Sandin spent much of his NHL career living with Nylander during his time in Toronto, making it a ‘sad’ day at practice on Tuesday.
EDMONTON — William Nylander knew immediately that something was up when Rasmus Sandin was pulled away from practice on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old Sandin was traded to the Washington Capitals in exchange for 30-year-old defenseman Erik Gustafsson and the Boston Bruins' first-round pick in the 2023 NHL Draft.
"Obviously it was a little sad," Nylander said of losing his friend and fellow Swede. "He had been living with me on-and-off throughout his time here. Sad to see him go. But it’s a bright future."
Television cameras caught the Maple Leafs saying goodbye to their now-former teammates. One particular show showed Nylander putting his around Sandin, who was clearly processing a lot.
"I told him to look at it positively. It’ll be good for you, you’ll get a lot of ice time and stuff like that."
Forward Pierre Engvall was also moved following practice to the New York Islanders for a 2024 third-round draft pick.
Drafted in the first round (29th overall) in the 2018 NHL Draft, Sandin quickly moved up the team's defensive prospect ranks. He made his NHL playoffs debut in 2021 when he scored one goal in five games of Toronto's best-of-seven series loss to the Montreal Canadiens.
But in 2022 he wasn't able to get in. A knee injury in March sidelined the defenseman for the end of the regular season. He had practiced regularly during the playoffs but was not selected to play.
Sandin was involved in a long and drawn-out negotiation process with the Maple Leafs this summer that spilled into missing the opening week of training camp. As the Leafs began to suffer injuries on the blue line, Sandin and Toronto came to terms on a two-year, $1.8 million as the defenseman saw an obvious need an opportunity for him to play.
Before Tuesday's trade, Sandin missed three consecutive games with an upper-body injury before returning this past Sunday in a 5-1 win against the Seattle Kraken. One day later, the Maple Leafs pulled off a trade to add defenseman Jake McCabe from the Chicago Blackhawks and Sandin found himself on the outside of the top-six once again.
"I think it was just a situation where we’ve added guys and he was going to be on the outside again this season," Map[le Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe said of Sandin. "He’s a young player that wants to play and has value in the league."
Sandin will get plenty of ice time in Washington on a defense that also parted with Dmitry Orlov in recent days (traded to the Boston Bruins along with forward Garnet Hathaway).
The Leafs picked up Boston's draft pick that was moved in the aforementioned deal and get Gustafsson, who replaces some of the power-play duties that Sandin had occupied at times in Toronto.
The 30-year-old Gustafsson joins Toronto as the team's leading point-getter among defensemen this season with seven goals and 31 assists in 61 games.
The Leafs also added defenseman Luke Schenn from the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday with the Leafs trying to find the right mix between now and the playoffs.
"No different for me than where we were at last season (in 2022) Keefe said. "It’s not entirely different for our group. Lots of competition and support for the group of there are injuries.