The Toronto Maple Leafs Are Still Never Trading William Nylander

The Toronto Maple Leafs are not trading William Nylander anytime soon because they’re smarter than their critics.

The Toronto Maple Leafs fought long and hard to give William Nylander a contract worth $6.9M, which is now arguably the most underrated contract in the NHL. And he’s not getting traded anytime soon.

As a Leafs fan, you should be very happy that Nylander only makes $6.9M and will be doing so for the next four years. The fact that he’s making $4.5M less than Auston Matthews is such a bargain and you’re crazy if you think the Leafs should trade him.

Unless the Leafs were able to secure a package that included Connor McDavid or Nathan MacKinnon, Nylander’s contract is so good for what he’s producing that it wouldn’t make any sense.

The Toronto Maple Leafs and Big Willie

You may think I’m crazy for saying that, but this chart by @TheOakLeafs should change your mind.

5v5 is the most important stat to look at. Anyone can score goals on the power-play, but dominating 5v5 is critical because it has the largest impact on who wins a game. The fact that Nylander will be the lowest paid player among these All-Stars starting in the 2021-22 season is unbelievable value for the Leafs. As a result, they can afford to pay Auston Matthews, John Tavares and Mitch Marner their huge contracts because they’re seriously under-paying Nylander.

If the 2019-20 season continued, Nylander was on-pace for 72 points and 37 goals. If you disregard the 2018-19 season, where he missed two months of the season due to a contract hold-out, Nylander is averaging 0.31 goals per game and 0.78 points per game. That’s a 25 goal and 64 point pace per season, for a 24-year-old.

Hmm, that sounds pretty similar to the first three seasons of one of Nylander’s teammates:

• John Tavares:
  • First Three Seasons Average:
    • 28 goals, 67 points

The reason why people continue to bash Nylander and want him traded for a mediocre defenseman is because of that 2018-19 season. Can we move past this already? I promise you (unless he gets injured) that he’ll never have a season where he scores only 7 goals and 27 points again.

Scratch that. I’d like to double-down and say that Nylander will score at least 20-goals every season for the next 10 years, until he’s 34-years-old.

Personally, I hope that Leafs fans continue to bash Nylander so it motivates him even more to shut-up the naysayers. It was only a five years ago that people thought Willy was the savior and although he’s producing at a great pace, some people want him traded for Josh Manson? No, thank you.

Be thankful that your favourite team has one of the best wingers in the NHL on one of the most team-friendly deals. If you’re still not convinced, just wait and see because you’re in for a treat for the next decade.