NHL Rumor Mill – October 6, 2023
Check out the latest on Leafs forward William Nylander, Sharks center Logan Couture and Senators center Shane Pinto in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
COULD NYLANDER HIT THE TRADE BLOCK?
NHL NETWORK: Steve Konroyd recently expressed his belief that the Toronto Maple Leafs will trade William Nylander at some point during this season. He doesn’t think the Leafs can afford to re-sign the 27-year-old forward, who could seek close to $10 million annually on his next contract.
Mike Rupp agreed with Konroyd, saying that Nylander has been underpaid for years. He believes there will be teams knocking on the door, including the Anaheim Ducks.
THE ATHLETIC: Jonas Siegel reports Nylander told his agent that he’s willing to negotiate with the Leafs during this season. However, he doesn’t want to hear about the status of those talks until the two sides have a deal in place.
Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander (NHL Images).
Siegel thinks that this suggests Nylander has a clear number in mind for his next contract and won’t contemplate a deal unless the Leafs get there. General manager Brad Treliving could contemplate moving Nylander if a deal isn’t in place by the March 8 trade deadline.
However, Siegel doubts Treliving will peddle Nylander. He points out that clubs trying to win the Stanley Cup typically don’t trade away their best players even at the risk of their departure as free agents following the season.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Leafs could trade Nylander if this season goes off the rails by the trade deadline. Otherwise, I agree with Siegel that they’ll hang onto him for the playoffs if they feel they have a chance at winning the Stanley Cup.
If Nylander does hit the trade block perhaps the Ducks will have some interest. I agree with Rupp that he’d be a good fit in Anaheim given the experience and skills he’d bring to their rebuilding roster. They’d also have the cap space to sign him.
However, the Ducks could be on Nylander’s 10-team no-trade list for this season. It’s also possible that they don’t want to invest big money in expensive talent at this stage of their rebuild. If they are interested, they might prefer waiting for free agency on July 1 rather than giving up draft picks and promising young players to acquire him in a trade.
ARE COUTURE’S DAYS NUMBERED IN SAN JOSE?
DAILY FACEOFF: Frank Seravalli recently said he thinks that San Jose Sharks captain Logan Couture could become a prime trade candidate.
He doesn’t think teams will be enamored with the 34-year-old center’s contract. However, he pointed out that the Sharks retained salary on Erik Karlsson and Brent Burns to facilitate trading those players.
Seravalli pointed out that the Sharks have one salary retention slot left. He thinks they could try to leverage that in order to generate trade interest in Couture.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Couture is signed through 2026-27 with an average annual value of $8 million and a three-team trade list. The Sharks almost certainly must retain a healthy chunk of his cap hit if they wish to move him.
Sharks GM Mike Grier recently said he’d be willing to entertain offers for Couture if he wanted to be traded. So far, there’s no indication that he wants out. We’ll see what happens as the season progresses.
THE LATEST ON THE PINTO SAGA
TSN: With the Ducks signing Jamie Drysdale on Thursday, Ottawa Senators center Shane Pinto remains the last notable unsigned restricted free agent.
Chris Johnston reports the Senators continue working with Pinto’s agent to try and get a deal done before the upcoming start of the regular season. He noted that the 22-year-old center is two years away from arbitration eligibility. That makes it difficult to value what could be a second year in the deal, making a player less inclined to sign a one-year contract.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The ongoing uncertainty over Josh Norris’ health for this season also puts more urgency on the Senators to get Pinto under contract.
Ducks would not step up with Zegras and Drysdale but will pay Willie Styles 10m ?
Couture is hurt. Apparently out for some time . Even at 50% held won’t be moving anytime soon
Shoulders are real tricky and have shortened more than one career.
Is Norris at practice with a contact jersey ?
Henrique McTavish and 1st for Nylander in sign and trade?
Help both teams?
Gives TML assets and lower cap
Give Ana bonafide #1c who can play wing and still young
I like that trade. But I’m sure the pick would be top-10 protected, if Anaheim would even do it.
I remember what McT did in the Juniors. Has he been struggling? Why do you think they’d give up on him?
LOL
I wouldn’t trade you straight up MacT for Nylander.
then you add a 1st.
Here’s one from left field.
I have read many a Leaf on here wanting an improvement on D. How about Fowler for Nylander as the key pieces. Add in assets where required, from TOR as Willie only has a year left. Fowler has 3 more years at $6.5. He is 31, and Ducks are not winning anything before that contract is over.
Fowler has a 4 team trade list. From Ontario, but might want to stay closer to current home. He’s been there for a while.
Not sure Ducks have any interest in trading him though.
Ray, I can’t see the Leafs moving Nylander this year. I think they believe their best chance for a Cup is with him. I see them using Nylander as their “own rental” and riding their current Core 4 once more into the breech.
The cap next year will still be tight for many teams so the Leafs may believe they have a chance of re-signing him even as a UFA. If they win the Cup and can’t, less fan blow back. And if they don’t win the Cup there will be enormous pressure for a departure from the Core 4. Either way …
At least that’s the view I would take as Treliving, even though as George pointed out no one is paying me for my hockey acumen.
Probably LJ, I like the idea of playing him at C as well, and see what they have there. Tavares has lost a step and wasn’t a speed demon to begin with. Gives them flexibility. If trailing move him up, if you have a lead, keep the big 3 down the middle.
