Predicting Matthews And Nylander's Contract Extensions

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Tyler Ball
August 2, 2023 (8:25 PM)

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The Toronto Maple Leafs are in the middle of two of the most important contract negotiations in the history of the franchise. Auston Matthews and William Nylander are two of the top players at their respective positions in the NHL.

With that being said each of their contract situations is playing out differently. Lets explore where things are at with both players.

Matthews Is The Priority

Auston Matthews of the two forwards has become the clear priority. He has won a Hart Trophy as the league MVP and had a 60-goal season. Even new Leafs General Manager has come out and said that Matthews is the priority currently.

What Will A Matthews Extension Look Like?

With Matthews being an elite player and one of the pillars of the NHL his contract negotiation has been followed extremely closely. This allows for more clear numbers to be known when it comes to what a deal will look like.

It has been reported by several sources including David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period that Matthews wants a contract between 3-5 years.

This has caused many Leafs fans to worry because many superstars get contracts that are 6 years or longer. But keep in mind if Matthews signs a 5-year contract that would put him at 31 years old when the contract expires. This means the Leafs would get the prime years of his career and be able to avoid paying Matthews a contract that he is not worthy of late in his career.

As for the dollar amount that Matthews expects we turn to Carlo Colaiacovo who said this during this morning's episode on TSN 1050's First Up:

It's going to be anywhere between 3-5 years and it's going to range between $13M and $14M, depending on the term. It's going to happen any day - that's the only thing I know that's going on in Leaf land.

He confirms the earlier sentiment of Dave Pagnotta while also adding that the contract will land between 13-14 million dollars per season. This would land Matthews with the highest cap hit in the NHL. However, it would only be a 2-3 million dollar raise from his current salary.

We all knew that Matthews would be getting more money on this contract so limiting it will help keep the Leafs' options open.

How Does William Nylander Fit Into The Salary Cap?

With Matthews' cap hit figured out we now take a look at what William Nylander may command. With the focus on Matthews, the Nylander negotiations have not leaked nearly as much information. Reports indicate that the two sides are farther away than Matthews is with the Leafs.

Reports have indicated that the recent Sebastian Aho contract extension will be the bar for Nylander. Aho signed an 8-year contract worth 9.75 million dollars. Nylander will likely come in below this in dollar amount by a million or so.

The interesting part with Nylander will be the length of the contract. If the Leafs try to get Nylander on a discount compared to what he is expected to want by many in the industry they may have to compromise on contract length.

This could mean Nylander asking for a lot of term or wanting something short-term to capitalize on his prime years again.