Toronto Maple Leafs: Should William Nylander Be Risking His Future?

In a recent post written by Editor in Leaf writer Stephen Nixon he talked about how the Toronto Maple Leafs should not be signing William Nylander to a $10M+ contract.

If the Toronto Maple Leafs winger is truly asking for $10 Million per season you have to wonder why he thinks he can get this money and if it is worth risking a regression in his game.

Is Nylander worth $10M?  If you compare him against the majority of his peers, I would say no, however the risk may be worth the reward.

In a previous article, I spoke about Nylander’s fair value on a contract would be on an eight-year deal worth $8.8M per season.  It seemed perfect, it matched his jersey number, seemed fair for both the team and the player.

Right now and up until next July 1, Nylander is eligible to sign a deal for eight years, however once that date passes the years on a contract drop to seven.  If the two sides can settle now on at around $9.2 Million, which would be more than fair both sides, Nylander could earn $73.6 Million.

Is Nylander an $11 Million Player for the Toronto Maple Leafs?

The player, Nylander is likely trying to compare himself against and entice the Toronto Maple Leafs into the bigger contract is Artemi Panarin.

Like the former first round pick, Panarin hit free agency after his age 27 season and signed a massive deal worth $11.64 Million per season.

Similar to Nylander, the Russian winger had averaged nearly a point per game over his four seasons heading into free agency.

Panarin’s contract got him $81.5 Million over seven years, which far passes the eight-year deal proposed to Nylander.

The difference between the two players is that Panarin had no intent in signing back in Columbus, while Nylander appears to like playing in Toronto.

If the Maple Leafs contract offer right now is $9M, he would likely see that at the end of the season from the team organization unless he were to have a catastrophic drop off in his production.

The $10 Million demand may not be far fetched, however it is disappointing as many other teams are locking up there star players for far less.  If I were Treliving, it may be smart to cave quite a bit on their demands and come up to $9.5 Million on an eight-year deal and not risk walking Nylander to free agency where they could potentially lose him for nothing.

The only risk to Nylander is losing out in playing in Toronto, which he appears to be the type of player that could move on quickly; as well as losing out on one extra year of term.