When you look at what D are left on contract after this season, not a pretty picture. But then again, in 2 years Tavares deal expires, plus if you lose Nylander, pretty lean up front.
I just argued your point! Go for it this year.
I can see the fit in Anaheim if they have a good season and are looking to get better the next season, however it makes no sense for them to trade for him during the season, better to sign in the summer. One team that could have interest this season is Columbus, GM is under pressure, have prospects and have space next season, especially if Nylander plays well at C. After 2-3 years he can switch back to wing when Fantilli and others get older. In the end, for Toronto to do this their season really has to crater
Ya. Norris’ shoulder got hurt on a face-off draw of all things originally. Some people recover from the surgery others don’t. I always saw Norris as a bit of a Kyle Turris 2.0. Super smart, gave you everything he had just not a tough big-bodied guy and prone to break downs.
The deal that he’s on is big BUT….if he’s done and going on LTIR for a while it doesn’t hurt the Sens that much and shockingly a buyout on that deal isn’t terrible either. Weird to buy it out before it even kicks in.
The coach said something yesterday about Norris but I didn’t hear or see the quote. Anyone have that?
Dark G, the only thing I heard re Norris in recent days is that Smith is “hopeful” he can dress for the final pre-season game against Montreal. Somehow I doubt we’ll see that. I agree with your take and it wouldn’t surprise me in the least to see him placed on LTIR at season’s opener, an action which would open the door to signing Pinto and to keep Josh Bailey.
Bill Nevins, Baliey scored a nice goal from the slot last night in Winnipeg and assisted on the 3rd goal in a 3-0 win – their second straight SO.
If they have to go into the season with Stutzle and Pinto as the # 1 and 2 Cs with Grieg as the 3rd line C and possibly Jarventi at # 4 (or Kastelic) they won’t be in that bad a shape down the middle. Meanwhile, the D and pk are looking solid and all indications are that Giroux is back in top form.
And the goaltending with Korpisalo and Forsberg in top form has been monumentally better than last season when they went through 7 netminders. including 4 rookies.
We’ll son see.
I had not thought of the LTIR option for Norris to help the Pinto signing George, but something doesn’t add up for that.
Norris is “hopeful” he can play in the opening game but LTIR requires a player miss 10 games + 24 days of the season.
IMO Dorion needs to bite the bullet and move an asset for a price he doesn’t currently like. Missing the pre-season hurts players early performance and I can’t make sense of having Pinto take time to get going at the same time Norris will also need time. The season is long but frittering away a good start when teams miss the playoffs by a single win isn’t smart, IMO.
That plus the message to Pinto isn’t exactly “we need you long term, stay and be happy.”
LJ, but that’s why the GMs get paid the big bucks and we sit back and snipe for nothing. IF … and that’s a huge IF – he’s recognized as incompetent by the new owner and management structure and it shows in the early going, I would venture a guess both he and Smith won’t last long.
I don’t expect to see that.
Putting Norris on LTIR for 10 games would open up about $1M in cap space, putting them about $2.7M under the cap. Would that be enough to get both Pinto and Bailey under contract? They currently only have 10F and 6D on their roster.
fikshun, currently Bellevile is shown with 15F and 10D, including Fs Ridley Greig, Egor Sokolov, Roby Jarventie and D Tyler Kleven..
It’s normal at this time of year to assign players to the minor league camp to get them into more game action. Look to see Greig, maybe Jarventie and Kleven all up for opening night.
Cant buy out if he is on LTIR
I think they were stating this more as an either/or scenario.
I think we’ll see Norris play very soon. DJ was hinting more that it was a mental issue getting over the shoulder injury, but he was practicing and taking shots in Winnepeg yesterday.
Although I hate to see Joseph go, as he’s been such a force in pre-season and I just love his game, I think he’ll be traded and the money should allow Dorion to sign Pinto and Bailey. Not a horrible trade-off.
But if Norris is really hurt, I agree, they keep Joseph and Bailey and get Pinto back in the fold…fingers crossed Norris comes back strong.
I agree. Joseph has looked good in pre-season. I thought maybe reunite him with his brother in Pittsburgh but they haven’t got any cap space either. There’s like three teams that could or would take him.
Send Mathieu Joseph and Branstrom to Arizona for our 2nd round pick back. Brannstrom can be reunited with Josh Brown since DJ thought so highly of them as a defense pairing.
Let Nylander play the whole year. You want the Cup so okay he is highly motivated to score 40. If he walks you replace him with a FA or take in a player through a trade. Konecny could be a fit, Debrusk maybe or you trade for a possibly disgruntled Kyle Connor who will not be a happy boy if they miss the playoffs and Mark and the goalie walk. thx
Cosmo, maybe Knies is the replacement for WW.
I didn’t check in here everday throughout the summer but I don’t recall any long discussions regarding Bunting. Most probably felt the same as me – too much money to re-sign him at $4 – $4.5 M. What is interesting, though, is that his replacement costs $5.5 M against the cap (Bertuzzi). Guess management decided it was time to move on from the Bunting circus show.
Hey Hammer. Both circus and money were out of hand on Bunting, but I liked him. The 2 sides apparently never spoke contract which is not a good sign for the player. Knies is the true Wildcard on the team. If he can go off for 25 goals and 55 points the scoring on 3 lines will be difficult to handle. I have concerns on Samsonov and do not like the Kampf contract. thx