Breaking: Insider drops major William Nylander update

Over the weekend, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman dropped a bombshell when he announced that William Nylander was expected to sign an 8-year contract extension with the Toronto Maple Leafs as early as Monday. Well, here we are on Monday morning and, according to TSN's Darren Dreger, an announcement is looming.

Dreger joined the TSN 1050 "First Up" crew this morning to discuss the situation and Dreger reported right off the top that a deal is, in fact, imminent.

Nylander's play this season has reached a whole new level of dynamic. Not only is Nylander producing at a much higher rate than he ever has before, he's now added another dimension to his game as well, suiting up on the penalty kill as well. The extra ice time (Nylander is averaging a career-high 20:16 of ice time per game) has not hurt the Swedish winger in any facet. Quite the opposite, rather than being extra gassed, Nylander has made the most of his minutes to the tune of 21 goals and 33 assists for a total of 54 points in just 37 games, leading the team in points through the first half.

Dreger was very complimentary of Nylander's game on Monday, while still acknowledging that $11.5M per season is a LOT of money. However, Dreger did make a very good point on the program, stating that the Leafs are going to be paying for the best years of Nylander. It's not as if they're paying too much too soon or paying too much for a declining asset. They're paying for Nylander's prime years and Dreger expects his strong play to continue.

After a day off yesterday, the Leafs return to practice in Toronto today, ahead of tomorrow's meeting against the San Jose Sharks. I'll be curious to see if they announce Nylander's extension at practice, much like the way they did with the Morgan Rielly extension a couple of short seasons ago.

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