Toronto Maple Leafs: A William Nylander Potential Contract

The days are counting down to July 1, at which point William Nylander will be eligible to sign an  extension with the Toronto Maple Leafs and at the same time his no trade clause will kick in.

This October Nylander will be entering the final season of his six-year contract he signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs midway through the 2018-19.

While many fans have vented on Twitter about the fear that once Nylander’s modified no trade clause kicks in that the he could veto any trade and the organization could potentially lose him for nothing.  However, even if the two sides had the perfect agreement, an extension could not be signed until the no trade kicks in any way.

There is a likelihood that Nylander does not sign in Toronto and if that is the case the no trade clause would play no more of a factor than if he had a full no movement clause or did not have any conditions at all.

If Nylander were to move on from Toronto, general manager Brad Treliving would be smart to trade him to a team that the 40-goal scorer would be looking to sign an extension with and at that point, Nylander would be controlling where he goes any ways.

A team taking Nylander on as a rental, would pay far less than a team that would be willing to take his cap friendly contract on for this year and then sign him to an extension.

With all that being said, it does not mean that Nylander is not going to sign an extension; and the closer Nylander gets to July 1 without being traded, the more likely I believe he will be signed.

Toronto Maple Leafs: A Fair Contract for William Nylander

Elliot Friedman recently stated that he believes that Nylander is looking for at least $9 Million per season.

Nylander just recently turned 27-years old and is coming off career highs in every offensive category including 40-goals and 87 points.  The talented winger has averaged 35-goals over his last four seasons when averaged out over 82-games.

A good comparable player would be current New York Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad who signed an eight-year extension with a season remaining on his previous contract prior to the 2021-22 season (source: capfriendly.com).

Zibanejad was one-year older when he signed the deal than what Nylander is now, he also scored 40-goals in his age 26 season, albeit in 57 games due to the COVID shutdown (credit: hockey-reference.com).

The extension that the Rangers center signed came with a cap hit of $8.5 Million, but more important to future contract comparisons came in at 10.43% of the salary cap.

If Nylander were to take the exact cap hit, the Maple Leafs would be looking at an $8.71 Million cap on an eight-year extension.

Even if Nylander would like to compare his next contract to that of Dylan Larkin who recently signed an eight-year extension that took up 10.55% of the cap with an AAV of $8.7M, the deal would come in around $8.8M per year.

Friedman’s recent comments about $9 Million would be in around fair value for the winger, the question is what would Nylander get on the open market and would he be willing to test it?

Could the organization and player agree on a deal for eight-years at $8.8 Million to match his jersey number?