SAN JOSE — The future of just about everyone with the Toronto Maple Leafs seems to be up in the air right now.

One player — one of the “foundational pieces” that Keith Pelley referred to in his fascinating press conference this week — 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.

“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,” Nylander told The Athletic following practice on Wednesday. “But just to do a retool or whatever, I don’t even know, but I mean, I still want to be here, yeah.”

Nylander has already delivered that message to management — or a past version of management, anyway. Before the trade deadline, Nylander had what he described as a “good conversation” with then-GM Brad Treliving about the direction the team intended to take, a direction that hasn’t changed (yet).

“Brad said that he doesn’t want to rebuild or anything. He just wants to retool and stuff,” Nylander said. “That sounded fine for me.”

Treliving was fired earlier this week, but Pelley suggested Tuesday he was inclined for the Leafs to do exactly that in large part because of “foundational pieces” like Nylander.

He also left the door open for the next leader of the Leafs to change his mind.

“We have generational pieces in 34 and in 88 and in 23 and in 91,” said Pelley, referring to captain Auston Matthews, Nylander, Matthew Knies and John Tavares. “We have strong goaltending. There’s a lot of positives. We now just have to surround those individuals with better pieces and that will be a decision and the task of the new head of hockey operations.”

Nylander said his views on the matter haven’t changed since his conversation with Treliving, though he has yet to speak with Pelley about the subject.

The 29-year-old’s stance is (mostly) definitive in a way that contrasts with Matthews, the team’s other primary foundational piece.

Pelley and Matthews exchanged texts after Treliving’s firing, but haven’t yet had a more detailed discussion about the direction of the organization. The captain will likely have a handful of conversations with Pelley before making any decisions on his own future in Toronto, according to league sources.

Nylander wasn’t ready to say whether Matthews’ decision would affect his own desires about the future.

“I mean, I haven’t really thought about it, like that far,” he said. “Once they just told me (rebuilding is) not what they want to do — like, try to keep winning here or try to start winning (Stanley Cups).”

Then he added, “If that point in time comes, then I’ll think about that then.”

William Nylander, John Tavares and Matthew Knies confer, with another Leafs teammate in the background.

Keith Pelley sees William Nylander, John Tavares and Matthew Knies as cornerstone players for the Leafs. (Jeff Curry / Imagn Images)

If Matthews were to decide he wanted to play elsewhere, it’s possible, though not certain, that the organization could pivot to a full-on rebuild, the kind Nylander is suggesting he doesn’t necessarily want to be a part of.

Nylander has six years remaining on the eight-year, $92 million contract he signed in 2024.

Like Pelley, Nylander believes the Leafs are capable of bouncing back into contention next season with a retool this offseason. When it comes to the Leafs’ future, he’s “not too worried about it.”

“You just look at Boston this year,” he said of the division rival Bruins. “They were not in the playoffs last year and they’re having a pretty good season this year.”

What happened this year was “super frustrating and rattling,” though.

That’s why that conversation with Treliving, even if he is no longer with the organization, was important to Nylander. He wanted to “make sure that the team was on the same page to keep trying to win Cups versus trying to rebuild.”