Surprising new details regarding Nylander's next contract

Per a string of reports from all of the top Insiders in the business, the William Nylander contract was expected to fetch the Swedish winger a cap hit of $11.25M. However, as Elliotte Friedman reported on the Saturday Headlines on tonight's Hockey Night in Canada coverage, Nylander's deal is now expected to land somewhere in the $11.5M range and could be announced on Monday.

Friedman revealed that he has heard that the reason why the Leafs were finally ready to pony up the dough is because they really like the player and that in order to get the 8-year term they wanted, they were more amenable to paying the ~$11.5M cap hit.

Nylander is currently leading the Leafs in points with 54 points (time remaining against San Jose tonight) and with Auston Matthews set to earn $13.25M on his next deal, it's very apparent that Nylander and his agent pushed hard to get as close to Auston's number as possible. With the way he's played this season, he's worth every penny. However, it's not about how he plays this year, it's how he plays throughout the span of his next contract.

$11.5M is a very, very high price to pay, especially for a team who already has Matthews, Tavares and Marner all already on the books for $10.9M or more next season. Thankfully, the cap is going up next season and the Leafs will have Tavares and his $11M salary coming off the books in the summer of 2025.