Sportsnet: Nick Kypreos and Elliotte Friedman on Sportsnet Tuesday night on the contract extension talks between the Toronto Maple Leafs and William Nylander and that a deal could be done soon than later.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
David Amber: “But we got to start with some big news, Nick that you were putting out there on the Real Kyper and Bourne show about the potential of UFA William Nylander’s future in Toronto. What do you have?”
Kypreos: “Well no question coming out of their Christmas break, the word is that there’s been healthy dialogue between Toronto Maple Leafs and Willy Nylander and his agent Lewis Gross to the point where I think everybody’s under the same umbrella that he’s a, one of the top dynamic wingers in the game.
Where does that put him up with the class of Artemi Panarin and David Pasternak? So the number that I hear that both teams are warming up to, is an 11 with it, David. Now where does it sit? Does it sit out $11 (million), $11.1 (million), $11.25 (million) seems to be the number that’s out there that I’ve heard rumblings about?
NHL Rumors: Maple Leafs and William Nylander Negotiations Heating Up
But there’s no question when you understand that he wants an eight-year deal, that this deal will fall in the vicinity of $88 to $90 million for William Nylander. What that means, Elliotte is that if another team was too good to take a run at Willy Nylander as a UFA, and only come at seven, that number would have to be up towards $13 million. I don’t think that’s happening.”
Friedman: “No. And look, I think you’re right. I think there’s a chance that could happen this week. I think the Maple Leafs have made it a priority. With all the talk about the goaltending and the defense and what they have to do, I think they’ve decided that getting the ladder down is their number one priority. I think they’ve been working hard at it for about three weeks now. And I think there’s a chance that could happen sooner as opposed to later
I just, not arguing, I’m just I’m not confident in what the number is myself, not saying you’re wrong in any way shape or form as you’re probably right. But I’m just not confident in what I have heard that number to be, but I do think it could happen soon.”
Justin Bourne: “The one thing you said on the show today that kind of caught my ear to was like, you know, no one, fans don’t care about anything except, what’s, what’s that AAV going to be?
You know, so can the Leafs do something like heavily front-loaded, big signing bonuses where he’ll come back in AAV but he can make the money back by chucking in a bank somewhere. So maybe they can bring that number down.”
Kypreos: “I do believe that they’ve tried. They can continue to try to pull that number down as you said, if they front-loaded, but everything points to the direction, upwards of $11 million a year.”
Amber: “And full term, an eight-year term which only the Leafs as their existing, as his existing team could offer that.”
Kypreos: “That’s right and the value goes much higher when you offer $13, $14 million a year in signing bonus as well as upfront money is huge advantage to the Toronto Maple Leafs.”