Sunday, November 18, 2018
Solving the Nylander Enigma
The world of
professional sport is an extremely complex one. When it comes to
salary caps, long term contracts, bonus payments, collective
bargaining agreements, free agency, unrestricted free agency, and the
myriad of other terms used in that world, I am clueless. There is a
lot of smoke and mirrors involved in much of the business.
The Toronto
Maple Leafs organization has put together a fine team for this
season. Nothing is perfect, of course, and there will be losses with
the wins. But when it comes down to one excellent player, William
Nylander, still biding his time on the other side of the Atlantic
Ocean, there can be no doubt that he would be a valuable contributor
to the team this season. But there he sits, waiting for all of the
negotiations to be completed before he takes to the ice at the rink
in Toronto.
In this
case, there is a good deal of frustration. Although I am not privy to
the amount of money he has been offered, I am certain most of us
would be quite comfortable with it. There have been indications that
either he, or his agent, is looking for six million dollars a year,
or perhaps more.
Now with the
injury to Auston Matthews the situation has become more critical.
Matthews is not expected back for at least a month. He missed several
games last season due to injury, and he is prone to shoulder
injuries. Never a good thing.
This would
be an ideal time for Nylander to show his loyalty to his team, sign
the papers, and get back to business in Toronto. Not going to happen.
At this point, the people in the Nylander camp are even talking about
playing in the Russian pro hockey league, the KHL. One can earn some
serious cash there, once they decide to pay you.
Nylander was
actually born in Calgary, Alberta. His father, Michael, was also a
professional hockey player. I would venture to say that his passport
was well stamped. He played almost a thousand games in the NHL. He
was constantly on the move from team to team, with stints in 7 NHL
cities, 3 American League teams, and 14 European teams.
William has
one brother, Alex, in the Buffalo Sabres' organization. Both lads
were drafted in the first round, eighth overall.
Meanwhile,
Leaf fans, coaches, and executives must await the consequences of
Nylander's stance. You can tell from all of the words flowing from
the Toronto media that there is great frustration. Nylander expects
to turn those emotions into serious dollars.
The Boston
Red Sox disposed of the Los Angeles Dodgers rather handily to win the
World Series. Last May, Steve Pierce was trying to crack the Blue
Jays lineup as a journeyman. Now he is the toast of the town in
Boston as the MVP of the World Series. There was a certain amount of
redemption for lefty David Price, as he had experienced some
difficulty in post-season play.
And the
Raptors dropped their first game of the season on Monday night. But
they have stormed out of the blocks this year, at a record pace, and
there are high hopes for them this year.
With this
current chill in the air, we are reminded that the Grey Cup is not
too far away. Always a great event!!
James Hurst
October 30,
2018
# posted by James Hurst @ 9:21 AM 
