Insider Believes There's A chance Nylander could be traded on Draft Day

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James Connelly
June 27, 2023 (9:47)

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The Maple Leafs have some big decisions to make and may ship William Nylander out on draft day in exchange for a top pick.

Nylander Could Be Moved On Draft Day

It is well known that the Maple Leafs and William Nylander are currently not close on a contract extension. With Nylander desiring over $9 million and the Leafs wanting to settle in the $8 million range, the Leafs may be forced to move him.

Brad Treliving has worked with William Nylander's agent, Lewis Gross, in the past with Gross having represented Johnny Gaudreau. If Trelving does not believe a deal will get done before the 2023-24 season, he may be inclined to move Nylander in favor of rolling the dice.

Tomorrow, the NHL draft will happen and many teams could offer an enticing package for Nylander. Some that could result in the Leafs moving into the top 10 to draft a top prospect.

Insider Quote

On TSN's Overdrive, Dave Poulin said the following regarding Nylander.

"I'd go with comps on my own team. I'd keep it really simple. One guy that's a pretty easy comp and that's Mitch Marner. Marner has 2 first-team all-stars. The other guys are not far behind him and the other guy has more goals. If you're Nylander's camp don't you have to start there? For most teams, Nylander's a top-line guy. I think that's a fair asking point for Nylander. You can run it back for one year but in terms of changing, I think they have to change something in that group and this might be the thing that does. Nylander wants to be paid in equivalency to Marner. It's been very quiet but it's got to come to a head at some point" - Dave Poulin

With this, has come speculation on whether or not the Leafs will move Nylander for a package that gives the Leafs futures. A comparable would be the Alex DeBrincat deal which happened last year which saw the Blackhawks acquire the 7th overall pick, the 39th pick, and a third.

While Nylander would fetch a lot more, that could be the base if the Leafs decide to do a trade based around futures.