Toronto Maple Leafs: William Nylander Obviously Wants to Stay

The Toronto Maple Leafs have started the season with a pair of wins accompanied by a loss to post a 2-1-0 record through three games (note that this was written prior to last night’s game) and during that time just two players have stood out from the rest.

One of those Toronto Maple Leafs players that has had a hot start is pending unrestricted free agent William Nylander.

Through three contests, Nylander has six points (ref: hockey-reference.com) thanks to a trio of goals and assists while playing right wing beside John Tavares.

It’s obvious that Nylander wants to stay.

William Nylander Wants to be a Toronto Maple Leaf

Recently on Chris Johnston joined the Leaf Report podcast, which he followed up Wednesday morning on TSN’s First Up and he stated that his belief was that the organization wants to sign Nylander and the player wants to stay in Toronto.

Johnston stated that he believed there was a 90% or higher chance that Nylander would ultimately sign with the Toronto Maple Leafs, whether during the season or at the end.

Johnston added “It’s not like anyone is saying that, look this is what I think with the Nylander situation, I really believe he wants to stay in Toronto, I really believe the Leafs want to sign him, I do think they have talked and continue to talk about what that might look like, I would be surprised if it didn’t happen”.

Johnston mentions that each side knows the other wants to get it done, hinting that both Nylander and the organization is looking to get something slightly more favorable.

Throughout the summer their was speculation that general manager Brad Treliving wanted to get a deal done in the mid $8 Million range, however that appears to be long gone and they are going to be lucky to sign him for $9.5 Million.

The assumption from many writers  is that Nylander is looking for $10 Million per season and his track record shows is that he is willing to hold out as long as possible to get a deal as close to what he feels he is worth.

During his last contract negotiation, the former first round pick was willing to miss the first 28 games of the 2018-19 season to hold out for what he wants, so to wait for next summer would not be hard for the Swedish scorer.

The good news is that Johnston is one of the best insiders in the game, so you should believe the two sides will get it done.

The bad thing is, it was well known that Zach Hyman also wanted to stay in Toronto, but the team and player couldn’t get it done.