William Nylander to sign contract worth approximately $92 million in Toronto

For months, William Nylander’s contract situation has been the talk of Toronto. The Swedish winger’s current contract expires at the end of the current season, and there was some speculation as to whether the Maple Leafs would be able to retain his services.

And with his monstrous start to the season, Nylander was playing like a guy who wanted to (and was going to) break the bank, to the point where we wondered how much it would cost the Maple Leafs. We’d beentalking about more than $11 million a year for the past few days.

And tonight, Elliotte Friedman confirmed that it’s (almost) a done deal: Nylander will soon sign an eight-year contract that will pay him around $11.5 million a year.

We’re talking about a contract worth around $92 million.

Obviously, it’s good news for Toronto to retain the services of Nylander, who is one of the league’s best forwards this season. He’s racking up points by the ton and is a crucial piece of the Core Four, which will be intact for a few more years.

But it’s still a huge contract for the Maple Leafs, who will have to pay nearly $50 million for just four players. That leaves around $40 million to pay the rest of the roster, including the cap increase in the next few years.

Obviously, this will make it harder for Brad Treliving to find depth, but at the same time, losing Nylander’s services would have hurt a lot.

Could Mitch Marner and/or John Tavares be on the chopping block in a few years’ time? In any case, Nylander’s eight-year contract could buy him a lot of business.

Extension

With so much money already on the books for 2024-25, it’s hard to see the Maple Leafs retaining the services of Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi, two fine supporting forwards in town this season.

Next year will be tough… but at least Tavares’ and Marner’s contracts expire after the 2024-25 season. Big changes could happen then.