NHL Rumor Mill – November 3, 2023
Check out the latest on Leafs forward William Nylander and Canucks winger Conor Garland in today’s NHL Rumor Mill.
NYLANDER
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Stan Fischler considers William Nylander one of the best players in Canada. He also thinks the 27-year-old Toronto Maple Leafs winger will become one of the NHL’s highest-paid players on his next contract.
Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander (NHL Images).
Fischler believes Nylander will want to get out from under the shadow of Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and John Tavares and be the top banana with another club.
TSN: Earlier this week, Dave Poulin took note of Nylander’s hot start to this season and how it might affect the Leafs’ efforts to re-sign him. He believes fair compensation for the 27-year-old winger would be what teammate Mitch Marner is earning annually ($10.9 million) on his current contract.
That’s $4 million more than Nylander, who has scored more goals than Marner over that time and outperformed him in the playoffs. Nevertheless, the latter is going to get a raise on his next contract.
TORONTO SUN: Terry Koshan also weighed in on Nylander’s performance thus far and his contract situation. He noted that it’s clear the winger has been underpaid.
If $10 million annually was a sticking point between Nylander and Leafs management at the start of the season, that number is bound to rise as he continues his dominating play.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The Leafs have just 11 players under contract for 2024-25 with a projected $33.4 million in cap space. $10 million annually for Nylander will eat up roughly one-third of that cap room, leaving little room to re-sign or replace fellow UFAs Tyler Bertuzzi, TJ Brodie, Max Domi, John Klingberg, Mark Giordano and Ilya Samsonov.
Assuming the Leafs re-sign Nylander, they’ll have over $45 million invested in just four forwards (Matthews, Marner and Tavares) for next season. That will be over half of what could be an $88 million cap payroll.
Some observers believe the Leafs will trade Nylander by the March 8 trade deadline if he’s not under contract by then. I doubt that’ll happen as long as they’re in playoff contention. They’ll keep him for one more postseason run even if it means losing him to free agency next July.
One way or the other, though, this could be Nylander’s final season with the Leafs. He will draw plenty of interest next summer from clubs that will consider him as a franchise player and pay him accordingly on a long-term contract.
GARLAND
THE HOCKEY NEWS: Fischler also noted the number of teams reportedly interested in Conor Garland. The Nashville Predators, Washington Capitals, Columbus Blue Jackets and Winnipeg Jets are among the clubs linked by the media to the 27-year-old Vancouver Canucks winger.
Fischler pointed out that it’s been over a year since the Garland rumors began and yet he remains with the Canucks. He suggested the possibility that the winger might never get dealt.
SPECTOR’S NOTE: The interest in Garland seems genuine but the timing has been all wrong. The flattened salary cap since last season has made it difficult for clubs to take on his $4.95 million cap hit through 2025-26 even with the Canucks reportedly willing to retain 30 percent of his cap hit.
Perhaps that situation changes closer to the trade deadline when teams will accrue more cap space. Otherwise, it might have to wait until the offseason when the salary cap is expected to jump by at least $4 million.
The Jackets already have more forwards than they can put on the ice. And it’s highly unlikely that they will trade any of them for, essentially, the same type of player, but older. Which makes me wonder who these pundits think the Jackets are offering that the Canucks would be interested in.
The way NYLANDER is scoring. it may be MARNER who gets traded !
Exactly. I think Toronto should have traded Marner before his NMC kicked in last summer (2022). Marner is a great player, but works too much on the perimeter, which shows in the playoffs. Toronto already has multiple high scoring forwards with Matthews, Nylander and Tavares, and can afford to sacrifice Marner for help on defense and goal.
If Marner wants more than his current contract as a UFA, I would pass if I’m Toronto. If they keep Nylander, it would be one more year of cap hell before they potentially have a lot of space to play with when Marner’s and Tavares’ deals expire. Tavares will get way less than his current deal on the renewal if Toronto decides to keep him.
