William Nylander, the Toronto Maple Leafs and the salary cap

Let's talk about it.

The Toronto Maple Leafs managed to get pending free agent forward William Nylander signed to a new contract extension this week, handing him an eight-year, $92 million deal on Monday. It carries an $11.5 million salary cap hit through the end of the 2031-32 season and will keep him in Toronto long-term as a part of their core.

It comes with a no-movement clause and is also pretty much buyout proof given the way the deal is structured with bonus money. For Nylander, it is a huge win financially and for his own personal job security. He controls where he goes — and if he goes — and he never has to worry about his deal being bought out.

He’s a Maple Leaf until he doesn’t want to be a Maple Leaf.

Naturally, this deal has some critics. As most Toronto deals tend to have.

Immediate reactions ranged from, “The Maple Leafs don’t know what they are doing,” to “how can they compete with only four players taking up so much of their salary cap space,” to “why don’t they invest in DEFENSE!” There is also probably a sentiment that Nylander might even be overpaid.

I have some thoughts on this deal. Let’s get into them.