Chris Johnston reported on The Chris Johnston Show that the Toronto Maple Leafs and forward William Nylander remain far apart in extension talks. Johnston said that he believes that the 27-year-old is looking for a contract that pays him over $10MM annually while the Maple Leafs offer is in the range of $8MM-$9MM per season.
Nylander’s ask is reasonable given that he has put up back-to-back 80+ point seasons and is a pending unrestricted free agent. The trouble for the Leafs will be managing a potential Nylander extension with the cap hits of Mitch Marner, John Tavares, and whatever number Auston Matthews signs for. Couple that with the Morgan Rielly extension and a salary cap that hasn’t budged much in recent seasons, and it could create a very top-heavy team in Toronto going forward.
Nylander had a career year last season putting up 40 goals and 47 assists in 82 games and has silenced critics in recent years who doubted his ability to score in the postseason. Nylander has been a point a game player in both the regular season and the playoffs the past few years and would generate a ton of interest if his name were to be floated in the trade market.
In other snapshots from around the NHL:
- Craig Morgan of PHNX Sports is reporting that the Arizona Coyotes have been in pursuit of free agent defenseman Matt Dumba since the start of free agency on Saturday. Dumba picked a very unfortunate time to have the worst offensive season of his NHL career as he put up just four goals and 10 assists this past season in 79 games with the Minnesota Wild. The 28-year-old Regina native has been a 25-point defenseman for most of his career but regressed offensively last year and saw very little in the way of power play time. Arizona has been aggressive in free agency thus far signing Jason Zucker, Alexander Kerfoot, and retaining Nick Bjugstad while trading for defenseman Sean Durzi.
- Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet mentioned this morning that newly acquired Toronto Maple Leafs forward Max Domi would like to remain with the team well beyond the one year he signed on for. Domi was inked to a one-year deal that will pay him $3MM this season, but as Friedman puts it Domi wants Toronto to be his long-term home and it’s easy to see why. Domi’s father Tie Domi was one of the most popular Maple Leafs in recent history and Max spent much of his childhood in Toronto while his father was still playing. He will now get the chance to put on the same jersey he watched his father wear and play in front of the same fans who cheered his Dad on for 12 seasons.
Arizona retained Bugstad? I thought he was traded to Edmonton last season and then returned to Arizona this summer.
You’re definitely right on that.
“it could create a very top-heavy team in Toronto going forward.”
Cmon it’s been top heavy for 2 seasons now!!!
for real Nylander shouldn’t get over $10M, $8M is fair tbh
When compared to his team mates – how do you say he’s worth 2.6 million less then Marner?
The Leafs gave out these contracts, now Nylander wants his share – how does management (Shanahan still in charge) say no?
This was the logic many applied in NJ. Jack set the benchmark to a degree with his 8×8. Many say it shouldn’t matter but it totally does. By jumping to huge contracts for their top players, TOR have set themselves a dangerous benchmark.
I mean marner has 3 seasons better than Willie in pts, plays the Pk, does more in the community. I can make the argument that is worth more than Willie.
I can also argue that Willie is not worth more than Timo Meier other than Timo was a RFA vs UFA.
Ultimately.Nylanders right number is likely in the 8.5-9.25 range. he’s likely negotiating knowing space will be opening up for all teams and so there will be more of the our for him if he hits UFA
Toronto simply needs to be one of those teams that has to start saying “You want to get every single dollar you can, go sign with someone else and good luck. You want to be on a winning team, you sign with us at what we can afford to pay you.”
I am, myself, comfortable with Leafs management failing to do that.
Looks like Arizona is turning into used Minnesota wild players garage sale this year.
Did you know Tavares at his 11 million salary actually makes less by around 700,000 then Nikita Kucherov and his 9.5 million salary? Keep that in mind when criticizing the leafs contracts
I’m not defending the leafs, trust me I’m a critic, but I read so many people commenting who don’t have all the right info. You can’t compare what a Canadian team does to what some American teams do without fully taking into account the city they play in and how much money they are actually taking home, is all I’m saying.