William Nylander Willing To Negotiate In Season Under One Condition

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Tyler Ball
October 6, 2023 (12:04)

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William Nylander and the Toronto Maple Leafs have been working all offseason to try and come to an agreement on a new contract. With the season set to begin many have wondered if Nylander would be willing to negotiate in-season with the Maple Leafs.

Nylander Doesn't Negotiate In Season

Previously it had been established that William Nylander does not negotiate contracts when the season is ongoing. This was the case in 2017 when Nylander told the Maple Leafs he did not want to negotiate in season.

"(I was) just focusing on playing," Nylander said. "I don't remember what I was thinking at that point."

This led to a long and painful offseason process to get him signed that bled into the next regular season including a holdout.

Now Nylander is once again an impending free agent and many fans and media are wondering about his plans for negotiating. Nylander gave a somewhat surprising answer about his thoughts on negotiating in season this time around.

Nylander Open To Negotiating On One Condition

Now William Nylander was asked about his plans for negotiating in season and his response was interesting based on prior experiences. According to Nylander, he is willing to have his agent keep conversing with the Maple Leafs on one condition.

Nylander has indicated he has given his agent the approval to negotiate a contract between the two sides. He does not want to know what is going on between the two sides or be involved until a deal is close. This allows Nylander to focus on the season as he had before while still avoiding a messy end like last time.

This should be encouraging to Maple Leafs fans as it sounds like William Nylander wants to be a Maple Leaf going forward. This could lead to a contract extension sooner than fans had previously thought with the season on the horizon.

As Read On - The Score - Leafs' Nylander willing to negotiate contract extension during season