{"id":170472,"date":"2025-08-25T20:31:11","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T20:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/170472\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T20:31:11","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T20:31:11","slug":"are-the-maple-leafs-considering-william-nylander-as-a-replacement-for-mitch-marner-nhl-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/170472\/","title":{"rendered":"Are the Maple Leafs considering William Nylander as a replacement for Mitch Marner? | NHL News"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ArePhoto by Kevin Sousa\/NHLI via Getty Images As the Toronto Maple Leafs gear up for a future without Mitch Marner, the NHL team is working to bring in a potential replacement for Marner, and as reports suggest, they are considering William Nylander as a replacement. It has recently come to light that Forward Matthew Knies has suggested that William Nylander could step into Marner\u2019s shoes alongside Auston Matthews on the top line, a move that could keep the team competitive without forcing a costly trade.Earlier, William Nylander said Mitch Marner was a \u201cgreat teammate\u201d and an \u201cincredible person,\u201d and scoffed at the notion that the forward was already looking to leave the Toronto Maple Leafs midway through last season. Let\u2019s take a look at the team\u2019s decision to proceed forward with William Nylander.<\/p>\n

The Maple Leafs are considering William Nylander to step into Marner’s shoes<\/p>\n

After Mitch Marner\u2019s exit, the Maple Leafs are considering William Nylander<\/a> to step into Marner\u2019s shoes on the team. In a chat with The Toronto Star, Knies pointed out that the Leafs already have the right player for the job. This idea is attractive from both a hockey and a financial perspective. With Toronto facing an already difficult situation, avoiding another blockbuster move will allow the club to maintain assets while still ensuring Matthews has an elite partner.Meanwhile, William Nylander and Matthews are no strangers to each other, as they have spent most of their NHL careers as teammates, giving them a natural chemistry that could be tapped into more consistently. While the Leafs have typically kept them apart at even strength to balance their scoring threats, the loss of Marner may push the team to reunite the two stars on a permanent basis.In fact, it will be an added advantage too if both Nylander and Marner collaborate, as it could provide the Maple Leafs with a potent top-line duo capable of carrying the offensive load.<\/p>\n

Nylandar’s view on Mitch Marner’s decision to leave the Maple Leafs<\/p>\n

William Nylander called Mitch Marner a \u201cgreat teammate\u201d and an \u201cincredible person,\u201d while dismissing speculation that the forward had one foot forward and was already looking to leave the Toronto Maple Leafs<\/a> midway through last season. Speaking at the NHL\/NHLPA European Player Media Tour on Friday, Nylander said Marner remained committed to Toronto throughout the 2023-24 season despite rumors about his future.<\/p>\n

Did Nylander’s comments calm fans’ bitter feelings towards Marner?<\/p>\n

\u201cNot sure where that stuff comes from, but I don\u2019t think he was ever thinking of leaving ahead of time,\u201d Nylander told NHL.com. \u201cI actually asked him during the season, and he said he was concentrating on Toronto. I didn\u2019t want to press him on that and let him be because it was obviously on his mind, but his play was focused on helping us. Then I asked him after the season, and he wasn\u2019t sure.\u201dIt is to be noted that Mitch Marner, who gained a career-high 102 points last season, was dealt to the Vegas Golden Knights in a July 1 sign-and-trade, securing an eight-year, $96 million contract. Also read: \u201cWhen Connor is ready, we\u2019ll get a deal done\u201d: Edmonton Oilers CEO confident in extension talks | NHL News – Times of India<\/a>Nylander admitted it was tough to see him go, but expressed happiness that Marner chose his destination. \u201cIt\u2019s tough seeing him go, but I\u2019m so happy for him and his family. \u201cWe\u2019re going to miss him a lot, but that\u2019s just the business of the sport,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Photo by Kevin Sousa\/NHLI via Getty Images As the Toronto Maple Leafs gear up for a future without…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":170473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5106],"tags":[5,20,5172,797,533,8801,4,106,29445,66,31,5171,1114],"class_list":{"0":"post-170472","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto-maple-leafs","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-maple-leafs","10":"tag-mapleleafs","11":"tag-matthew-knies","12":"tag-mitch-marner","13":"tag-mitch-marner-trade","14":"tag-nhl","15":"tag-nhl-news","16":"tag-player-replacements-in-nhl","17":"tag-toronto","18":"tag-toronto-maple-leafs","19":"tag-torontomapleleafs","20":"tag-william-nylander"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/115091307611498386","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=170472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/170473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=170472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=170472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=170472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}