NHL Rumor Mill – November 17, 2023
The latest on contract talks involving the Leafs’ William Nylander and the Canucks’ Elias Pettersson, an update on Patrick Kane, and why the Bruins shouldn’t break up their goalie tandem in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
LATEST ON NYLANDER AND PETTERSSON
TSN: Pierre LeBrun reports there’s ongoing dialogue between Toronto Maple Leafs management and William Nylander’s representatives regarding a contract extension. Both sides remain tight-lipped as they keep the discussions out of the media.
Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander (NHL Images).
They’re hoping to get a deal done before July 1. However, it’s difficult to do so as Nylander’s strong performance this season is pushing up his leverage.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Remember the speculation suggesting Nylander’s asking price could be $10 million annually? I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s now around $11 million per season. If the Leafs can’t or won’t pay it, another team happily will, especially with the salary cap rising by a projected $4 million for 2024-25.
Nylander’s been underpaid for some time now and he wants fair market value on his next contract. No “hometown discounts”.
Darren Dreger said there’s less of a sense of urgency between the Vancouver Canucks and Elias Pettersson compared to what’s going on in Toronto with Nylander.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: That’s because Pettersson is a restricted free agent with arbitration rights next July whereas Nylander is slated to become an unrestricted free agent
Canucks general manager Patrik Allvin said this week that there’s been good communication with the Pettersson camp. However, they haven’t yet reached the stage where they’re swapping numbers regarding dollars and terms. Dreger thinks there’s a chance this could get done during the season but we’ll have to wait and see.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: If you think Nylander’s asking price is gonna be high, wait until you see what Pettersson gets if he’s willing to agree to a long-term deal with the Canucks. He’s currently jockeying with teammates Quinn Hughes and J.T. Miller for the points lead among this season’s NHL scorers. If Pettersson wins the Art Ross Trophy, his next contract could be between $12 million and $13 million annually.
UPDATE ON PATRICK KANE
DAILY FACEOFF: Frank Seravalli pointed out the reason why the New York Rangers won’t be getting into the bidding for Patrick Kane. The way their salary-cap payroll for this season is currently structured they lack sufficient cap space to sign the 34-year-old winger.
Seravalli also indicated that Kane wants to sign soon, hopefully by the end of next week so he can stop answering this question.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Kane reportedly isn’t lacking for possible suitors. The Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes, Carolina Hurricanes, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning and Toronto Maple Leafs have been linked to the future Hall-of-Famer, with the Sabres and Panthers said to have kept in touch since the offseason.
WHY THE BRUINS WON’T SPLIT UP THEIR GOALIE TANDEM
NBC SPORTS BOSTON: Nick Goss pointed out that the Bruins goaltending tandem of Linus Ullmark and Jeremy Swayman has been bailing out the club’s leaky defense of late. That’s why it would make little sense to trade one or the other for a top-six center or a top-six winger.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: Teams in dire need of a goaltending upgrade (hello there, Edmonton Oilers!) have been mentioned as possible trade partners if the Bruins were willing to part with Ullmark or Swayman. However, Bruins GM Don Sweeney is unlikely to move either guy.
Before the start of this season, Sweeney said that maintaining his goalie tandem would keep his club competitive as they adjust to the retirements of Patrice Bergeron and David Krejci. Ullmark and Swayman have held up their end of the bargain thus far. They’re a big reason why the Bruins are jostling with the Vegas Golden Knights for first place in the overall standings.
So you have Nylander who wanted 10. Idea of an “own rental” is terrible asset management.
I’m in the sign Nylander long term at 10.5 camp, and and let Mitch Marner walk in a year when he inevitably asks for a raise on his current 10.9 deal.
Nylander just goes out and does his job regardless where you move him in the lineup and who you play him with, Marner seems to be tied to Matthews. Not discrediting Marner at all, but at this point – even at the same money – you can’t sell me on keeping Marner over Nylander.
They need to find a way to get through next season. Brodie 5 mill, Domi 3 mill, Samsonov 3 plus falling off books helps but going to be awfully hard to get replacements with to fill that roster.