3 team trade nylander to boston frederick debrusk lauko and knies to calgary mangiapanie and zadorov to leafs calgary holds back 2 million to offset mangiapanes contract
Pete, you suggest Leafs give up Willy and Knies for Mang and Zadorov. Either you’re smoking something funny, or that was a joke. Being the internet, I can’t tell which.
A full NMC and him being a Trono native sez NO!
Have to agree johnny Z … and pete, when was the last time we ever witnessed a 3-team deal of that magnitude involving that many players with significant cap hits?
Trade Marner? Where? he has a NMC which means he cannot be waived, assigned to the AHL or dealt without his approval. That’s Roadblock One.
And when you look at the following CapFriendly link it becomes graphically evident that, almost without exception, there is not one other team in the league that could take on his $10,903,000 cap hit (which expires after next season) without first moving out a considerable cap hit of their own – and one that also doesn’t involved a NT-NM clause. That’s Roadblock Two. And even if there is/are contract(s) not so protected sufficient to take on Marner’s cap hit, the whole conundrum of finding a team capable of taking it/them on raises its ugly head again.
Which is why a 3-team, multiple player deal of the type that occurs in fantasy leagues will likely never be seen in the cap era.
https://www.capfriendly.com/
That won’t happen.
To anyone NOT delusional, Marner has always been the better and more consistent player, albeit overpaid by 1 or 2 million.
I find it strange that Nylander, who has always faced the SECOND TIER of the opponent’s defence, is off to a hot start in a CONTRACT YEAR while Marner has “struggled” with 9 points in 10 games, and suddenly Nylander is better than Marner.
Look at their career numbers. You’re being fooled by 1 month of a very motivated Willy.
The only logical argument I’ve hard is that Willy outperforms Mitch in the playoffs. This is true, but Marner is up against the other teams best defensive unit and top defensive forwards (Bergeron, Dandenault, etc.). If you put Nylander against the oppositions best, and Marner against the second best, the result WOULD be different.
I’d also like to note that I’m impressed so far with how Willy has learned to play with the team. In the past he was always a lone wolf. He’d skate end-to-end, circle the zone, and rarely pass. It would end with him shooting (often missing from a sharp angle and ringing the puck around the boards and out of the o-zone), loosing the puck, or scoring.
This year he’s using his line-mates. I think this is the reason he’s doing so well. He is a great player, but a different type, and not on the same level, as Marner.
so your telling us that other 10 million dollar players dont go up againt the other teams best defensive players in the playoffs marner is a joke in the playoffs he gets 7 or eight points in the firs 4 or 5 games than disapears for rest of games after being hit few times leafs will never succeed with him making the money he is making and will demand
WestBrantKid: I don’t think the debate is purely who is better between Marner and Nylander. I agree that Marner has been better in the regular season, but Nylander has been better in the playoffs.
The other issue is Marner’s expectations on his next contract. Like you said, most people think Marner was overpaid by ~$2M/year on his last contract as an RFA and everything I’ve heard is he wants more on his next deal. If it was a choice between Nylander at $9.5M-$10M or Marner at $12M+, I’d take Nylander every time. The extra cap could be used for forward and defensive depth or goaltending.
Marner plays with AM, while Nylander plays with JT. The 3rd player on the first line is also usually better than the one playing with JT and Nylander. So while the opponent might be better so is Marners linemates
If Nylander walks for no return, Treliving and Shanahan should be fired for gross incompetence!
Sign Nylander for nothing when UFA
westbrantkid i was joking but the leafs need to change things up quickly they have no heart no one other than reaves to stand up to the other team kypreos was right no other leaf even looked at marchand as he skated by the bench after another dirty hit they dont seem to care for each other going nowhere with this team best shinny team in the world but going nowhere in the playoffs evev domi and bertuzzi dont seem to care playing for leafs
Obviously you skipped all the classes dealing with punctuation.
