William Nylander Reportedly Interested in Testing Free Agency

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Dawson Mckenzie
December 15, 2023 (8:22 PM)

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New reports have surfaced that William Nylander could be interested in testing free agency because of this dilemma facing Brad Treliving and the Leafs.

Leafs Strapped For Cap Space Which Could Hurt Nylander Negotiations Future Negotiations

For the Leafs and William Nylander, the question has always been if they have the cap space to be able to sign him. Clearly, the Leafs would love to have him on their team, and Nylander himself has said he would like to stay in Toronto.

However, the 2019 Marner contract seems to always get in the way, and it is already nearly time to renegotiate that. As Sportsnet Justin Bourne put it, it would be terrible if the Leafs lost both players to free agency.

«Well sure. And you know the scary part, you know again mentioned in this piece is just that if you lose Willy Nylander, like let's say you're like okay, we value the cap space or we were going to trade him at the deadline, or whatever, if you don't have Willy on your roster, and then it's Mitch Marner's turn for negotiation. you're screwed, because you can't lose them both.»

This would be a nightmare scenario for the Leafs, who would lose out on two of their core offensive talents.

Nylander Rumoured to Be Interested in Testing Free Agency

Sam McKee also had some interesting insight on the topic, as he believes that Nylander could be interested in testing the free agency market. He said the following:

«Well the thing that stuck out to me about this piece and it's like this seeing it laid out in front of me, was the Lewis Gross aspect of this maybe they just want to go to UFA.»

Brad Treliving has made this mistake before, letting Johnny Gaudreau walk for nothing during his time in Calgary. Leafs fans will soon see if he lets the same happen with Nylander.

As seen on Hockey Feed - "William Nylander reportedly has one foot out the door due to Leafs' tough dilemma"