William Nylander should bet on himself in regards to his next contract with the Toronto Maple Leafs.
We know that the Toronto Maple Leafs want to resign Nylander, that’s obvious.
What we don’t know is for how long and how much.
When I was at TSN last week, I was able to sit in on the Scott MacAruther Show and enjoyed hearing him talk as well as Pierre LeBrun and Gino Read.
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to talk during the show, but I was sitting in between Scott and Gino during the above segment.
And mind the lobster talk, I was really trying not to laugh during it.
All are great guys.
The topic at hand was Nylander and his contract.
MacArthur brought up an interesting thought, one that seemed to be the general consensus among the group.
Nylander should bet on himself with his next contract.
Why shouldn’t he?
Now, I’ll explain what he meant and why I agree with that statement because it’ll make sense in the end and you may just be persuaded to agree with it.
Example
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Connor McDavid is rumored to receive a very big upgrade in terms of length and cost in his next contract, deservedly so.
He’s a generational talent that will be worth generational money.
Nylander is not a generational talent, but he’s definitely elite, maybe even franchise depending on your definition.
Naturally, he’s not going to make as much money as McDavid, but the market for a player like Nylander is going up.
If you are curious, McDavid is rumored to make $13.25 million annually for eight years.
Right before the CBA runs out.
Be a Betting Man
If he’s trying to do the best thing for himself, he should take a bridge deal, two to three years and a lower cost rather than maxing out at seven or eight years, north of $6 million annually.
The reason is that he’d be betting on his own talent, his ability to show the Leafs that he’s worth the extra money.
What if he signed a long-term contract and for the next two years he performed really, really well?
He definitely wouldn’t be receiving the big bucks he could be if he had those two years under a bridge deal.
Okay, so those two really good years were under his bridge deal, what then?
Well, he just proved to himself and the people that will pay him money that he deserves even more of it.
That’s basically the point I’m trying to make.
Instead of going for broke after his entry level contract, he should sign for a shorter term and less money, prove his worth and then break the bank in his third contract.
What do you think?