If you look at the top producers all-time for this tournament, Nylander is among some very talented names.
There is predictive value in this tournament considering he just turned 23 and knows how to play an elite offensive game with other skilled players.
Not saying Nylander is guaranteed to become a Panarin but it does help the case for keeping him around for now don't you think?
Looking at the past MVP's of this tourney there are some high profile names like kane, Malkin, kovy, etc.
But there also outliers that were not stars by any means.
When the tournament involves playing against teams like Norway and France it's not that hard for a skilled player to rack up the points. Especially ones that require bigger ice surfaces.
Seems like nylander is missing something at the nhl level. 2 years ago I got super pumped watching nylander crush the worlds only to see him have an average season. When someone is as skilled as he is, there is no reason to only get 61 points playing with Matthew's.
I think he either lacks confidence on the smaller rinks or just doesn't know how to play at the faster pace. Also seems like he lacks intensity. I still dont know what he was doing against Boston when he got the puck in front of rask and then just stopped playing.
I do not think he is worth keeping around at 7mil. If he had signed at a more reasonable price and didn't hold out on the team for 2 months it would be a different story.
It's not a coincidence that the team has played poorly ever since he came back.