The summer of 2022 was one to remember for Flames fans for all of the wrong reasons. They lost Johnny Gaudreau for nothing and then were forced to trade Matthew Tkachuk who is playing at a new level with the Panthers these playoffs.
Brad Treliving learned a lot from this offseason and is now ready to approach things in a new light in Toronto. He will not trust star players saying they want to re-sign when he knows they could walk.
William Nylander is represented by Lewis Gross, Johnny Gaudreau's agent. In a recent article, The Athletic ranked Nylander as the 10th most likely player to be traded this offseason.
Extension or else is exactly how Treliving should approach this situation. Nylander has a history of prioritizing money over the team and it could be seen when he signed his current contract. Nylander held out for months before he signed and it is clear if the Leafs and Treliving are set on a price and Nylander demands more, then they will ship him off.
In all likelihood, Nylander will be paid like a top-tier player in the league. I could see him signing a contract similar to that of Sebastian Aho or Roope Hintz who each signed for AAVs of $8.45m. It will also depend on the term Nylander wants.
The longer he is signed, the higher his AAV will be. Depending on Nylander's idea of what he is worth, we could see him asking for north of $9m. An AAV over $9m would handicap the Leafs as they would still need to resign Matthews in the 2024 offseason, and then Marner in the 2025 offseason.
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Brad Treliving prepared to give one of teams' star players an ultimatum as free agency approaches
POLL | ||
Will we see William Nylander get traded? | ||
Yes | 194 | 67.1 % |
No | 95 | 32.9 % |
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