William Nylander signs largest contract in Leafs history
On Monday, the Toronto Maple Leafs announced they have signed winger William Nylander to an eight-year, $92-million contract extension.
The deal will carry an annual average value of $11.5 million with $69 million in signing bonuses along with a full no-movement clause.
Nylander, who was set to be a free agent in July, has been the number one priority for Leafs General Manager Brad Treliving since the start of the season. The 27-year-old has had a dominant season so far recording 21 goals and 54 points in 37 games making him one of the league’s best players this year.
Despite the rumors that have floated around since July of last year, Nylander made it very clear he always intended on remaining a Leaf.
“This has been home for me. This is the longest I’ve ever spent in one place in my entire life […] without even thinking about it, this is home” he said.
The Leafs star expressed his happiness and excitement as he will spend the rest of his career with the Toronto Maple Leafs as they hunt down a Stanley Cup.
In an interview on Overdrive, he said, “I didn’t want to go anywhere. This is where I want to win.”
Nylander was drafted by the team in 2014 and joins Auston Matthews and Morgan Rielly as the only Leafs to sign with through at least the 2027-28 season.
He will also become the sixth player to earn $11.5 million or more joining Connor McDavid, Nathan Mackinnon, Auston Matthews, Artemi Panarin, and Erik Karlsson.
What does this mean for the Leafs moving forward?
The Leafs currently only have six players signed through 2025-2026. Auston Matthews, William Nylander, Morgan Rielly David Kampf, Calle Jarnkrok, and Ryan Reaves.
Do not be surprised if Brad Treliving begins to shift his focus toward extending Tyler Bertuzzi who has elevated his play as of late, and been a key factor to the second line for quite some time now. The ideal extension for Bertuzzi would be a four-year deal with an average annual value between $5.5 and $6 million.
Max Domi, who will be a free agent in July is definitely on the radar for the Leafs GM and both parties have expressed interest in a long-term deal.
He might also look to extend Noah Gregor, Simon Beniot, and Timothy Liligren who are all pending restricted free agents and have all had surprisingly strong campaigns with the Leafs this season.
The difficult decisions will begin in July when Mitch Marner and John Tavares will be eligible for extensions as they enter the final season of their current deals. In an ideal world, Marner takes the identical contract as Nylander which would lock up the three key pieces of the Leafs offense through their primes.
The Leafs will be offloading Tavares’ $11 million salary at the end of next season which clears up a lot of cap space and opens opportunities for more depth. Not to mention I am sure the organization will want to sign their new young talents Matthew Knies, and Joseph Woll. Depending on how much the cap grows it might be difficult to fit Tavares into the cap unless he takes a massive pay cut in order to remain with the club.
All images are retrieved from NHL.com
