Toronto Maple Leafs: Brian Burke Speaks on the Nylander Deal

Former Toronto Maple Leafs GM, Brian Burke, did not take any effort to hide his feelings about the Nylander contract.

The Toronto Maple Leafs signed William Nylander to a 6-year extension and former Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke had his own thoughts on the matter:

"“He’s the sixth-best, arguably the seventh-best, on the Toronto Maple Leafs and they paid him all this money.”"

Coming from arguably the worst GM in Toronto Maple Leafs history makes this just pitiful. The fact he’s tempted to call out the current Leafs management just says that he’s bitter about his own career and time in Toronto.

Burke led the franchise to its darkest days. The only light being that his performance ignited the rebuild that got the franchise where they are now, with arguably the best roster the franchise has ever seen.

The William Nylander Contract

William Nylander is a potential point per game player and will likely put up those numbers as his career marches on. How many players are currently signed in the league below 7 million per year with that potential?

"“I also think that if they were going to throw this much money at him, they should have done it in August and not had him miss training camp. If you’re going to give away the farm like this, do it early and get him in camp.”"

It’s not surprising that a comment like this comes from a former GM who has little to no understanding of building a successful roster in the modern era salary cap.

Everyone understands that had Dubas offered this in August, Nylander would not accept this offer on deadline day. If he would have offered this early on, the agents would have smelled blood and believe they could get a bigger contract by holding out.

I firmly believe the Nylander camp had the holdout strategy before hitting the RFA status. Only if the Toronto Maple Leafs offered 8 million from the start would they have signed right away.

Mastermove By Kyle Dubas

The William Nylander contract is an absolute masterpiece fabricated by Kyle Dubas, justifying the franchise choosing him over Mark Hunter. Last summer Dubas said “we can and we will” about extending Nylander, Marner, and Matthews. So far, he held true to his words.

"“I do believe (Nylander won the negotiation),” Burke added. “The notion that you’ll put more money on the table late, that’s a lesson that the agents for these other players are going to learn that with Toronto all you have to do is hold out and they’ll up the ante. That’s dangerous ground.”"

Perhaps letting it come to a long standoff than rather signing him for more money earlier was the only way to pull it off, despite what Burke thinks.

The fact Burke says he thinks that Dubas lost the negotiations, says he would have traded Nylander away. He does realize that Dubas has 2 more big contract extension coming up? He can’t spend too much on Nylander to realize he can’t sign both Matthews and Marner next summer.

No, Brian Burke sounds like a bitter old man with his comments towards the organization and justifies in so little words why it was best to ship him out in 2013.

Thanks for reading and please share your thoughts with me!