William Nylander is worth $10M but not to Maple Leafs

Toronto forward William Nylander is reportedly looking for a new contract north of $10M but while playoff performances suggest the 27-year-old is as valuable as his better-paid teammates, the Maple Leafs can't afford to sign another double-figure deal.

Video Transcript

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Is it worth it for the Toronto Maple Leafs to give William Nylander a contract that will pay him $10 million, at least? Is that a good deal? Is that a bad deal? Should they think about moving on from William Nylander, Will Nye, as some people would like to call him?

OMAR: I mean, so there are two ways and two perspectives to think about it. Obviously, you can think about it on the lines of the team and fans, and you can think about it from the lens of Nylander. Now, does it make sense that Nylander is asking for 10? Absolutely. Absolutely.

Now, people will say like, oh, but what about Pasternak? And what about Meier? OK, yeah, but what about the players on his team? Now, is Nylander as good as Marner? I don't know. A lot of people have the debate, superstar versus Lee, whatever.

But regardless, when those initial contracts went down, Nylander took his contract at 6.9%. And then Marner, out of an ELC, got pretty much $11 million over six years. So if I'm Nylander and I'm looking at that, I'm like, OK, sure. I'll just wait. Everyone is saying, at least I believe the belief is that they want Nylander to take a couple of million off, get a lower cap deal, a cap hit, at least a more manageable cap hit.

But if I'm Nylander, if no one else on the team is doing that, why am I going to do that? So far, the only person who's actually taken a taken a pay cut was Morgan Rielly, at $7.5 million with an extension. Besides that, Matthews didn't take a pay cut, Marner didn't take a pay cut, so why should Nylander?

Now, can the Leafs afford that? Absolutely not. So if he's not willing to budge from the $10 million, then I don't know. I feel-- this is my perspective is that you will not win a William Nylander trade. You won't.

So I hope that they do whatever they can to try to see if they can figure it out and get a deal signed. Maybe it's-- I don't know maybe it's like $9.7 million or $9.5 million or something. $9.5 million I think would work, but then you also have to ask yourself, OK, well, are you going to let a whole lot of negotiation fall because of $500,000, whatever? That's a different story.

But the Leafs can afford another double-digit player. They can't. They have too many. And we've seen time and time again how having double-digit players has been impacting our salary cap. So I hope there's a way that they can work it out. I think one thing that could work is if Matthews signs first and then you see what his cap hit is.

And if he takes a bit of a cut, then it might be easier to say, OK, other people in the league didn't take a cut, but here's Matthews, the best player on the team which took a hit. Are you willing to do the same thing. And then, hopefully, they reintroduce a new level of understanding where it's like, hey, you can either maximize all the money you make in your career, or you can try to win a championship and try to build a championship team. So we'll see. but as of now, I'm having a bad feeling about this.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I hope William Nylander doesn't take a pay cut, because I can understand why he wants to be recognized as one of the premier wingers in this league and get paid as much. Omar, you could probably tell me a lot better than I could. When we see those Leafs playoff runs and the way that they do, I see a lot of people throwing blame at Auston Matthews for not showing up to the occasion. I see a lot of people throw shade on Mitch Marner for not showing up to the occasion.

William Nylander and is his defensive flaws and all, however you want to put it, he finds a way to produce in the playoffs. I'm not saying he doesn't at a point, where it's this high mark, but he finds a way to do it, despite some of his other slightly more talented counterparts performing. Maybe that--

OMAR: And he improved in other areas too.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah, and maybe that changes in another market with other different set of talent around him. But I'm looking at a player who should be coming into some of his best years of his career, and $10 million, considering the cap is supposed to go up in a few years, it's a little bit more palatable compared to like $12 million, $13 million for this player.

I understand the apprehension with regards to paying another double-digit player on this particular team, but I'll tell you what, if I'm a GM that's out there looking at how bad those negotiations are, I pick up the phone, I call Brad Treliving and I'm like, hey, I see you're cooking over there. Can I get a plate? We should have a conversation.

I like William Nylander. I think he'd be a good fit for a lot of people's stop lines, and depending on if he wants to commit to an extension or not, that may depend on what other assets you might be willing to give up. I can think of a team out west that knows Brad Treliving pretty well and maybe might be interested in dealing for William Nylander. I mean, I hope you like Noah Hanifin.

