Clayton Keller responds to rumours that he was nearly traded to the Maple Leafs this summer

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Mike Armenti
September 12, 2023 (9:03)

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The Arizona Coyotes dealt with some pretty significant rumours earlier this summer involving star winger Clayton Keller, who was rumoured to have asked for a trade out of Arizona as he was frustrated by the direction of the team. Those rumours were later debunked, with Keller releasing a statement that he hadn't, in fact, requested a trade at all.

During this time, one of the rumours circulating had Toronto Maple Leafs winger William Nylander heading to Arizona with Keller headed back the other way to the Leafs. During a recent podcast appearance, Keller was asked to clear up the whole situation.

Host: Have you demanded a trade? Is the Nylander for Keller rumour true? Can we finally put that to rest?

Keller: (chuckles) Yeah no that's not true. I'm just focused on myself and the team here and I just love this group of guys and this is where I want to be right now.

Obviously, it's pretty clear that Keller was amused by the whole thing. Not only did he never want out at all, but there were never any talks between the team, his agent or himself regarding a potential deal to Toronto involving Nylander.

The Leafs, I'm sure, would not have minded this deal, as Keller remains signed for 4 more seasons at a very reasonable $7.15M per season. Not only that, but he and Nylander are coming off of comparable seasons in which Nylander finished with 87 points, while Keller finished with 86 points on a bottom-feeding Coyotes team. With Nylander's ask on his next deal exceeding $10M per season, it would have been a nice way for the Buds to save some money and still remain equally dangerous. Unfortunately, the rumour was never based in truth and Keller remains a Coyote.