By: MacLeod Roy & Dean Inacay
Update: The Deal is signed
William Nylander has agreed to a six year 41.1 million dollar contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs minutes before the deadline. The 22-year-old Swede will play his first game back on December 6th 2018 against the Detroit Red Wings. The Leafs are currently 20-8-0 and sit second place in the Atlantic division, they also have scored 40 points this season, the second most league wide.
.@wmnylander takes his first trip through the tunnel this season.#LeafsForever pic.twitter.com/kLjdVq7hrA
— Toronto Maple Leafs (@MapleLeafs) December 6, 2018
Nylander Watch Update
Yep he still hasn’t signed yet and Elliott Friedman believes this is the beginning of the end, and that this will be his last season as a leaf if he signs or not.
"The one thing I do believe, no matter what happens, is that this will be William Nylander’s final season as a Toronto Maple Leaf."@FriedgeHNIC joined @timandsid to discuss the #Leafs' William Nylander situation:https://t.co/9SMVrgE9c0
— Sportsnet (@Sportsnet) November 29, 2018
Some Leafs fans feel William Nylander has extended his summer vacation for way too long. The Toronto Maple Leafs have until December 1st to end a dispute that many feel has lasted longer than the two Koreas. And some Leafs fans are increasingly prepared to accept a “Willieless” future. Since July 1st, Nylander’s contract has been in limbo. As a restricted free agent, if the Leafs don’t sign him, he won’t play at all this season. At the start of the season Leafs GM Kyle Dubas said on keeping Mitch Marner, Austin Matthews, Jon Tavares, and Nylander “We can and we will.”
But to many it’s beginning to seem like he can’t and he won’t.
Thoughts: If #Nylander hasn’t signed by now, he won’t sign at all this year. I think he plays in Europe
— Tom Kelly (@TKelly93) November 16, 2018
Twitter has become a hostile environment for Willie as fans have become fed up with the forward’s demands to be paid…. something to the tune of 8 million. The organization sees Nylander as more of a 5 or 6 million type of player.
#Nylander Make the greedy little boy suffer no deal, no trade , no play in NHL this year !
— Scott Clark (@ScottSacc799) November 8, 2018
But there’s more to this story
^This guy. He’s stepped into Nylander’s former role quite well. Kasperi Kapanen has got 14 points in 19 games this season. In Nylander’s first season he had 13 points in 22 games, eerily similar numbers. Fans and media have taken notice too.
Toronto has a difficult choice to make: Nylander AND Kapanen or just Kapanen? And if no Nylander do they trade him for an additional piece. Right now, the Leafs are 13-6-0 through 19 games, 2nd in the conference. Many wondering if Nylander is essential to the future or if the franchise is better served making a move for a defenseman. Only time will tell but until December 1st, the debate rages on.
Files by Anthony Gatt
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