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Toronto Maple Leafs: 4 Reasons Why There Is 0% Chance of a Nylander Trade

By James Tanner

TORONTO, ON - DECEMBER 6: William Nylander #29 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates with the puck against the Detroit Red Wings during the third period at the Scotiabank Arena on December 6, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - DECEMBER 6: William Nylander #29 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates with the puck against the Detroit Red Wings during the third period at the Scotiabank Arena on December 6, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Kevin Sousa/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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Toronto Maple Leafs
TORONTO, ON – FEBRUARY 23: William Nylander #29 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates his goal against the Montreal Canadiens in an NHL game at Scotiabank Arena on February 23, 2019 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Claus Andersen/Getty Images) /

The Toronto Maple Leafs are not going to trade William Nylander.

Despite speculation from the contrary, the Toronto Maple Leafs will not be trading away one of their franchise players.  Why would they?

The history of the NHL is extremely unkind to teams who trade away star forwards under 24 years old.

Sure, Nylander had a disappointing season based on results.  The contract holdout was unfortunate, but it’s over now and he’s locked up for another five years.  No point going through that just to bail now.

Ultimately,  the underlying numbers are so good that no general manager in their right mind would trade him at his lowest possible value.  In fact, given the Leafs penchant for advanced stats, it would seem finding an unpopular player who has under-performed is their exact mandate.

They’d essentially be trading the player they’re looking for.  And, besides that, Nylander is a winger which is the Leafs weakest position.  Their defense takes the most heat, but they’ve got Calle Rosen, Andreas Borgman, Timothy Liljegren and Rasmus Sandin all in the minors.

Oh and Nylander can double as a centre when necessary.  Plus, he is arguably the best looking player in the NHL.  I don’t know that that really helps the team, but it sure can’t hurt!!

And that’s just for starters.

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