"I think this is the key thing. I think over the summer, the Toronto Maple Leafs made it clear they would consider trading William Nylander for a top defenseman and there just wasn't anything out there. Part of the reason is that teams that were going to trade for him didn't know if they were going to be able to sign him. So, nobody is trading a top defenseman or a really good defenseman for a Nylander that you don't know if you're going to be able to sign. Look at how hard this negotiation was going to be for Toronto. It wasn't going to be any easier anywhere else. So that made it difficult for Toronto to make a deal, they had no deal to make.
I think from the beginning of the season until just before Christmas when Toronto re-engaged, and I think a lot of this started again just after their trip to Sweden... I think the Maple Leafs went through the league and said 'if we let him go and we use that money on the blueline, who is the defenseman we could go get and be impactful enough to fix the loss of Nylander and his production?...They said there is not a defenseman they can get their hands on who is worth losing this player."
