William Nylander: the kind of player the CH is looking for

The Montreal Canadiens are not yet in a position to win. But don’t worry, Canadiens fans, that day will come.

The team is still young, and it may take another two seasons of misery to get your hopes up.

But sooner rather than later, Kent Hughes is going to have to break out the checkbook on the free agent market. The pool of free agents on July 1 is interesting, very interesting.

Big forwards like Steven Stamkos, William Nylander, Jake Guentzel and Sam Reinhart are free as a bird.

If there’s one guy Hughes should target, it’s Nylander. The Maple Leafs’ Nylander will probably command the highest salary among the above-mentioned players, but he’s the kind of forward who would fit in perfectly in Montreal. Mathias Brunet gave his opinion on the situation on BPM Sports.

Should William Nylander become available on the free agent market, would the CH show any interest?

In Le Retour des sportifs, Mathias Brunet thinks so. Do you agree that he fits into the plans? https://t.co/jdk22flu4s pic.twitter.com/JvvPNXYoUg

– BPM Sports (@BPMSportsRadio) December 11, 2023

At the start of the season, many doubted the chances of him returning to Toronto. After all, Nylander will be asking for another huge salary and the Leafs are already stretched thin financially.

Perhaps they could ask him to defer 95% of his salary to 2035, but I don’t think that’s done in the Bettman circuit. Long live the salary cap, right?

But hey, with the salary cap going up by four million dollars, Toronto might be able to make him a nice offer. The question now is: will the future free agent want to stay in the Queen City?

If not, would he really want to come and play in Montreal?

In short, with Kirby Dach, Alex Newhook, Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield and Juraj Slafkovsky on the top-6, there’s always going to be a big piece missing from the top two. And that’s where Nylander is going to be interesting, Brunet believes.

With 34 points in 25 games this season, Willy is an excellent player and on track to surpass his career-best season in terms of points (87). This big season comes just in time for a new contract. Coincidence?

Brunet isn’t the only one to have linked Nylander to the Habs. A few months ago, David Ettedgui projected that Kent Hughes would sign the forward in 2024.

Let’s hope we don’t get our hopes up as we did with Shohei Ohtani… OK, I’ll stop making pointless comparisons with Ohtani, but you should know that I still have his non-signing with the Jays in my heart.

In gusto

– What a feat!

– Can you believe it?

Claude Raymond doesn’t mince words when talking about the Blue Jays’ star player:

“Vladimir Guerrero Jr, he’s going to have to get his act together because he’s got a whole lot of talent…and he’s wasting it!” -Claude Raymond

Live at de @LangloisMario https://t.co/ombAm7kmJx pic.twitter.com/8KwH6LlxMi

– 98,5 Sports (@985Sports) December 12, 2023

– Well said.

Former Quebec pitcher Claude Raymond reacted with humor to the $700M contract signed by Shohei Ohtani:

“It reminded me of my first contract…however, me, there were no commas!” -Claude Raymond

Live on Amateurs de sports with @LangloisMario pic.twitter.com/c8Pt8Q9BrW

– 98,5 Sports (@985Sports) December 12, 2023

– Coming up.