The new contract between the Toronto Maple Leafs and William Nylander that has been rumoured for days became official on Monday.
While, in recent times, all signs pointed to an agreement between the Swedish star and the club (it wound up being $92 million for eight years) Elliotte Friedman is convinced the organization took a long, hard look at another route with Nylander before the season began.
“I think, over the summer, the Maple Leafs made it clear they were willing to trade Nylander for a top defenceman and there just wasn’t anything out there,” Friedman said on the 32 Thoughts podcast. “And part of the reason is, teams that were going to trade for him, they didn’t know if they were going to be able to sign him [either]. So nobody is trading a good ‘D’ or top ‘D’ for a Nylander you don’t know if you’re going to be able to sign. Look how hard this negotiation was on Toronto; it wasn’t going to be any easier anywhere else.”
Friedman believes, even after the season started, Toronto didn’t close the door on dealing ‘Willy’ until it became clear there was no satisfying swap to make.
“[The Leafs thought] ‘There is in not a defenceman we can get our hands on that’s worth losing this player’ and that is when they dove back into [the negotiations],” he said.
Speaking of negotiations and defencemen, Friedman is not so sure Noah Hanifin will be dealt out of Calgary in advance of him potentially hitting the UFA market this summer. Before the year, Friedman says the player and club basically verbally agreed to a deal in the vicinity of $60 million that never got inked. After Calgary started poorly, all indications were Hanifin — potentially along with fellow pending-UFAs Elias Lindholm and Chris Tanev — would be moved ahead of the March 8 deadline.
However, Friedman believes all options — including an extension for Hanifin — remain in play. “I thought when that extension didn’t happen at the beginning of the year, any chance Hanifin was staying was over,” he said. “He still might end up getting traded, but I don’t think it’s certain, I don’t think it’s 100 per cent a guarantee.”
What Friedman does feel confident about is the fact the Vegas Golden Knights — who have just three wins in their past 10 outings — won’t be sitting on their hands much longer when it comes to loading up for a title defence. He thinks the Knights might seek clarity from their own pending UFAs — they have two big ones up front in Jonathan Marchessault and Chandler Stephenson — and swing into action.
“Knowing what they’re like in terms of being unafraid to make tough decisions and the fact that they’re absolutely demanding to win again, I think there are teams expecting Vegas to go out there say, ‘Okay, here’s what we want and how do we go about getting it?’”
That might be easier said than done for the struggling New Jersey Devils, who currently occupy the second wild-card spot in the East. The team has a long list of injuries right now to key players like Jack Hughes, Dougie Hamilton and Timo Meier among others. But with everyone expected back at some point, Jersey is somewhat limited by salary-cap constraints.
“They’re going through it right now, but unless they’re going to make a hockey trade where money goes out and money goes in, they’re probably in a situation where they have to make it work with what they’ve got,” Friedman said.
Jersey, of course, was the team Connor Bedard was facing on Friday when Devils defenceman Brendan Smith caught him with a hit that we now know fractured the superstar rookie’s jaw. The Hawks gutted out a big 4-3 win over Calgary on Sunday, but Friedman had a creative idea for Chicago GM Kyle Davidson to help fill the void created by Bedard’s absence long-term.
“I might call [free agent] Phil Kessel, because you need players,” Friedman said, “you’re going to need goals and the other thing you could do is — it’s long enough until the trade deadline, two months — that if you get Kessel up and going, you might be able to get something for him at the deadline.”
Maybe we’ll see a new — yet very familiar — name floating on trade big boards should the Hawks take Friedman’s advice.
from Sportsnet.ca https://ift.tt/F3JQIT1
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