When the Toronto Maple Leafs hit the ice against the Montreal Canadiens Wednesday night, they will do it with a roster that looks pretty close to what the Leafs will start with on Oct. 3.
The main missing piece, of course, is RFA William Nylander who still hasn’t come to terms with the team on a contract. He’s at home in Sweden while the rest of his teammates prepare for a new season.
While it’s not unusual for players to sit out training camp without a contract, it’s less common for them to miss regular-season games. And though Leafs fans may be biting their nails, nervous about what this all means for Nylander’s future with the team, Brian Burke said he believes a deal will be signed before next week’s season opener.
“My prediction on Nylander is they’re going to get him signed,” Burke said on Sportsnet’s Starting Lineup on the FAN 590. “The agent here (Lewis Gross) is the same guy that had Johnny Gaudreau that held out of training camp two years ago with us in Calgary and then magically right before they started to get paid he made a deal. So I think they’ll get him signed.”
In 2016, Gaudreau was coming off his entry-level deal and missed all of training camp without a contract, then signed his current long-term deal two days before the season started.
There’s also the prospect hanging out there of another team accelerating the process with Nylander by signing him to an offer sheet. It’s been five years seen we’ve seen one of these in the NHL, when the Flames signed Ryan O’Reilly from Colorado, which the Avalanche matched.
And though there is this feeling in the general public that NHL GMs won’t go this route due to fear of retribution against one of their own RFAs, Burke doesn’t believe that’s the case any more. In fact, he thinks with the way compensation is set up now, it makes sense to try an offer sheet.
“I think there’s guys in our league that wouldn’t hesitate to offer sheet any player,” Burke said. “The compensation actually was rigged or fixed in the CBA — the way it is now — rigged on old values. It’s actually kind of a bargain to offer sheet a guy now with what you have to pay to get him. So that’s a real threat I think. I think everyone thinks the teams will match it.”
| Offer Sheet (AAV) | Compensation |
|---|---|
| $1,339,575 or below | None |
| Over $1,339,575 to $2,029,59 | 3rd |
| Over $2,029,59 to $4,059,322 | 2nd |
| Over $4,059,322 to $6,088,980 | 1st, 3rd |
| Over $6,088,980 to $8,118,641 | 1st, 2nd, 3rd |
| Over $8,118,641 to $10,148,302 | (2) 1st, 2nd, 3rd |
| Over $10,148,302 | (4) 1st |
Burke, who is part of Sportsnet’s NHL coverage all season long in 2018-19, also touched on a few other topics…
ON OTTAWA TRADING ERIK KARLSSON
“A trade under duress, a distress trade if you will, it’s really hard to get full value. And I think given the fact everyone in the world knew this guy wasn’t coming back, I think Pierre Dorion did a pretty good job on that trade. And I think the way both teams insured the trade and covered all eventualities is pretty creative.”
ON HOW THE CHRIS PRONGER TO ANAHEIM TRADE CAME TO BE
In 2006, Burke was then the GM of the Anaheim Ducks and famously traded with Edmonton to get Chris Pronger.
On Wednesday he elaborated on the steps that were taken to get the deal done, starting with then-Oilers GM Kevin Lowe dropping folded notes off at the draft tables of four different teams. In Anaheim’s it simply said ‘Ladislav Smid, Joffrey Lupul and a first-round pick’ which could be from the following year’s draft. Burke immediately wanted to put the trade through.
“We couldn’t do it,” he said. “The league kiboshed it because we had a tagging room problem. It’s not just that you have to be cap compliant, you have to have so much room going forward to take on a contract and we didn’t have enough tagging room.”
The Ducks couldn’t move until after July 1, when they could move players around to make enough future salary cap space to take on Pronger’s deal as well. When that was done, Burke said he called Lowe while the Oilers GM was driving and put the final touches on the trade.
“He said I’m gifting the Stanley Cup Finals for you if I trade you Chris Pronger and you’re in our division,” Burke explained. “I said ‘You know what? I think you are too, you’re right. So we’ll put another first in. If we play in the finals you get another first. Lupul, Smid a first, and a conditional first.’ “
The Ducks went on to win the Stanley Cup that season, giving Edmonton that conditional pick, which ended up becoming Jordan Eberle (who later became Ryan Strome).
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ON HOW PHIL KESSEL PULLS OFF BEING AN NHL IRONMAN
In 2009, Burke was the GM of the Maple Leafs and acquired Phil Kessel from Boston. Kessel missed 12 games that season, but hasn’t missed one since. His current 656-games played streak is the third-longest active mark behind Keith Yandle (676) and Patrick Marleau (669).
But Kessel, generally, isn’t thought of as a player in prime condition. When his name comes up, fans correlate it more closely with hot dogs than pull-ups, but Burke told a story former Leafs prospect Joe Colborne once told him about Kessel’s performance in the weight room.
“’The heaviest weights in the room in Toronto, there’s only two guys that can throw the heaviest weights around,'” Burke recalled Colborne saying. “‘Dion Phaneuf and Phil Kessel.’ And Phil would blow a 68 V02 max, he’d come to camp in phenomenal shape.”
Further to his pre-season conditioning, Burke said part of the reason Kessel is able to stay healthy and in the lineup all the time is the way he plays the game.
“Part of the durability is Phil’s not a big hitter,” Burke said. “He is very, very diligent about avoiding getting hit and that’s why he stays healthy. That’s not a knock, that’s a fact of life. This is a guy that’s not going to get hurt throwing a body check.
“Here’s the part that aggravates fans: He doesn’t care what you think about him. He doesn’t care if the media likes him, he doesn’t care if the fans like him. He shows up, he plays, he goes home.”
You might also say Kessel is a nice guy, tries hard, loves the game.
