Popular podcast host questions Leafs stars' loyalty when it comes time to negotiate contracts
FOLLOW US
Photo credit: NHL
As news broke that the Toronto Maple Leafs and William Nylander had finally agreed on a new contract for the 27-year-old winger, there were more Leaf fans that were happy the two sides agreed on a new deal than there were detractors, which is actually quite surprising. There were others that were glad he re-signed, but also hated the fact that once again, the Leafs got taken to the cleaners and had to pay a ridiculous amount of money to keep him 'because it's Toronto'.
JD Bunkis, a morning show host on Sportsnet The FAN590 was neither of those, but he was rather blunt about his displeasure with Nylander, Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner playing both sides of the fence so to speak when it came to their negotiations.
"We all knew Nylander was going to be a ruthless negotiator. This was his dad's M.O., like 'shut up, no, pay me. I'm not getting sentimental'. He was raised on that. It stings a bit when you watch Nylander go to Sweden, be the number one star in Sweden and all the Leafs connections and to know that stuff has no value to any of these players... None of them are kicking back a dollar to stay in Toronto. They keep saying the same things where it's like 'we want to be in Toronto. We love the fans, we want to win here', but when push comes to shove and they have to sacrifice a little bit to play for the sweater that they claim they care about so deeply, and play in the city they say they love so much or try to win a Stanley Cup and that is their priority, it all seems to go by the wayside when it comes to contract negotiation time."
When you look around the league at players that have signed these types of mega-deals, they have often taken less than market value so that the team around them can be built better.
Connor McDavid reportedly took less when he signed his current contract years ago. Aside from the mega deal signed by David Pastrnak, Boston Bruins players are notorious for taking less. Sidney Crosby has done it and even Patrick Kane recently took much less than expected, so that he didn't handicap Detroit's salary cap.
I for one, agree with Bunkis' take on this. I understand players have to and want to get paid, but there always seems to be this 'because it's Toronto' thing when it comes to having to sign players. Everyone thinks the Leafs need to pay more to keep players because it's the hockey mecca. Sure, overpay for the odd free agent if they are going to make the team better, but the homegrown talent like Nylander, Matthews and Marner, who say they want to win here and love it here, know that there is only so much money to go around the rest of the team. They will continue to struggle in the post-season if the Leafs can't spend more money in certain areas such as on the blueline. Yes, the cap is going up, yes there are contracts coming off of the books, but the Leafs will still be very tight against it as the entry-level or two-way contracts for the likes of Matthew Knies, Bobby McMann, Nick Robertson and Joseph Woll begin to expire.
With four players making over $10.5M next season, it'll be interesting to see how exactly GM Brad Treliving will fill all of the empty roster spots this summer.
| POLL | ||
JANVIER 10 | 1155 ANSWERS Popular podcast host questions Leafs stars' loyalty when it comes time to negotiate contracts Who do you think received the biggest overpay in Toronto? | ||
| Mitch Marner | 291 | 25.2 % |
| Auston Matthews | 95 | 8.2 % |
| William Nylander | 299 | 25.9 % |
| They're all fairly compensated | 470 | 40.7 % |
| List of polls | ||
MUST READ
TRENDING NOW
