Please Stop Trying to Trade William Nylander

As of the day this article is being written (October 16th) William Nylander is still unsigned, and therefore is still unable to play for the Leafs. As this standoff continues further into the regular season, the idea of trading Nylander has been floated out as a potential solution to the problem. It seems simple; if the Leafs don’t want to pay Nylander, ship him off to someone who does. You could absolutely get a haul of assets as exchange for Nylander, helping to solidify the future of the team. The thing is, the Leafs don’t need to build for the future. I don’t intend to say that this is the sell-the-farm year. At some point the Leafs need to stop rebuilding, and establish the core of the team. William Nylander makes sense as a part of this core. Nylander had 60+ points the past 2 seasons and is still young enough that he could see improvement. Nylander is a legitimate first line winger in this league, and to trade him would be a big mistake.

If the Leafs traded Nylander for future assets (such as prospects and draft picks) they would have to spend roughly three years waiting for these assets to make an impact, if they ever develop properly. This would cut into their window to contend significantly, and in the meantime they would be losing other players who also need to be paid. If they trade him for an NHL ready defenseman, they would almost certainly be losing value á la the Hall/Larsson trade. A perfect deal would be one akin to the Johansen/Jones swap, but that was a perfect storm of a trade. Who in the league has $7.5 million in cap space, as well as defensemen to spare?

In regards to the rumour that this whole situation is the result of a souring relationship between Nylander and Kyle Dubas, I don’t see any truth in that. Both sides have repeatedly assured the media that they are working to get a deal done. Nylander isn’t being forced out of Toronto, nor is he trying to leave. He still wears Leafs colours in his practices, and he hasn’t shown the slightest indication of wanting to leave. Nylander wants to get paid what he’s worth, and unfortunately, his team has to fight him on that. In a salary cap league, it’s easy to run out of room.

With a team that’s a lock to make the playoffs, the only thing that really matters at this point is that Nylander signs by December 1st, so that he doesn’t miss the whole season. The team certainly looks fine without him (hello Auston Matthews), though it never hurts to add a first line winger to an already stacked forward group.

I have faith that a deal will be made, as a full season holdout is unprecedented and would be pretty shocking. Nylander has very little leverage as an RFA, so while he can play chicken all he wants, every day this continues he’s missing out on real NHL paychecks. And if he actually did wait out the entire season, he would still remain an RFA, and would still be in this position come next season.