It’s no secret that the Toronto Maple Leafs need to move some money to keep stars like Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner for the foreseeable future. One way of doing that is moving the contract of William Nylander, who is expected to ask for upwards of $9 million for his extension. If the Maple Leafs feel that’s too rich, considering Matthews, John Tavares and Marner also need extensions over the next two seasons and will want raises, then Nylander is expendable. The Montreal Canadiens are a team starved for elite talent, and Nylander could fit nicely in their top six and possibly be their best player to go along with Nick Suzuki and Cole Caufield. The only issue would be whether or not the Habs have the assets to get a deal done.
Canadiens Need Elite Forward Talent
The Canadiens had a chance to draft a highly skilled forward at the 2023 NHL Draft but decided to go with a solid potential number-one defenceman in David Reinbacher. The forward they passed on was Matvei Michkov, who some say is the second-best talent in the draft, and others think he has too much baggage, depending on who you listen to. Either way, if you look at the Canadiens’ decision not to draft him, this still leaves them with a hole in the forward group, and that’s elite talent. There was no guarantee that Michkov would be elite, but he does have the makings to be one. Only time will tell. Caufield has elite shooting but isn’t what people would call an elite forward, more of a highly skilled top talent, while Suzuki is also a top talent but not elite.
General manager (GM) Kent Hughes is banking on Suzuki, Caufield, Kirby Dach and newly acquired Alex Newhook to provide the offence the team needs. When together, Caufield and Suzuki make an almost unstoppable duo, with Caufield projected to have 48 goals and Suzuki 80 points before Caufield had season-ending surgery on his shoulder. They added Dach at the 2022 Draft, and he immediately made an impact before injuries derailed his season. The hope is that Newhook will have the same comeback as Dach, and rookie Juraj Slafkovsky will start to become the player they drafted him to be in the 2022 Draft. The issue with all this is the word hope, and there is a lot of it in there because none of these players have proven to be elite forwards yet.
Maple Leafs Nylander Would Be Best Offensive Player on Canadiens
The Maple Leafs have a ton of high-end talent on their roster, with Nylander being one of them. Matthews and Nylander have their contracts ending at the end of this season, and both will be looking for raises in their extension. They also need room to sign bottom-six players and strengthen their defence. The Maple Leafs also need to add grit in their top six, and to do that they must free up a lot of money. It looks like Matthews wants to stay, the Leafs want to keep him, and he may take less of a raise to help the team win a Cup. Marner is another critical piece and hometown guy that the Maple Leafs will want to keep. Tavares will be hard to move based on his age and contract and may wish to stay in Toronto at a lower amount when his current deal comes to an end. This leaves Nylander as the odd man out of the top four.
Related: Insider Reports Maple Leafs Hit Snag With Nylander Negotiations
If Hughes looked into acquiring Nylander, he could solve many problems in his offence. He would get a player with elite talent and put anxiety at ease about scoring up front. Nylander has been a point-per-game (PPG) player for the past two seasons, and nothing suggests he won’t continue that trend in the future. One could argue that leaving the high-powered offence of the Maple Leafs could curb his scoring a little; even if he hits 70 plus points, he still will score more points than any Canadiens scoring leader since Max Domi in 2018-19 when he had 72 points. A talent like Nylander is needed considering Montreal hasn’t had a player score more than 80 points since Alexei Kovalev in 2007-08 with 82 points.
Canadiens Will Need to Give Up A Lot to Acquire Nylander
A trade for Nylander comes down to the basics: what do the Canadiens have that the Maple Leafs would want? Hughes will undoubtedly not want to give Suzuki or Caufield in any deal, so we can assume they are off the table. What other players would Hughes wish to save? Dach could be one, and rookies Kaiden Ghule and Juraj Slafkovsky, probably a couple more. So who does that leave for Toronto even to start discussions? They are not in a rebuild; they will want assets that will help them sooner than later, and they need players that can push them through the playoffs and play in the top six. They will also want first-round draft picks and high-level prospects; when trading a talent like Nylander, getting precisely what you want is hard, but you need to get the player’s total value.
The Canadiens can start with Josh Anderson, an enormous power forward who can complement the top six of the Maple Leafs and provide much-needed grit in that role. He will be cheaper than Nylander, with a contract already $5.5 million for the next four seasons. He fits a role Toronto needs, and if he can remain healthy will probably provide 25-30 goals playing with the likes of Matthews and Marner. The rest of the deal is where it gets tricky for the Habs, but they can sacrifice their 2024 first-round pick, which should be in the top 15. They also have two first-round picks in 2025, which could be in the top 15 or 20. Anderson and two first-rounders is a solid start, but probably not enough.
The Maple Leafs will also want a top prospect, which will likely be one of the many defencemen the Canadiens have. Reinbacher could be a choice, but why draft him to trade him when you could’ve just drafted a talented forward? That leaves Jordan Harris, Logan Mailloux, Arber Xhekaj, and Jayden Struble. Harris and Mailloux would probably be the only ones in that group that the Leafs are interested in, but would one of them be enough?
If the Canadiens want Nylander, it will cost them a king’s ransom that they may not be able to afford or even have the assets to pull off. Anderson, Mailloux and two first-round picks are a lot for one player acquired during a rebuild. That package may not even be enough for the Maple Leafs in win-now mode. The Canadiens should still at least try because Nylander would speed up the rebuild and solve a decades-long problem.
Nylander does have a 10-team modified no-trade clause that took effect July 1, so Montréal would need to be absent from that list on top of any deal they put together.
