Leaf of faith

Deal for Toronto stud could cost foundation piece

THE Rangers are not among the front-runners in the hunt to acquire Toronto’s restricted free-agent forward William Nylander, now just two weeks away from the Dec. 1 signing deadline. But they are interested, and of course they are. He is a superior 22-yearold talent whose addition would accelerate the team’s building process by leaps and bounds. The notion somehow circulating through the public sector that the Rangers are out of the running because they won’t send Brady Skjei north as part of the package is as nonsensical as it is false. The Maple Leafs, on a win-now/ win-soon/win-often trajectory, are believed far more interested in acquiring a top-pair righty defenseman rather than a lefty who’d be a second-pair guy behind Morgan Rielly, if they do move Nylander. But if Skjei were the primary part of the ask, it would likely be a matter of hours, not days and not weeks, that young William would become the second Nylander to wear Ranger duds, a dozen years after his old man, Michael, had an extremely successful two-year run ended on Broadway. This would be true even if No. 76 weren’t off to a troubling start nearly a quarter of the way into the season. The Rangers believed enough in Skjei to award him a sixyear deal worth $5.25 million per over the summer, thus making him the only player under contract beyond 2021-22. Management has envisioned the 24year-old as a significant part of the next core. But a second consecutive disappointing season following a wonderful rookie 2015-16 has set off alarm bells. Skjei’s decision-making has been faulty, and increasingly so. His confidence appears at a low ebb. He’s been either all over the place or nowhere. Indeed, following a dreadful display in Thursday’s 7-5 defeat in Brooklyn, Skjei was a healthy scratch in the Rangers’ 4-2 victory over the Panthers at the Garden on Saturday. That was the first time since Dec. 23, 2016, he watched in street clothes.

The pipeline is filled with lefty defensemen. Libor Hajek and Ryan Lindgren are serving apprenticeships in Hartford. Yegor Rykov is working in Russia. K’Andre Miller is in his freshman year at Wisconsin. The Rangers have organizational depth on that side, but much of its perceived strength was predicated on the assumption Skjei would thrive under David Quinn and give the team a reliable top-pair guy.

That hasn’t been the case. Not yet, anyway. Pavel Buchnevich was scratched three times in the first 13 games. It took a fair amount of time for DeAngelo to earn a spot. Filip Chytil has bounced between the top six and the fourth line in his 19-year-old season. It hasn’t all been roses for the fresh faces. Young players’ progress is almost never linear. That is understood. But it is also understood the Rangers need much more from Skjei.

If the Rangers lack a game-breaking, elite talent (and they have since Jaromir Jagr injured his shoulder in Game 1 of the 2006 playoffs against New Jersey), Nylander would fill the job description. Now imagine both Nylander — who could play center or wing — and potential 2019 free-agent signee Artemi Panarin working together and we’re talking about a whole new ball game.

Let’s pretend Skjei is on the Leafs’ wish list. Could they be enticed into sending Nylander (42 goals, 80 assists in 163 games the past two seasons) to New York with the addition of Chris Kreider to the mix?

More to the point, would the Rangers be willing to part with this core player who has become an essential part of the foundation and one of the team’s leaders? It was Kreider, we’ve learned, who spoke up in the room about the importance of teammates standing up for one another after Eric Gryba’s concussion-inducing headshot on Boo Nieves in the first exhibition game went unavenged.

Kreider, who scored his team-leading 11th goal on a scoot-and-shoot snapper from the left circle on a third period power play, is eligible to become a free agent after next season. The Rangers are going to need to declare on him sooner rather than later. Enough of having key players working on the final years of their contracts, as is the case currently with Kevin Hayes and Mats Zuccarello.

If management is not comfortable giving Kreider what it will take to keep him off the 2020 free agent market (five years, $30 million-plus?), then he would likely be traded either at this year’s deadline or at the draft. That’s when his market value would be at its highest. But if Kreider is dealt, there had better be a premium return.

So Kreider and Skjei for Nylander.

Is either team in?