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Toronto Maple Leafs: Professor Pastrnak’s Salary Lesson

By Josh Tessler

BOSTON, MA - APRIL 25: David Pastrnak #88 of the Boston Bruins celebrates after scoring a goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the third period of Game Seven of the Eastern Conference First Round in the 2018 Stanley Cup play-offs at TD Garden on April 25, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Bruins defeat the Maple Leafs 7-4. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images)
BOSTON, MA - APRIL 25: David Pastrnak #88 of the Boston Bruins celebrates after scoring a goal against the Toronto Maple Leafs during the third period of Game Seven of the Eastern Conference First Round in the 2018 Stanley Cup play-offs at TD Garden on April 25, 2018 in Boston, Massachusetts. The Bruins defeat the Maple Leafs 7-4. (Photo by Maddie Meyer/Getty Images) /
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What can the Toronto Maple Leafs and William Nylander learn from David Pastrnak?

Toronto Maple Leafs forward William Nylander remains unsigned. Pastrnak was in a similar situation to Nylander not that long ago. After his 2016-17 regular season campaign, he was an RFA. Not only was he an RFA, but he had a tremendous year. In 75 games, he managed to score 34 goals and grab 36 assists.  He Nylander are very comparable players.

In addition, Pastrnak put up the second most points for the Bruins. His linemate, Brad Marchand tallied a few more points to lead the team. While he couldn’t get past Marchand’s point totals, it was truly an outstanding campaign for the Czech native. If you compare his production from 2016-17 to 2015-16, you’ll see a huge improvement.

Unfortunately for Bruins fans, they had to wait till September 14, 2017 for Pastrnak to finally sign a new contract. It was expected that Pastrnak would play hardball. After a 70 point season, he was able to ask for a tremendous amount of money.

The Bruins  were able to convince Pastrnak that 6.66 million USD AAV was a fair deal. Plus, it allowed the Bruins to keep the bulk of their team including Marchand, Patrice Bergeron, David Krejci, Zdeno Chara and Tuukka Rask.

It’s Time For The Test

It’s time for the Toronto Maple Leafs to be put to the test. If Kyle Dubas and the Maple Leafs front office expects to put together a solid cup contender every year, they need to be careful with contracts.

If you look at Nylander’s performance last year, he was outstanding. He registered 0.63 goals/60 and 1.74 total assists/60. 61 points and playing on the second PP unit is great production.  He was only four points outside of the top-ten in 5v5 scoring.

In addition, if you compare his shot contributions, entry and exit possession statistics from last season to Pastrnak’s statistics from his contract year, you’ll see that Nylander is slightly better. Per CJ Turtoro’s A3Z Two-Season Player Comparison Tool, Nylander had a higher ShotAssists60, PossExits60 and PossExit% than Pastrnak did in his contract year.

Based on the statistics that I’ve pulled and that the salary cap went slightly up, you could make the argument that Nylander deserves a higher contract than Pastrnak.

While that is the case, I don’t believe that Nylander should given a higher contract than $7 million. He needs to take a $7 million USD deal so that the Leafs can fit all the necessary players in under the Cap.

If Nylander can help the Toronto Maple Leafs become the next dynasty, you can only imagine that he’d be paid a lot more when his contract is up.

Next. Is There a Better Babcock?. dark

While this is important to look at now for Nylander, comparing advanced stats is important for every single contract that gets signed. Twelve months from now, the Toronto Maple Leafs front office, Auston Matthews, Mitch Marner and Jake Gardiner will also have to consider their statistical performance and how it ranks against others in the NHL when determining their next contracts.

stats from NHL.com, hockey-reference.com, CJ Turtoro’s A3Z Two-Season Player Comparison Tool and naturalstattrick.com

research from capfriendly.com

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