Surprisingly it’s not as bad as you’d think. Nylanders raise is more or less covered by the rising cap. But that doesn’t change the fact that it’s an overpay.

Toronto expecting Minten and Cowan to make significant contributions next year

On one hand, good for Toronto that he’s sticking around, arguably their best guy in the postseason and fits great on the team. On the other hand, 11.5 is way too much. If he signed for 4 years, fine, but this is a terrible contract considering it takes him well into his mid 30s meaning they have to pay for his decline. This contract will sets a bad precedent as well for other players(I’m sure Petey’s looking at this deal), Leaf’s lose. If they couldn’t have signed him for under 11, I woulda dealt him to a place where he would’ve(team in a tax-free state).
IMO, pretty reminiscent of Huberdeau’s deal. But At least he’ll be a top 15 winger for at least half of this deal.

First of all, Nylander is worth 11 mil. I've been saying this for a long time now. If you don't think so - you're simply wrong

Second, he signed at a similar cap% as comparable wingers at the time like Benn, Stone, and Perry. Don't let the raw number fool you this isnt out of the blue.

Third and most importantly, Trev completely ****ed this negotiation up. If they were scared Nylander might walk - the time to "cave in" was in the summer. As it stands Nylander is at peak value and there is no reason to cave now 30 some odd games after refusing to go above 9mil. They should have waited out the year and let Reinhart get a comparable deal or let Willie cool off. Even if he didn't they could always just pay him this in June no problem. No one in the league can match 92 million dollars!

There was no risk!

What a horrible GM Trev has turned out to be. Worst fears confirmed about him

Fourth, I am very exited to have Willie be a life long leaf. Amazing player who has the perfect mentality for the market. Ideal Leaf and for that reason its still a good deal even with Trev being a panicky idiot.

I expect CF to vote it down. They also voted down both Matthews deals so that should tell you how little you should value that

Of course there are the usual worries about deals like this aging but I don't see any reason to suggest the risk is any more than any other comparable star so whatever. Would have liked us to get this down to 5 or 6 years given the aav, but I'll live with it.



I figure he will drop down to somewhere around a point per game to a 100 point pace for the next few years, and that's fine for what he will cost

He's on pace for almost exactly 120 points. He would have gotten $12 million on the free market, maybe more.

This is exactly why you should sign players before the massive offensive season occurs. That's easier said than done, but it's done all the time. Waiting 3 months into the season cost the Leafs about 15-20% more AAV. If they have the confidence that he's worth this much over the next 8 years, then why didn't they have the confidence to sign him for less during the summer? And yes, I highly doubt he'd have turned down $9.5M or $10M AAV for 8 years before this season started.

My thoughts on this signing:

A) I'm happy he's back and he signed for 8 years. It's been irritating that the big guys aren't going for max terms with this team, so Nylander and Rielly committing long term says a lot.
B) I don't care about the NMC. Every UFA is getting one.
C) 11.5 million comparably is more than what Nylander is expected to provide and it's entirely because of his production this season. In the offseason you were looking at maybe a 10 million AAV maximum. It's extremely frustrating that his cap hit % came in higher than Pastrnak and Huberdeau. You'd need a very convincing argument he was better than those two pre-contract signing.
D) As for the future cap, Toronto will figure it out. I'm less concerned with Nylander making 11.5 than I am with Brad giving guys like Kampf and Klingberg significant money to be burdens to the roster.
E) I have some strong opinions on the hard cap but they will not go over well here because the Leafs are burdened the most by it currently.

E) I have some strong opinions on the hard cap but they will not go over well here because the Leafs are burdened the most by it currently.

‪Seems like the salary cap doesn’t apply to Toronto…and they still haven’t learned their lesson in cap management.‬

What's your opinion on the hard cap?

Permit performance bonuses for all contracts and allow their cap hit to be spread over same term as contract. It means some carry-over would apply for eight years…and sometimes would continue for players no longer on roster. Guys would get paid more for performing well, teams would avoid ginormous carry-over in single year, the bigger contracts would go for lower AAV and dead weight would be easier to move (since bad players wouldn’t be hitting bonus thresholds).

That’s my fix.

Yah and his previous career high is 87. Making him the highest payed winger in the league would have been beyond idiotic

Does Nylander deserve 11.5? Yes.
Did Brad Treliving **** up? Yes.
Could they have gotten him cheaper if they resigned him in the summer of 23 or 24? Yes.
Will Toronto win a cup with Nylander? No.
Will it be his fault? No.

The salary cap is going up by just over $4 million this off season. Idiotic is going to be the standard for a UFA this summer.

The NHL salary cap and contract structures a massive hindrance on the sport; the inflexibility of it only rewards teams for undervaluing their players, it restrains teams from being competitive, the contract value of a player absolutely dominates any discussion around said player over everything else and it's grossly in the favour of owners.



The NHL needs to look at the NBA for ways to make the salary cap more viable. Bird rights, soft cap with luxury tax, etc. Performance bonuses being applicable on standard contracts too would be a viable addition.