It is expected that the Toronto Maple Leafs will go through a number of changes this summer with players looking for new contracts and the growing uncertainty about their ability to fit everyone under the salary cap. Factors such as what amount the NHL will increase the cap to and how much it will cost to get Mitch Marner extended are uncertainties that could alter the direction that GM Kyle Dubas takes.
The supposed promise to not trade forward William Nylander after signing a six-year, $45 Million contract last December should not be considered one.
The 22-year-old winger has no contractual no-trade clause until the final year of his deal (according to Cap Friendly), but it has been widely assumed that the Leafs will not trade Nylander after he said that Dubas would not move him as long as he was in Toronto. Strangely enough, the Leafs GM’s statement on the subject moments later sounded significantly less definitive.
“(William) is an excellent young player. I don’t think we want to get into the business of not having excellent young players.” Dubas said last December 3rd. “That is our full intention, to have him here as long as we possibly can.”
Trading Nylander may not be the first option for the Leafs this offseason, since the perception is that his value would be lower coming off the equivalent of a 40-point season (27 points in 54 games) and a bad playoff performance against Boston, but based on the number of teams that expressed interest before the contract impasse was resolved and that over 40% of the $45 Million deal will be paid out after the winger gets an $8.3 Million signing bonus on July 1, there will likely be a healthy market for him if Dubas decided to go in that direction.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reported last week that Marner’s camp is targeting Auston Matthews new contract ($11.634 Million AAV) as a comparable for his new deal. While many observers think that the amount will be less than that, if the new deal for the Leafs leading scorer is over $10 Million, Toronto would have three players making in excess of $30 Million per season.
Reports in December indicated that the salary cap could go as high as $83 to $85 Million based on league revenue projections, but recent speculation about the cap figure has hinted that is may come in lower.
If the Leafs are unable to convince veteran Patrick Marleau to waive his no-movement clause, Dubas will likely have the option to move Nathan Horton’s $5.3 Million salary to long-term injured reserve (LTIR), but also may have to move out a combination of Nazem Kadri ($4.5 Million), Connor Brown ($2.1 Million), Nikita Zaitsev ($4.5 Million) or Nylander ($6.9 Million) to get Marner and RFA’s Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson re-signed.
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