Cole Caufield would be the price to pay for William Nylander, according to a Toronto journalist

When the Maple Leafs extended Auston Matthews’ contract earlier this week, everyone realized that William Nylander would probably have to leave to get a contract fair to his value.

And as usual, trade suggestions involving the Habs are surfacing.

This time, the suggestion comes from journalist Michael Traikos, who previously covered the Maple Leafs for the National Post. He appeared on the Canadiens Connection podcast on Sunday.

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Traikos explains that the price to pay will be extremely high and that Canadiens fans won’t like it. He names a few names that should be part of the discussion if Kent Hughes wants to get his hands on the Swedish forward.

Those names are Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovsky and Kaiden Guhle.

If the Habs trade Cole Caufield, I think Montreal explodes. Not only is he the Habs’ main prospect, he’s been a crowd favorite since his arrival in the NHL.

If you go to the Bell Centre this year, count the number of jerseys with the number 22 on the back. You’ll see just how popular this player is.

As impressive as Nylander is, with 80 or more points in his last two seasons, he doesn’t look like the kind of player who could light up a Montreal crowd.

Above all, he’s probably not capable of looking as cheerful and fun as Caufield. In my opinion, the idea of Caufield should be dismissed immediately.

As for Kaiden Guhle and Juraj Slafkovsky, I can understand the interest, but it would probably be better to keep them on the team in order to build a sense of loyalty.

That’s what’s going to be important once the Habs are back among the league powers: staying there. And to stay there, you need to keep the players in place. If Kent Hughes keeps his key players and builds around them, it’s likely to inspire confidence in the star players and convince them to stay.

Yes, getting your hands on a talented player like William Nylander can be very tempting, but we have to stay on the right track and have faith in our existing players.

And on the Maple Leafs’ side, we can expect a good return, but never as big as a Cole Caufield. They’ll have to lower their expectations if they don’t want to lose Nylander as a free agent in 2024.

In gusts

– We wish him success this year.

“It’s incredible to play on the Arthur-Ashe. It’s always been a dream of mine, so I try to take every opportunity.”🤗🎾https://t.co/Rja6wwauFW

– TVA Sports (@TVASports) August 27, 2023

– Winning with a circuit: the dream.

– Simply dominant.

– A dominant performance.