Quote:
Originally Posted by dammage79
IMO, he's on par with Draisatl money wise. But neither are worth 8m a year. More like 6-6.5 ish.
Nyalnder's a completely different player though. If he came to the flames, based only on pure skill would probably be overshadowed by Johnny only.
And probably becomes the best shooter on the team, maybe tied with Monahan.
|
I think you hit the nail on the head. In this weird market perhaps someone stupid pays him the money he wants, but I don't think many would think he'd reach 80 points /season. When you start paying a guy $7.5MM+, you're saying he'll lead you in the playoffs. IMO, Nylander isn't going to be
the man in the playoffs. Knowing the Leafs' plans for signing two guys ahead of him at higher prices, Leafs ask him to take a discount. The Leafs were not banking on hardass negotiations, but this is what they brought on themselves by not starting negotiating earlier, or at least signing Matthews and Marner to discounts then asking Nylander to also take a discount. The pressure would then be on him to decline. Instead, the Leafs come across as bullies, even though Nylander is overvaluing himself. I personally see Leafs signing him by the deadline, but the damage has been done and they'll have to deal him to sign their two better players this offseason. Given this, there's no incentive for Nylander to take a discount.
Best bet for Dubas is to quickly sign Matthews and Marner over the next two weeks and come back to Nylander and hand him the final offer or he's dealt. Really comes down to bad prioritization on the Leafs part, and not knowing who they're dealing with in Nylander Sr.