New reports suggest that William Nylander could be considering exploring the free agent market over the summer.
The Leafs' Cap Crunch and Its Impact on Nylander's Future
It's no secret that both the Leafs and Nylander share a mutual desire to continue their partnership. However, as you can guess, money is the issue here.
Must read on Hockey OTB
With all the stars on the Leafs' roster, it takes great managing skills to pay them all. A Sportsnet analyst pointed out that Nylander's not the only one with a contract ending soon. Mitch Marner has only one year left on his deal, and expansion could pose a challenge to keeping Nylander on board.
Choices will need to be made. They could keep them both, but ultimately, sacrificing other players may be necessary.
Or, it's the worst nightmare for Leafs' fans: witnessing both Marner and Nylander walk away in free agency.
"Well sure. And you know the scary part, as mentioned in this piece, is just that if you lose Willy Nylander, like let's say you're thinking, okay, we value the cap space or we were considering trading him at the deadline, or whatever, if you don't have Willy on your roster, and then it's Mitch Marner's turn for negotiation, you're in a tough spot, because you can't afford to lose them both." - Justin Bourne
Nylander's Interest in Testing Free Agency Sparks Trade Rumors
Sam McKee adds another layer to this puzzle, suggesting that Nylander may have an itch to explore the free agency market. He commented:
«Well the thing that stood out to me about this piece, and it's like this when seeing it laid out in front of me, was the Lewis Gross aspect of this maybe they just want to go to UFA.»
Brad Treliving has made a similar costly mistake in the past, allowing Johnny Gaudreau to depart for nothing during his tenure in Calgary. Leafs fans will be anxiously watching to see if history repeats itself with Nylander.
"Treliving has made it clear he doesn't want to go through the (Johnny) Gaudreau situation again, where he ends up with no options, and the player just leaves."
Additionally, there were a lot of scouts at the last Leafs' game, don't you think?
