Kings and Hurricanes expressing serious interest in William Nylander

The William Nylander contract stalemate continues for the Maple Leafs, and now the club is engaged in more trade talks as the signing deadline approaches.

Time is starting to run out for the Toronto Maple Leafs on the William Nylander front. They have until December 1st, now less than a month away, to either sign Nylander or trade him to another club. Despite earlier reports that talks between the two sides were starting to positively progress, they appear to have reached another stalemate.

The Maple Leafs have begun to engage in more serious trade talks about moving the 22-year-old winger.

As first reported by David Pagnotta, roughly a dozen teams have called the Maple Leafs about acquiring William Nylander, but the Carolina Hurricanes and Los Angeles Kings have expressed the most interest in a trade for the elite young winger.

According to Pagnotta, the Los Angeles Kings have offered the Maple Leafs a package that would include Jake Muzzin and Tanner Pearson. The 29-year-old Muzzin has two years left on his contract with a $4 million salary cap hit, and Pearson has three years left on his deal with a $3.75 million cap hit. Obviously the package would include more than that, as Muzzin and Pearson aren’t near the level of Nylander, but it would open enough space for the Kings to pay Nylander what he’s ideally looking for.

With the horrendous start that the Kings have gotten off to, they desperately need a young scoring forward to counter their old and slow core. With a 3-8-1 record, the Kings sit alone at the bottom of the league with little no hope for improvement, unless they shake things up and get a player of Nylander’s caliber.

For the Carolina Hurricanes, the long standing rumor is that Hurricanes would offer the Maple Leafs a package that would include 23-year-old defenseman Brett Pesce, who is in the first year of a six year contract that will pay him $4.025 million a season, which the Leafs could benefit greatly from.

Pesce would not be the only piece in the deal for Carolina, but the belief is that the Maple Leafs and Hurricanes are discussing a larger deal that would include more from both sides. The Hurricanes have sent personnel to scout Toronto’s last few games, while Dubas made headlines for taking in a Hurricanes game in Raleigh last week, along with several other Eastern Conference games.

Nylander is reportedly asking for no less than $7 million a season, and with the Maple Leafs preparing to face a serious cap crunch as they prepare to sign Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner to serious deals, they just can’t afford to crack here if they want to keep their group together. Nylander isn’t being selfish at all, but they Leafs just might not be able to pay him without having to sacrifice some other important pieces. It’s no secret that their defense is their weakness, and getting a solid top four defender in return for Nylander could help them field a more balanced attack.

With December 1st getting closer every day, Leafs GM Kyle Dubas has to pull the trigger on something. Whether getting Nylander to crack or cracking himself to sign him, or moving Nylander somewhere else for assets, he’s got to make a decision. Nobody expected to ever get to this point, and talks will continue between both sides.