3 reasons the Minnesota Wild shouldn’t consider William Nylander
The Minnesota Wild are among several teams that have been mentioned time and again when it pertains to Toronto Maple Leafs contract hold-out, William Nylander.
The move itself makes some semblance of sense for the Minnesota Wild.
William Nylander is at least a higher-tier player, if not a border-line elite one.
He’s only 22 years old and has proven a capable center on occasion, but also a top-tier winger.
The Minnesota Wild lack players with his youth and skill set, as well as having a plethora of options on the blue-line, hence the rumours suggesting that they’re a good trading partner for the Toronto Maple Leafs.
New Wild General Manager, Paul Fenton has yet to make any huge impact moves and thus people are calling for one. For many, a young elite talent is exactly what is missing from an ageing Minnesota line-up.
Early signs this season had the Wild ranked poorly by pundits across the league, but the recent three game winning streak, book-ended by Saturday’s overtime win against the Tampa Bay Lightning suggest a slightly different narrative.
The team is finally finding its’ mojo as a team; no one player is standing head and shoulders above the rest.
Zach Parise and Jason Zucker are proving to be the stand-outs and that may be all the team really needs in terms of play-making.
Given all of that, we look at three reasons why considering William Nylander isn’t a good idea for the Minnesota Wild.
In fact, it’s a genuinely bad option when you look into it closely.
Signing William Nylander would either require the Minnesota Wild giving up way too many draft picks or potentially a player like Matt Dumba.
Whilst players like Nylander don’t exactly come onto the market every day, it is generally easier to acquire a strong winger who could fill in as likely a second-line center than it is to find good young right-handed defensemen.
Giving up Matt Dumba, as has been floated, would not necessarily be tantamount to blowing the team up, but it’d certainly be unwise.
In Dumba, you have a 24-year-old signed to a team-friendly(ish) deal, especially when you compare it to the boat anchor deals that Zach Parise and Ryan Suter are on.
Granted, William Nylander is two years younger, but chances are if you offer sheet him you’re paying in the $8 million bracket as that’s what he’s rumoured to be holding out for.
Beyond that, you’re giving up draft picks that realistically are far more useful to new Minnesota Wild General Manager, Paul Fenton in building a team in the shape of his personal vision.
Alternately, if you go the trade-and-sign route, you’re still over the barrel for at least $7.5 million. The Minnesota Wild already have two deals at that rate and it’s not wise to add another.
Sacrificing Matt Dumba to make the deal work is not a smart move. Defensemen that are capable of putting up 50 points in a season don’t pop up every day.
Wingers that put up 60 points; they’re more available.
The Minnesota Wild are a team that is on the wrong side of the average age bracket that most NHL teams target these days.
Adding a young 22-year old Swedish winger sounds like a great way to lower that average age, but realistically it just ties up funds that would be better manoeuvred elsewhere.
When your core two pieces, at least based on cap hit, are both the wrong side of thirty and signed for several more years; you’re not really wise to make a move on a young guy like Nylander.
Ryan Suter and Zach Parise are both signed to deals that make them near, if not, unmovable. That hampers the Minnesota Wild severely in terms of building a new core.
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Sure, you have guys like Matt Dumba and Jason Zucker that are young enough to be considered the future core of the side, but realistically you’re giving one of these types of guys up in a trade-and-sign scenario.
Time and again, we’ve seen that the way to rebuild is typically to rid a team of nasty contracts and utilise entry-level deals on well-drafted talent.
Typically this scenario also involves bottoming-out for a season or two. Or six if you’re the Edmonton Oilers.
Whilst I’m not advocating for the Minnesota Wild to implode what they have; I do feel like adding William Nylander doesn’t do them any favours in terms of a re-build.
He’s going to be on too much money, unless you manage to get results out of him as a first-line center and will limit the ability to build a useful line-up.
Nobody, not least the Minnesota Wild, need to be governed by the parents or agents of their players.
William Nylander, if we’re to believe the media is being governed by his father, Michael Nylander and his agent.
The contract negotiations with the Toronto Maple Leafs have gone on far longer than I think most people expected.
If we believe everything in the media, which I’m always wary to do when we’re talking the Toronto hockey media landscape – the sticking point is as much as $2 million of difference.
That’s not an insignificant amount.
A Sportsnet ‘Big Read’ article points out that even in his draft year, he was viewed as a somewhat risky proposition.
To directly quote that article; ‘there was only one red flag, and it was one that he had no control over: his father.’
Another scout, in that same article is quoted as saying:
At the end of the day, you have to say that maybe [Michael] was a pain in the ass, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t have his kid’s best interests in mind. (Sportsnet.ca)
It’s really a tough challenge to face. Of course as a young 22-year-old with a limited chance to make as much money as possible, you don’t want to begrudge that he, whether influenced by his father or not, is pushing for as much money as possible.
The Minnesota Wild don’t need these sorts of influences around their team at all; whether he’s at the forefront of this negotiation or even as a background figure.
Too often locker-rooms can be divided by such a presence.
dark. Next. Who fills the void with Matt Hendricks out?
Whilst it’s unfair to say that William Nylander is that presence, it’s a risk I’d be averse to taking as the Minnesota Wild General Manager.