William Nylander Opens Up on His Maple Leafs Future Amidst Retool/Rebuild

Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander

The General Manager is gone. The CEO had a long press conference covering a number of topics surrounding the franchise. And everyone in Leafs Nation is wondering whether Auston Matthews will want to stick around as the team enters a period of significant change.

But what about William Nylander? The team's leading scorer has six years to run on his $92 million contract ($11.6M AAV). What are the plans for the dynamic, skilled winger?

Jonas Siegel and Chris Johnston of The Athletic spoke with Nylander and have reported that he has "made his intentions clear."

William Nylander wants to stay … if, that is, the Leafs remain committed to chasing Stanley Cups and not tearing it all down.

Retool? Yes. Rebuild? No, thanks, says Willie.

“Unless it was a full rebuild and we were going to get rid of everybody, then it’s a different story. Then you take that conversation then," said Nylander.

“But just to do a retool or whatever, I don’t even know, but I mean, I still want to be here, yeah.”

Nylander said his conversation with former GM Brad Treliving around the trade deadline convinced him that the team was just looking at a shorter retool. Yes, Treliving is gone now, but MLSE CEO Keith Pelley said the same thing at his media gathering just a couple of days ago.

Of course, any new president of hockey operations and/or GM might have a different plan. Then all bets would be off for Nylander.

The 29-year-old Swede was mentioned by Pelley as one of the "foundational pieces" he felt the Leafs have, and a reason why a full rebuild wasn't necessary.

And in full Willy Being Willy form, his thoughts on the Leafs' future?

“Not too worried about it.”