure out the William Nylander situation.
The Toronto Maple Leafs can not afford to lose Nylander. He was the best played they’d drafted since Wendel Clark at least, (and probably he’s way better) before they got lucky and also landed Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner.
Any credible hockey analyst can tell you that Marner and Nylander are pretty much at the exact same level of skill and effectiveness. There is no statistical (read: non biased) reason to think Marner is any better than Nylander.
Nylander is irreplaceable. He is going to be one of the best players in Toronto Maple Leafs history, he only missed the top ten in scoring last year because his totals were artificially suppressed with a lack of ice time, and power-play time, and he is a legitimate elite player.
He usually gets compared to David Pastrnak, but his best comparison is Leon Draisaitl. Both players are great, and Nylander is just as great.
The bottom line is that the Leafs can’t afford to lose Nylander. He is great, and the Matthews/Nylander combo can be one of the all-time great combos.
If the Leafs do have to move on, then the trades floated recently on TV are terrible (Parayko compares poorly to actual elite defenseman like Victor Hedman) and Brandon Montour is Jake Gardiner if Jake Gardiner was as bad defensively as his reputation suggestions and scored less points (Note: Gardiner is awesome, and the most underrated player in professional sports history).
No offense to Nick Kypreos, who I like, but his idea to trade Nylander for Ritchie and Montour was so bad it made me wonder what Dave Nonis would think.
As explained here, the Leafs cannot make a packaged deal and hope to win it. it is impossible. Therefore, here is a list of acceptable trades, should it come to it.
Note, I previously wrote about a Charlie MacAvoy trade, but since I already did that, I’ll leave him off today’s list. (Boston won’t trade him anyway).
Hampus Lindholm
Lindholm doesn’t put up the numbers of a star defenseman, as his career high is 31 points (although he scored 13 goals which is really impressive) but he is one of the NHL’s best defenseman.
Lindholm is not a household name in the Drew Doughty sense, but the former sixth overall pick (2012) current 2y year-old is a no-doubt top-ten NHL defenseman.
There are people who think he’s a legitimate choice for best overall in the NHL. Few players give you his offensive and defensive combination. Few players have his all-round game, poise, and natural talent.
Linholm plays in Anaheim, so he’s got the west coast thing going against him, but is a legitimate superstar if he were to play in Toronto. He would instantly be the teams new #1, even over Morgan Rielly.
Lindholm is likely not available, but if you’re trading William Nylander, you better be getting one of the NHL’s best players back in return.
Artemi Panarin
Panarin is a pending unrestricted free agent, so any trade involving him would have to come with a contract extension. As unlikely as that is (he said he wants to test the market) if you’re trading William Nylander, you better be open to all options.
Panarin is flat-out one of the best players in the NHL. A late bloomer who spent his early 20s in the KHL, Panarin has scored at least 74 points and 28 goals in all three of his NHL seasons.
Outside of Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews, there are few players in the world even close to Panarin when he has the puck. He is a magician and if you’re losing Nylander, why not replace him on the wing with someone even better?
That’s right, Panarin is better than Nylander. But he’s five years older, so it’s a fair trade. Now, I don’t know how the Leafs would afford Panarin on a long term deal if they aren’t willing to pay Nylander, but I don’t think they should even trade Nylander, so who cares? This isn’t meant to be a realistic list of actual trades, it’s meant to show the types of deals the Leafs should look at because the idea of trading him for Parayko is so patently ridiculous I had to respond.
Jesse Puljujarvi
OK, I know I said I hate package deals and that you always lose them. I also believe there are exceptions. One such exception would be to send Nylander to the OIlers in exchange for Jesse Puljujarvi and Evan Bouchard.
The Oilers are managed by the worst GM the NHL has ever seen, and he might be convinced to do something this reckless.
Puljujarvi is in the minors because the Oilers don’t recognize that he does great when paired with great centres, and have screwed up his development because it’s the Oilers and of course they have.
Bouchard played his ten games and went back to the OHL, but he’s a right handed 6’3 monster with the potential to be among the best in the NHL.
While I am 99% of the time going to say that the Leafs should make a trade that helps them now, this trade would help them for years to come and there is an advantage to having these guys on cheap deals for a long time.
Werenski and Others
The Problem with a Nylander trade is that if you don’t want to take back futures, it’s extremely hard to get value for him. Who is going to give you back his equal who can step into the lineup and help today?
The Jackets, if they are going to lose Panarin might want to replace his offense, but would they give up Zack Werenski? Almost certainly not.
Just like the Ducks probably wouldn’t send you Lindholm. The Flyers won’t give the Leafs Provorov, the Bruins won’t be sending MacAvoy and the Sabres won’t be so keen to unite the brothers that they send Dahlin.
And if you’re not getting back an elite player that can help today, the Leafs are stuck paying Nylander what he wants. Which they should just do. The cap is going up. They’ve made their point. Money can always be found by cutting the Browns, Hymans, Marleaus and Hainseys of the world.
dark. Next. Toronto Maple Leafs Top Ten Prospects
The Toronto Maple Leafs went about 30 years between Wendel Clark and William Nylander. The rarity of adding such a player should guide the Leafs to the right resolution: get Nylander back in the lineup.
stats from naturalhattrick.com
and hockeydb.com