Major development in the William Nylander contract extension saga

The 27-year-old is entering the final year of a 6-year deal that he signed at the eleventh hour in December of 2018 and is due for a significant raise on his next deal. Nylander is currently making $6.96M this season and reports have indicated that his ask on a new deal exceeds the $10M threshold, with the Leafs preferring an AAV under $9M.

When Nylander was in the final year of his entry-level deal, he chose not to negotiate during the season, which ultimately led to his infamous holdout. This time around, however, will be different according to Jonas Siegel of The Athletic. Siegel has reported that Nylander told The Athletic this week that he told his agent, Lewis Gross, to continue to negotiate with the Leafs during the season on the condition that he does not hear about it until the deal is essentially done.

Nylander is coming off of a career-best season where he had 40 goals and 87 points. The 2014 first-round pick was eligible to sign an extension on July 1st, but negotiations have been relatively quiet as Brad Treliving focused more on locking up Auston Matthews. It goes without saying that Treliving probably wants to get this deal done at some point during the season so he can focus more on Mitch Marner next summer, rather than dealing with two high-profile extensions - three if you count John Tavares, who is also eligible to sign an extension on July 1st of 2024.