With the NHL financial situation and less money gained from broadcast rights, less viewership and attendance problems as well as inflation taking a bite out of their profits. I DON”T wee the cap rising. Nylander will be a FA or the Leafs will have to play with 19 players next season if Willie is signed to $11M AAV. (he is worth more, that is a discount)
@Johnny Z – I don’t think that is the case though , it can be done.
Matthew’s increase is only 1.6 mill, Nylander would be at 3.6
Thats 5.2 total
5 Brodie
4.25 Klingberg
3 Domi
5.5 Bertuzzi
Thats 17.5 falling off – not including Samsonov (if they decide to go with Woll)
Thats around 12 mill left over (after Matthews and Nylander raises), not even including the increase in cap ? 2 to 4 mill..which by all accounts has already bee stated it will go up
So there is room, have to tough it out a year if they choose to go that route. Key is getting teams to eat some salary on players with term-
I guess at the end of the day if they choose to move on from Nylander – would rather they trade him now than loose him for nothing.
This isnt like moving a 1st for a rental, I believe he would fetch a pretty nice package – even unsigned.
Carolina comes to mind, the question is if they are willing to go as high as he wants. But they do need offence. If you can get through next season with the “core” four, then you are ok, cause JT will cost a lot less if they decide to resign him. And if he isnt willing to take a discount, let him walk since he is being overpaid as it is.
I think there are two things that decides if Pettersson resigns. One is, are or will they be good enough to compete, and while they are playing well, I just dont see them as cup contenders now or in the future, their prospect pool just isnt good enough(unless somebody has a breakthrough). And the second one is that Pettersson wants to be “the guy” and that has never been the case in Vancouver. Not when it comes to usage and not when it comes to priority in contracts. Money isnt the issue, he will get paid no matter if he stays or goes.
Don’t forget about the $12M in LTIR relief the Leafs have this year, that they won’t next.
Also, you have the latest wunderkid coming through with Knies in two years.
Willy is a great player, but having him suck up the majority of the salary cap increase coming down the pipe is silly — that would make 4 rostered players with 8 digit salaries. Leafs made their bed with Tavares, Marner, and Matthews — they are going to have to make due with them.
@Wingnut having 12 mill in LTIR is not a bonus to Toronto or any team that has players on it unless those players who were on the LTIR till the season, come back and play in the playoffs. AKA Stone and Kucherov. Teams donot accrue cap space while using the LTIR and do not get the benefit of a prorated salary when you acquire a player at the deadline, it`s dollar in dollar out. So don`t make it look like a team benefits from using the LTIR, because it rarely does. It was designed to help teams replace injured players, they didn`t take into account of a player missing the regular season and being able to play in the playoffs, that`s the controversy Stone and Kucherov brought
Ya Sam, Leafs have to tough it out next season until Tavares deal goes away or at least he signs a smaller deal to stay. It’s always doable, it’s just what does it take/cost to do it.
Johnny, TV viewership was way up at ESPN in in October, according to ESPN.
Attendance was up at the vast majority of teams in October as well. Up 2.3% overall.
Is there problems in some cities like WPG, yep. Are places like CHI, NJ etc way up? Yep. Some issues with a certain broadcaster who is having serious financial problems (Bally’s/Sinclair/Diamond) they have a deal in place with their creditors to operate in 23/24 for both NBA and NHL. How their ratings are, I dunno.
The cap will go up close to what they are projecting. Maybe even more.
I might be wrong but I think there is a mechanism so that it doesnt increase more than x% per year?
Could be Kent, I don’t know that either. Covid recoup still?
Kent – Ra- this from a site dealing with the NHL cap
“A memorandum of understanding in the current collective bargaining agreement dictates that the cap can only go up 5 percent in any one year, so if it does go up $1 million for next season, this is how it could increase from there: 2022-23: $82.5 million. 2023-24: $83.5 million. 2024-25: $87.7 million.”
JT will resign with the Leafs. He can’t play anywhere else.
In Pajamas he trusts.
I never knew that George. I assumed if revenues went up X, so did the cap.
Re; Teams in need of a goaltending upgrade..
Edmonton Oilers have been mentioned as possible trade partners if the Bruins were willing to part with Ullmark or Swayman.
