William Nylander and the Toronto Maple Leafs are reportedly getting close to agreeing on a contract extension that could see the Swedish forward earning close to $12 million starting next season.
On Friday’s episode of Daily Faceoff LIVE, Frank Seravalli and Tyler Yaremchuk discuss their DFO colleague Colby Cohen’s comments and if the Maple Leafs would be better served spending that money elsewhere.
Tyler Yaremchuk: Frank, you have been very vocal about the fact that, despite Auston Matthews and his league-leading 30 goals this season, William Nylander has been the Toronto Maple Leafs’ MVP through the 2023-24 season.
Yesterday, our pal Colby Cohen made an interesting point on DFO’s newest show, Morning Cuppa Hockey, saying as much as you want to keep Nylander on the Leafs, $11.5 million on another forward on this team is money that could be better spent on someone else. It could get you a really good defenseman or a goalie.
What do you make of that idea? Despite the fact you want to keep him, it might not be the best way to spend money?
Frank Seravalli: I’m really torn on this, because I understand how special this season and last season were for him. A big part of me feels like at a certain point, it gets to be too much. All of a sudden, if you’re at $11.5 million and you’re looking at Nylander being tied for the fifth-highest paid player in the league.
Are you going to get top-level production out of him for the length of the contract? Or at least the next five years? I think he could, but it’s not a sure bet, and the rest of the league will evolve while he’s in his thirties. Then you’re asking, what kind of impact will this have on the cap?
You can watch the rest of the segment and the full episode here…
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