Don deal: After years of waiting, the Toronto Maple Leafs have welcomed a crucial player.
10:51 a.m.: According to a team announcement, Toronto has officially confirmed the contract’s eight-year duration and $92 million total value. Signing bonuses are expected to account for roughly $69 million of the agreement, according to Frank Seravalli of Daily Faceoff.
9:00 a.m.: Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet writes on Monday morning that the Maple Leafs have formally concluded negotiations on an eight-year, $11.5 million average yearly value agreement. A complete no-movement provision will be included in the contract for each of the eight seasons, which run from 2024–25 to 2031–22. The NMC inclusion was initially reported earlier on Monday by Chris Johnston of TSN.
Nylander, 27, has now received the greatest total value contract ($92MM) in the more than a century-long history of the Maple Leafs. When his mega-deal expires in 2032, he will be 36 years old, making him
reaching his first-ever unrestricted free agency eligibility as his prime years are presumably coming to an end.
For a player who has emerged as their second-most important forward this season, this is a historic deal. Nylander has amassed an incredible amount of points, but superstar first-line center Auston Matthews has stolen the show with 30 goals in just 36 games. With 21 goals and 33 assists in 37 games, he has 54 points on the year and is on pace to break the career high of 87 set last season.
Since placing sixth in the Calder Trophy voting in 2016–17, Nylander has been considered a legitimate top-six winger. But there have always been outside concerns about the competition and
Since placing sixth in the Calder Trophy voting in 2016–17, Nylander has been considered a legitimate top-six winger. But there have always been outside concerns about the 2014 eighth-overall pick’s level of consistency and competition.
The majority of those have subsided over the last 12 months as Nylander has proven himself as a reliable scorer of 40 goals or more each year, added good possession numbers, and kept up his strong postseason play (despite Toronto’s short playoff appearances).
Public opinion will probably center on the idea that new general manager Brad Treliving put himself in a difficult situation by declining to sign Nylander to a contract last summer, even though talks were allegedly in the $9MM–$10MM AAV area. On the 32 Thoughts podcast this morning, Friedman refuted it, though.
