Top 4 Storylines of Toronto Maple Leafs 2023-24 Season

No. 4: William Nylander Contract Extension

One of the biggest storylines heading into this season was the future of Auston Matthews and William Nylander, then after Matthews signed his extension in the summer, all things shifted to Nylander.

Over the course of his career, it feels like fans have either loved or hated Nylander, so a contract extension was a hot-topic for the dynamic forward.

Prior to the season, it felt like $9M AAV was the magic number for Nylander, however after his hot-start, that number continued to rise at a drastic pace.

For the better part of the first quarter of the season, Nylander was the team's best player and his current $6.9M AAV seemed like a huge steal, so by playing at such an elite level, he cashed in with a monster contract extension.

Instead of letting Nylander's number continue to rise, or risk him leaving in the offseason, the Leafs signed Nylander to an eight-year extension worth $11M AAV, which will keep him in the organization until 2032.

That deal was much more expensive than what we expected, but it's safe to say that with a salary-cap rise, that contract will look reasonable, especially if Nylander keeps up this pace.

With 40 goals and 98 points, Nylander finished the year as the Leafs second-best player, but unfortunately didn't score in his last eight games, so let's hope he can get back to his early-year self or there will be lots of questions about that contract, when it kicks in next year.