Sportsnet: Leafs and Nylander closing ~$11.5M x 8 contract extension (NMC)

[Vukotal Recall]

Nylander is going to already be 28 when this contract starts. That's when most forwards start to decline. Not only is it overpriced and cap-strangling for who he is now -- at his absolute peak, playing on the second line -- it is going to be a disaster in two years or so. How many (one dimensional) wingers are anywhere near their peak performance after 30?

 

[Strangle]

Me too. It's just shortsighted to laugh and say haha they are doing the same thing. No one has any idea what Trelivings plans are for the future. Since day 1 he said he wants to add massively to defense. All reports are he is working on it but not much out there in season.

The other thing is, Leafs have the most cap flexibility in the league. The only core pieces extended past next season are Matthews, Nylander, and Rielly. They have some great pieces like Knies, Woll, Robertson on ELC's and will be getting bridged and fill some key spots for us, especially Knies.

Leafs have also been one of the best teams in the league at finding great depth pieces for cheap. A guy like Jarnkrok only making 2.1 is an absolute steal.

So what do the Leafs have to work with? Well, they have the best goalscorer in the league locked up, a top winger in the game, and a #1 D who is having the best season of his career and is our best player every playoff. They have a potential future starter in both Woll and HIldebeast in the system already which when Woll needs a bigger deal, Hildebeast likely is ready to be a backup on an ELC.

The hard part, well you can't fill all the holes in UFA. But some of them can be. You can add top 4 D like Brodie pretty easily who give great value. You can make moves like the Muzzin trade and get 3 seasons of top pairing play out of a first and some mid prospects.

It's a challenge, but the Leafs have a great farm system right now with lots of prospects with value, they have their first this year and future draft picks. And they have a ton of cap space to work with to fill in the holes and retool the core by removing Marner if they wanted.

And all of that is irrelevant when I say, I am not convinced the Leafs are that far away from winning as it is anyways. HFboards don't watch the Leafs, they have no idea what they have. All it takes is Matthews being hot, Nylander being himself, some hot goaltending.

This is the big reason losing Amirov and all those picks Dubas traded going ‘all in’ hurts

Can’t keep doing this when you know you need cheap replacement players on ELC’s coming up ready to step in at all positions

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

This is true. Leafs had no option and given that they opened the vault for the other three, hard to expect Nylander to now suddenly be generous and giving.

Leafs are paying for past sins of totally ignoring defense. Should have traded Nylander's rights for a very solid D prospect the first time around. But that ship has sailed.

Trading Nylander the first time might have saved them some money on Marner and Matthews.

Once Nylander was given more than his comparables after holding out, they knew Dubas would roll over and pay whatever they wanted if they just played hard ball, the game was over.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

So Marner must be on his way out