That was pretty funny Gored1970, but my grammar/spelling/punctuation is far from perfect on here, so can’t say much.
It wasn’t a dirty hit by Marchand IMO. Liljigren initiated the contact and lost a board battle. Happens.
I get it, Marchand has had plenty of incidents, and has been deserving of the punishment the majority of the time. This isn’t one of them.
I haven’t seen anything from league, and don’t think we will.
Would the B’s have done something if it was reversed? I dunno, maybe? A Leaf might still take a shot at him when the time is right.
@Ray it wasn`t a dirty hit, only a bruin fan would say that. Liljigren didn`t initiate the contact with Marchand, he was in front of him slowing down. The replays show quite clearly Marchand putting his stick between Liljgren`s` legs and make a deliberate lifting motion on Liljgrens left foot just before he hits the boards. The trip was intentional, did Marchand intend to in jure Liljgren, probably, did Marchand care, probably not. You can defend the little piece of crap all you want, but the evidence proves you 100% wrong. You probably think McAvoy`s hit on Larson was a clean hit too. Nothing but fake news right Ray. Maybe Toronto altered the game film to make it look dirty
Bob, exactly, he was in front of him and slowed down, and engages Marchand. They were chasing down a loose puck with Lijegren in front. Liljegren has 2 options, continue to pursue the puck full speed and take it around the net, or slow down and engage Marchand.
He chose #2. Which is usually the smart play as that was a tough puck to handle with control and under pressure. Might as well try and control the player. Which he attempts.
Liljegren also turns to Marchand – the 5-6 second mark on the video. Marchand keeps his line. Then, both bring their sticks into each other, to try and control the opposing player. I would say Liljegren first, but lets go with the same time. Close enough. Both bodies turn after contact towards the boards. Marchand’s left leg and Liljegren’s right leg bump.
Liljegren goes down, foot hits boards awkwardly and likely broke his leg or ankle. Marchand doesn’t swing his leg he is trying to stop and win the battle. You know, his job.
Can opener BCLeafFan, ya maybe. Both looked like they tried to do that. The key is Liljegren engaged him, legally, with both his stick and his line. After that it’s a puck battle and stuff can happen.
That’s a normal hockey play, that happens multiple times a game. This one just ended badly, and a player with a history of dirty plays was involved. That doesn’t mean this one was dirty.
What’s with the fake news line Bob? Not sure what you mean by that, but regardless – we have the video. I posted on here that McAvoy’s hit was stupid and he deserved to be suspended. So save it.
6 second mark is the key to the whole thing, and I would bet $$ that is how the NHL will evaluate it. I stick by my post.
I even picked a video with a snazzy title targeted at Leaf fans!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upZ6N8bHOzE
Ray you`re pathetic, Liljgren had no choice but to slow down the boards were there and that is not initiating contact. It was a dirty hit plain and simple and it was intentional. Now you`re saying in might have been a corkscrew which is a dirty play. You keep trying to blame Liljgren for causing the problem. Ray you are in such a small minority trying to blame Liljgren for what Marchand did. Ray you`re blaming the victim
You guys should listen to “Leafs Morning Take”. Rosehill’s take on the Marchand/Lily play, and the team toughness and chemistry, is spot-on. I agree with him 100%.
I hope someone plays that audio in the dressing room.
Leafs CAN’T win with the team as it is, and willy vs. Marner is irrelevant.
Wow, Ray, look at it again and say that wasn’t a can opener with the stick.
Liljegren didn’t lose the race to the puck either.
Switch the jerseys and tell me that wasn’t a dirty, dangerous play.
Marchand is a rat but the referee is a coward.
Marchand play was a dirty play and he should be suspended. Leafs show now heart or toughness!
Don’t poke the bear Marchand is a man playing with a kid was a hockey play no penalty no suspension no response by lifeless Leaf’s. If you don’t like contact pick different sport hockey is a contact sport so far down the road who knows.
Spoken like a guy who plays all his hockey on a computer.