Toronto Maple Leafs: William Nylander contract dispute continues

The Toronto Maple Leafs have played three regular-season games, all while William Nylander looks on from Sweden. Will the star winger resign?

The contract dispute between the Toronto Maple Leafs and William Nylander is causing a lot of anxiety for Leafs’ fans. It’s time to put all the uneasiness to rest.

At the start of contract negotiations, the Nylander camp reportedly asked for something close to $8.5 million per season and the Leafs wanted him at around $6 million. Since then, not much has changed, as neither side wants to give in. If you look at comparables to base Nylander’s contract off of, David Pastrnak ($6.6 million per) and Nikolaj Ehlers ($6 million per) are good ones.

He has had two consecutive 61 point seasons while Pastrnak has had 26 points which jumped to 70 the next season and Ehlers had 38 points and then 64 the next. Also, it’s interesting to note when these players signed their contracts. Pastrnak signed his on September 14, 2017, right when training camp started while Ehlers signed his contract on October 4, 2017, on the day the 2017-18 season started.

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Even though Nylander is reportedly asking for over $8 million a year, his stats don’t match up to what he’s asking and his position (winger) is not valuable enough for that much money.

1. Nylander will sign with the Maple Leafs

Despite all the wild rumors, one thing is for certain – Nylander will be a Maple Leaf.

"“I saw highlights from the match in the morning. These were great goals. I want to play, but now it’s the way it is. But I want to stay in Toronto.“"

He has expressed numerous times that it is his end goal and it’s only a matter of reaching an agreed contract. He wants to be in Toronto and his teammates desperately want him.

"“We hope to get him here as soon as possible”– Auston Matthews“We miss him. He brings a lot to this team, a lot of firepower and obviously he’s a leader in this room we are missing him.”– Mitch Marner“At the end of the day, things will get resolved and we’re looking forward to having Willy here as soon as we can.”– John Tavares"

These quotes speak volumes of what is going on with the Leafs players and it’s clear that both parties want to be reunited. Now it’s only a matter of settling on one number.

According to Frank Seravalli, Nylander is losing between 20,000-45,000 dollars every day he misses during the season. That might be a shocking number to us, but keep in mind that if he signs a contract, he can earn all that money back and more with a signing bonus.

2. Toronto needs to stand their ground

With Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner’s big contracts coming up, the Leafs are heading for a cap crunch and will need every penny they can get. If they allow Nylander to sign for more than he is worth, that just makes signing the other two much more difficult.

Chris Johnston reported on Saturday Headlines that the Nylander camp started negotiations at 8.5 million dollars. Now obviously the Leafs didn’t agree, but if they sign anything near that (7+ million), Marner will be asking for a little more, and Matthews a lot more. Nylander’s contract will be a measuring stick for the others so it is in the Leafs’ best interest to keep the dollar as low as possible.

I don’t fault Nylander for standing his ground as his future is on the line, but the Leafs must stand their own as well if they want to keep this squad together.