Former NHLer reveals his position on ''own rentals'', touches on situation between the Leafs, Nylander and Matthews
Each and every year, teams enter the offseason hoping to extend some of their top players with a year remaining on their deals. Sometimes it works out, sometimes it doesn't. The Leafs are coming into this summer with two very good becoming eligible to sign contract extensions. One of them has a full NMC kicking in on July 1st and the other has a modified NTC kicking in on the same date. Obviously, those two players are Auston Matthews and William Nylander.
The issue some teams run into year over year is that they wind up in situations where players who are being walked into free agency don't want to sign because of the excess value they'd have if they simply went to market. When they ultimately do not sign and are not traded by their teams, they're referred to as an "own rental".
Leafs Nation should be very familiar with the term "own rental", as we have had so many of them over the years, including Frederik Andersen, Zach Hyman, Alex Kerfoot and Justin Holl, among others. Whether or not this is a good strategy is certainly up for debate. Some argue that you absolutely have to get an asset back for a player on an expiring deal who may not want to return. Others argue that if you trade players who aren't expected to re-sign, you'll often lose the trade and the piece that will play in the departing player's spot in the lineup may not be as good of a player or may throw off the chemistry. Both very real concerns.
During an appearance on TSN1050's First Up on Thursday, former Leaf Mike Johnson joined the program to discuss a number of topics and one thing that came up was the idea of own rentals and how the Leafs simply can't afford to walk a player like William Nylander to UFA next summer.
Johnson wasn't willing to say the same thing about Auston Matthews, because, quite honestly, if you trade Auston Matthews, you're not going to be a better team for it and it sends your team in the opposite direction - down the path of a rebuild. There's also the fact that Matthews has been consistently very vocal about wanting to be in Toronto for a long time. However, with Nylander, we know how contentious the last set of negotiations was and we also know what his agent, Lewis Gross, just did to Brad Treliving with another one of his clients - Johnny Gaudreau.
Bottom line, if the Leafs can get something for Nylander now if he's not willing to sign an extension this summer - they have to make a deal. You take your risk with Auston Matthews, because it's a bit of a different situation than it is with Nylander. Matthews' full NMC kicks in on July 1st, and the Leafs can't sign him until July 1st. If he does re-sign, that's an elite, elite franchise player. Nylander, however, is not going to be nearly as valuable to the team as Matthews would be, but at the same time, he's too good to just allow him to walk for free. This is a 40-goal, 87-point winger. Those don't exactly grow on trees. Nylander will have an incredible amount of value and he's still young enough to be viewed as a potential core piece for an organization who is on the upswing following a rebuild or a re-tool. Also, Nylander's 10-team no-trade clause still gives the Leafs a ton of flexibility if they decide to move him.
Ultimately, I agree with Johnson here. You can't allow Nylander to walk as a free agent - even if it means taking a bit of a step back this season. If they have any inkling that they won't be able to get him to sign, just trade him at the draft and use the cap space you would have spent on him to bring in another impact winger in free agency. Just my two cents.
| POLL | ||
15 JUIN | 187 ANSWERS Former NHLer reveals his position on ''own rentals'', touches on situation between the Leafs, Nylander and Matthews How do you feel about "own rentals"? | ||
| It makes sense if the player is good | 60 | 32.1 % |
| Hate the idea, trade them for assets | 127 | 67.9 % |
| List of polls | ||
