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Winnipeg Jets: Three thoughts on a William Nylander fit

By Dylan Paré

TORONTO, ON - MARCH 31: William Nylander #29 of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Patrik Laine #29 of the Winnipeg Jets compete during the first period at the Air Canada Centre on March 31, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - MARCH 31: William Nylander #29 of the Toronto Maple Leafs, Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs and Patrik Laine #29 of the Winnipeg Jets compete during the first period at the Air Canada Centre on March 31, 2018 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Mark Blinch/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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CHICAGO, IL – DECEMBER 04: (L-R) Jacob Trouba #8 , Bryan Little #18 and Blake Wheeler #26 of the Winnipeg Jets react after Little scored against the Chicago Blackhawks in the second period at the United Center on December 4, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Bill Smith/NHLI via Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL – DECEMBER 04: (L-R) Jacob Trouba #8 , Bryan Little #18 and Blake Wheeler #26 of the Winnipeg Jets react after Little scored against the Chicago Blackhawks in the second period at the United Center on December 4, 2016 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Bill Smith/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Thought #2 – It sounds all fine and dandy, but do we have the cap space to make it work?

Short term answer, yes. Long term answer, it’s very tricky. Right now, we wouldn’t have too much of a problem signing Nylander to a contract. We have over $6.5 Million dollars of cap room (However, Kulikov is on IR), which would also be increased after sending more players away in a trade.

Right now, if we were to sign him to a contract paying him $8 Million, we would be $1,824,122 over the cap, meaning there would have to be a player dealt in the trade, not just picks and unsigned prospects. (Not that Toronto necessarily wants that). Also, this is all with Dmitry Kulikov’s contract on injured reserve.

Now looking at the long term, it’s quite a bit more complicated. Winnipeg currently has Laine, Connor, Copp, Petan, Lemieux, Trouba, Morrow, and Brossoit all set to become RFA’s at the end of the season. Tanev, Myers, and Chiarot are set to become UFA’s. Most of these guys will be commanding raises. We barely have space to start with for these guys, throwing what will be a Nylander’s huge contract in the mix is basically impossible.

It’s really tough, unless we happened to deal a guy like Jacob Trouba, the most likely player to demand a massive raise. Dealing Trouba and Little would open up the space needed, however would leave a massive void on the back end. (Unless Sami Niku is ready to step up).

Another option to free extra cap space would be trading away Dmitry Kulikov as soon as he returns from his injury. Kulikov has one more year after this season, at $4,333,333, which also would free tons of room. It wouldn’t leave as big of a void, however it would cost the Jets big time to do a salary dump like that. (A good example would be the Mason/Armia trade).

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In my opinion, this is the only thing stopping us from working this deal. I’m sure we could cope with losing a quality player, but the salary cap isn’t high enough for it to work out without going over.

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