Boston will re-sign young Jeramy Swayman to a long term 8 year deal he is there goaltender of the future
Boston may play out this year to see how the team go’s they have a couple of UFA’s they will not bring back🤔
I think on July 1st they will go after the 2 Calgary UFA players Local boston boy 26 yr old d/man Noah Hanifin and #1 Centre 28 yr old Elias Lindholm👍
At the draft or the start of the 2024 season i can see them trading a goaltender 31 yr old Linus Ullmark who is in the last year of his $5.M deal
the oilers will be one of the teams looking at him if they can do a sign & trade deal with boston…🤔
Ullmark has a modified no trade clause and Edmonton is supposed to be on it
Before the season started I was open to the trading of Ullmark or Swayman. Not anymore as we see how this season has gone.
You could make a really good argument that they have been their 2 best players this year. I get you can only play one tender at a time, but we also know you can’t play one tender every game. 2/3’s is about the max it seems to keep a high level of play up for a whole season.
If your gonna trade one of your 2 best players, the return better be huge. And not for a pending UFA who will demand a massive payday. Will a goalie get that kind of return? We haven’t seen it before but Vezina winners don’t get traded when they are playing at a high level. Seems to be a good reason for that.
I don’t think that deal is out there. Maybe during off season if Swayman gets a big raise, they will have too, to Willie’s point.
8 years at big $$ for any tender scares me. How many have ever been that good for that long in modern NHL? Brodeur, Hasek and Roy? Maybe Vas if he turns it around and keeps it going. Seems risky, but might get forced into it if he keeps playing like this.
Pasta and Nylander are best buds just saying keep an eye on that.
Why do you want a soft over paid Leaf? Isn’t that Nylander in a nutshell?
Lyle you know there won’t be a home discount? If so how. It does seem likely but until it’s done we won’t know and how tight lipped they are during this, I doubt we will know.
What we do know is the cap is in place to make crappy teams not be crap, not keep good teams together.
If you read the Rumor Mill every day, you’d have seen the reports since early July from various Toronto pundits indicating that Nylander wants to be paid fair market value after years of being underpaid. While Nylander wants to stay in Toronto, he’s not accepting a hometown discount.
Nylander was paid an AAV of just under $7 million. His camp was reportedly seeking $10 million before the start of the season. If Nylander continues his strong performance throughout this season, that price is bound to go up.
Nylander`s average pay for this contract is approximately 7.8 million per year for this contract. The 6.962366 is the cap hit not his salary. Because Nylander didn`t sign till Dec 1st and his 1st year salary being 12 million is the reason for the difference. For some who think he was grossly underpaid, it`s not quite as bad as it looks. Nylander deserves 11 million more than Marner does. Sign Nylander trade Marner. Nylander is rumoured to want an 8 year deal, if the asking price is 11 million now, that would equate to just under 13 million on a 7 year deal. So any takers for 13 x 7
Obe like a creep hiding in the bushes
Noah Hanifin and Elias Lindholm will be long gone by the TDL.
The teams that trade for them better have a trade and sign or they walk as UFA S.Hanifan is headed to Boston or Vegas no matter who trades for him!
So Nylander is just under $7M now (cap) and might get to $11.
Pettersson is at $7.3 now and might go to $12 or $13.
I few jumps like this will eat up all the increased cap space team will get.
This is why I’ve been saying that the projected cap increase next year might only help the 1 or 2 superstar players on each team.
I have a bad feeling that many non-superstar/middle-six players looking for increased deals next year are going to find teams are (once again) dealing with limited cap space.
So Pettersson will require 12 million/season? That puts him in the McKinnon, McDavid club, and what Matthews will get when his contract will expire. Does anyone think he is in that company?
I can’t see the Canucks not having to sign him but when they do this will surely be a problem for their cap management and competitiveness.
Yes, he’s in that McKinnon-Matthews tier just below McDavid. This season he’s leading the league in scoring and has been playing through injuries.
If Dubois is “worth” 8.5 million per, then yes, Pettersson is worth 12 million. Big if though…
I was never a Nylander fan but watching him this year I’ve softened my stance he can play on my team would prefer him to Marner or Matthews. Put Nylander between Bad Brad and Pasta I kind of like it.