Nylander asking for too much
NHL executives say free-agent forward not worth $8 million
Can you imagine how good the Maple Leafs would be if William Nylander were on the team?
That’s kind of the joke making the rounds among executives of rival teams, who aren’t all that heartbroken that one of the NHL’s most potent offences remains without a potent offensive player.
At last report, Leafs GM Kyle Dubas had gone to Europe to meet with Nylan- der and, if nothing else, assure the unsigned winger he did not intend to trade him. Nylander is working out with Austrian hockey team Dornbirner EC.
“He seems fine. (He) has fit in real good with our guys,” Dornbirner coach Dave MacQueen texted the Star. “Jumps into drills when he can. Goes out early to do some stuff on his own. Goes to the gym before and after practice.
“We are providing an opportunity (for him) to keep training and he seems very appreciative.”
With the Leafs off to a 6-2-0 start to the season, Nylander’s bargaining power seems smaller and smaller.
The Star talked to four rival team executives: Two from the East, two from the West. They were given anonymity because to talk about another team’s player would be considered tampering.
“William Nylander is not worth what William Nylander thinks he’s worth,” said an executive from the Western Conference.
“The Leafs are right,” said an Eastern Conference executive. “There is no way any team in the NHL is going to pay Nylander $8 million.”
There’s no offer sheet coming to save the day, either. No one wants to pick a fight with the financial might of the Leafs, fearing one of their own would be poached in retaliation. And the money just doesn’t work for anyone, said the second Western executive.
That alone should be gut-check time for Nylander, his agent Lewis Gross, and his father, Michael, who is also an active part of the negotiations.
Calls and text messages to Gross were not returned.
“I know Michael from his playing days, and he has a different view of what is right,” said the second executive from the West. “But how much is enough?”
It’s believed Nylander is asking for $8 million a year on a long-term deal, and is rejecting the idea of a short-term deal. It’s believed the Leafs are offering $6.5 million a year on a longterm deal and are open to a short-term deal at a smaller number.
“At $6.5 million, I don’t think he’d be underpaid,” said the second executive from the East.
The Nylander camp knows big paydays are in the works for both Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner, which could force the team to shed talented players with big-money contracts. The thinking is the Swede might be the first to go, though defenceman Jake Gardiner — an unrestricted free agent this summer — could also get caught in the crossfire.
In an ideal world, said all the executives, the Leafs would sign Matthews first and all others would fall under. But there’s no incentive for Matthews to sign.
Most prognosticators see Nylander in the same light as Winnipeg’s Nikolaj Ehlers or Boston’s David Pastrnak, signed in the $6-to-$6.67 million a year range after they came off their entry level contract. The prob- lem for the Leafs, others say, is Leon Draisaitl’s $8.5 million-ayear deal in Edmonton.
“The player’s agent, family, are worried about getting leapfrogged in a short amount of time by Marner, and Matthews,” said one of the Eastern executives. “(The Leafs) are using comparables in the marketplace.”
What’s gummed it all up is the fact that players coming off their entry-level deals have no arbitration rights. Nylander needs one more year to earn that right.
“It’s one of the oversights of the collective bargaining agreement,” said one of the East executives.
“People thought teams could control their players. But the oversight is this: When you don’t have arbitration rights, you now don’t have any control as soon as entry level (deals are) done.
“If Nylander had arbitration rights, the team would already have brought him to arbitration.”