Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas and representatives for William Nylander are still in meaningful negotiations about five weeks away from the Dec. 1 deadline to sign the restricted free agent.
The other option is Toronto trading the 22-year-old winger. But while Dubas was spotted at both New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers home games the past 48 hours (Calgary and Colorado were the respective visiting teams), he’s on the home turf of New Jersey-based agent Lewis Gross, who is handling the talks with Nylander’s father, Michael.
The two men met on Monday after taking a couple of days to digest new numbers that came out of a meeting in Zurich, Switzerland, last week, with Dubas and William Nylander present. The opposite ends of the numbers for a long-term pact were believed to be around $8 million US per season on the player side versus just more than $6 million offered by the Leafs, but they could be narrowing. A compromise would be a bridge deal in the $4 million-to-$5 million range that both sides had initially rejected.
Meanwhile, it does no harm for Dubas to “enjoy getting out to watch some games,” as he politely told NHL.com in Philly. The Leafs, who took a break from practice on Monday, have a spread-out home-and-home against the Winnipeg Jets on Wednesday and Saturday. Nylander was working out with an Austrian club team.
CORRADO RETURNS
Frank Corrado, who doesn’t know the word “quit,” is back in the Leafs organization. The defenceman, claimed on waivers three years ago this month, has agreed to an AHL contract with the Marlies.
The 25-year-old, Woodbridge-born Corrado played 41 games for the Leafs and hung on to the fringe of the roster for a couple of years. Moving to Pittsburgh, he made it into seven games for the Penguins the past couple of seasons while shuttling back and forth with their AHL farm team. His career took another bad turn with an ACL injury sidelining him most of the calendar year 2018, but he’s cleared to play.
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