SDPN Sports: Chris Johnston and Julian McKenzie on The CJ Show on the status of the contract between the Toronto Maple Leafs and William Nylander.
McKenzie: “Another name that is looked at a lot in the Toronto Maple Leafs is William Nylander.
What can we say about its status in terms of access to the extension?
Johnston: “Well, it’s not going well. I think it’s fair to say. There are a lot of discussions about the draft in Nashville between the team and their agent, and they see the world differently at this time.”
You know, William Nylander thinks he should be a $10 million player or a little less than that in his next decade. And, you know, he has a reasonable argument, I think, based on the points he made. But I just don’t see how the Leafs can pull this off.
And ultimately, you know, as they work through this a little bit further, I think there has to be a decision on Nylander’s ending about how much he wants to be a Leaf. How much less than this number might he be able to take. Because I would be surprised if we saw Toronto sign him to a contract that would take him into the business.
I think the Leaves hit him with a number in the eight and that’s kind of where things are.
Sometimes the negotiations are tough, but I wouldn’t anticipate where this is going yet. I still think the Leafs will take some time to try and sort things out with the Nelder camp. Gamers certainly appreciate but they need to be aware of their own books as well.
And so, you know, this contract doesn’t kick in until next summer so in some ways it’s good for Toronto because there’s going to be ramping up all over the league but, you know, I think for Nylander, the big concern is that he doesn’t want to get paid Much less than Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. He feels internally that, you know, he has a sense of what needs to be fair there and the team is looking at the market.
I mean, you get Pierre-Luc Dubois signed to an $8.5 million deal. Timo Meier earned $8.8 million in New Jersey on an eight-year deal. You know, these are different types of players. These guys are six-foot-three, DuBois plays quarterback.
There’s no denying Nylander’s skill and the fact that he was actually a paperback who was productive in the playoffs. Last year scored 40 goals, more than 80 points.
Let’s see if they can find a happy broker there, but my sense now is that there was a little bit of tension in the negotiations over the way things went. I think that, you know, the Leafs obviously have a number on Nylander’s mind and he’s asking for more than he’s paying.
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