Toronto TV personality thumbs his nose at Shanahan over impending Nylander mega-deal

His philosophy was always to leave much of the hockey operations to his managers and assistants to handle while he would look after the ownership questions and assignments.

However, one incident where Shanahan appeared before the media was in 2018 when William Nylander's first contract extension became an issue for the Leafs braintrust. Shanahan appeared to the media and gave a sermon on how players should consider taking less money to make the team better overall.

Of course, after sitting out the early weeks of that season, Nylander signed a 6-year extension that was considered at the time a non-friendly deal of $6.96 million per season.

Fast forward to 2024, that deal is about to expire and after many weeks of discussions and rumours, Nylander is on the cusp of getting the payday of his life. It appears that Nylander is about to sign an 8-year extension worth around $92 million which will hold a cap hit of $11.5 million per season.

Shanahan's video has now resurfaced many years later thanks to flamboyant CityTV host and avid hockey fan Sid Seixeiro, who has become somewhat famous for his blunt, hyper-critical assessments.

This video shows that the good old days of hockey and taking discounts are all but over with in this new generation of talent. These players want to get paid and be recognized for what they bring to the NHL and how many people will pay to come to watch them.

These players now control the league and will continue to dictate the salaries as the cap will rise expontinally. It will be facisnating to see what the Leafs will do with Mitch Marner and John Tavares when it's their turn to negotiate new deals this summer.

It also shows that no matter what Shanahan says, the Maple Leafs will continue to run their business as they've done, paying the high-priced talent essentially whatever they want to retain them.