I don't know Bert. that would be tough for Dubas to reconcile.
Quelling media speculation and internal distraction certainly a benefit of Dubas saying "As long as I'm GM Nylander will not be traded" ..
However if that was simply lip service to Nylander and the media and Dubas trades Willy in 5 months time than he will have lost all accountability for his words and who would ever believe a word he says again if he was found simply doing it for posturing and never meant to honour that?.
Fans, media, player agents and even players, nobody would place any truth in what he says thereafter. His reputation would be one of simply saying what people want to hear and placing no value one could rely on going forward as truthful.
per Jonas Siegel
“The discussion that William and I had had a couple of times was a fear of his … that he was being signed to be traded,” Dubas told Bob McCown and Stephen Brunt on Prime Time Sports. “And my discussion with him, I just affirmed with him that that was not our intention whatsoever.
“Our intention was that as long as I was here that I saw him as a part of the
Toronto
Maple Leafs
Maybe just a bit less committed than what’s out there (Dubas chose his words carefully – teams make decisions every now and then that they certainly never had any “intentions” of doing), and Elliotte Friedman has mentioned that he believes this season will be Nylander’s last in Toronto.
Pressed further, Dubas made clear that he’s not looking to trade his young winger.
“I don’t think we want to get into the business at all of having these young, core pieces of ours, and then going forward and moving them from our team,” he said."
The top bolded is referring to things he said to Willie prior to signing. Probably made with $6.4-6.5m offer on the table. The bottom is post signing. I don't see either as a promise, particularly the latter but rather an intention based on the facts at the time.
So next year "He was one of our core pieces but the cap pressure forced us to make changes we did not anticipate having to make." or perhaps "We really like our young forwards but the early exit in the playoffs has made it pretty clear we are not Stanley Cup caliber with the defense as it is. The fact that player X was available at the same time was an opportunity we couldn't pass on". It might make more of a difference if Willie took one for the team and sign $6.5M with no big bonus but he squeezed the club for all he could. Situations change and the fans want a winner, the media wants a story, and agents are trying to suck every drop of his blood 24-7 no matter what he does or doesn't do. As to what the players think, they saw Willie's power play and even babies raised by wolves can see this isn't a balanced lineup. Its a business, and Matty and Mitch will be sitting on mountains of cash perhaps glad that the club was able to make room for their massive deals.
I am not predicting he is gone this summer but teams have done a lot worse things to a lot nicer guys than William Nylander and as soon as they start winning its forgotten. Its business and players want to get paid and win.
