The contract has been signed, and William Nylander is a Toronto Maple Leaf once again.
But now the question remains as to whether the team can keep him long term, while signing the rest of their soon-to-be expensive young pieces (Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner).
Nylander told reporters on Monday that he was told by Leafs GM Kyle Dubas that he would not be traded as long as Dubas is in Toronto.
But what does Dubas have to say about this supposed promise?
“The discussion that William and I had had a couple of times was a fear of his … that he was being signed to be traded,” Dubas told Bob McCown and Stephen Brunt on Prime Time Sports. “And my discussion with him, I just affirmed with him that that was not our intention whatsoever.
“Our intention was that as long as I was here that I saw him as a part of the Toronto Maple Leafs.”
Maybe just a bit less committed than what’s out there (Dubas chose his words carefully – teams make decisions every now and then that they certainly never had any “intentions” of doing), and Elliotte Friedman has mentioned that he believes this season will be Nylander’s last in Toronto.
Pressed further, Dubas made clear that he’s not looking to trade his young winger.
“I don’t think we want to get into the business at all of having these young, core pieces of ours, and then going forward and moving them from our team,” he said.
You can listen to his entire Prime Time Sports interview in the player below:
[relatedlinks]