[LAUGHTER]

OMAR: I repeat my stance. We do not win a William Nylander trade.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: So if you get a first-round pick next year like Noah Hanifin--

OMAR: What's a first-round pick going to do for us, man? We're trying to win a cup. So if I'm trading Nylander, I want either impact players or young players who are just about to come into their own.

I don't think picks and prospects are going to do it unless, again, like NHL-ready prospects.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: No, you're right. That's fair, and I don't think if you're looking for that. I don't think Calgary is going to provide you-- I don't think they're of the highest quality compared to some other teams who might be in a better position to do that. I don't know what New Jersey's prospect pool is, but then again, they've already shored up their top six.

OMAR: Oh, my god, that would be so annoying.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Well, you don't want William Nylander in a New Jersey Devils Jersey? Yo, you know how stacked the Devils are now? Yeah, they're pretty stacked right night. They signed Timo Meier. They Tyler Toffoli in a trade.

OMAR: Oh, my god.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: I think that was as good as the Flames were going to get in that trade. 31 years old, coming off his best year. They get a 25-year-old Yegor Sharangovich and a pick. I don't know. Maybe I'm a bit biased on that.

Avry, what do you think about the whole William Nylander discourse, before we go to Sam?

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: I think, once again, I'm very much pro player, get your money, get paid. Again, you know how short careers are in hockey. It's a limited window to get as much as you can. So if I'm Nylander, I had his agent, I'd definitely stand firm on wanting $10 million.

Unfortunately, like Omar said, it probably means he won't be with the Leafs for much longer. And that means he'll be on the move, eventually. But I know if Nylander does stay in the Eastern Conference, once again, you want to point out-- again, since Omar said, bring me-- I just want some peace in the East, again, he has had zero peace--

OMAR: Zero.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: --in the Eastern Conference.

OMAR: Zero.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: And William Nylander--

JULIAN MCKENZIE: You put that on yourself.

OMAR: I know.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: William Nylander on the Devils will just add to that.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: And I'm just bringing them up as an example. I don't know if they would even be able to make a deal work. I just thought of a random Eastern Conference team. Sam, what do you think of William Nylander asking for $10 million and whether or not the Leafs should give it to him?

SAM CHANG: I have, honestly, been bewildered by Leafs fans who are like upset at this man for asking for $10 million.

OMAR: No, it's dumb.

SAM CHANG: It makes-- and I know it's not all Leafs fans. I've seen a lot of Leafs fans being like, that's a reasonable ask, but the ones who are like really mad at him and being like, he's not a $10 million player, he's been your most consistent player in the playoffs for several seasons.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yep.

SAM CHANG: He is the one player who doesn't vanish in the postseason.

OMAR: Yep.

SAM CHANG: He is the one player who took the most team-friendly deal of the last-- when you were talking about the big four.

OMAR: Yep.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Talk to 'em.

SAM CHANG: Going on these rants about how Mitch Marner, is he a future Hockey Hall of Famer, and should he be paid $12 million? And now, this is the guy you're going to give shit for asking for $10 million because he knows what he's worth?

Like, come on. I know they're your favorite team. Get a grip on reality, guys. He's going to get $10 million on the open market, and he deserves it. And good for him for asking for what he deserves. He is not an $8 million player.

OMAR: No.

SAM CHANG: He does not deserve to make less money than JT Miller.

OMAR: No.

SAM CHANG: This is absurd. This whole conversation is absurd. Give the man $10 million.

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yo, when you put it like that--

OMAR: Wait, how much does JT Miller make?

SAM CHANG: 8.5?

JULIAN MCKENZIE: Yeah.

OMAR: OK, yeah. Yeah, come on.

AVRY LEWIS-MCDOUGALL: And you want to lowball a 40-goal guy? Again, he had 40 goals last year. Anyone telling him, nah, take less than that, you're nuts.

SAM CHANG: And he's one of the few players who-- I mean, I don't know. Maybe I don't follow the Leafs as closely as Omar does, but he's one of the few players who seems to be able to just let the heat in Toronto roll off.

OMAR: He doesn't care. It's an incredible quality. It's honestly admirable that he does not care.

SAM CHANG: And I think people want to punish him for that. He should be celebrated for that. Instead, fans are like, well, he doesn't seem like he cares. But he's showing up. That's the whole point.

OMAR: Yeah.

SAM CHANG: The best way to show you care is to show up.