Significant issue surfaces out of latest William Nylander update

On opening day of training camp in Toronto, it was confirmed by Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe that forward William Nylander will “start at centre at camp”. While the move could help balance the team’s scoring, Yahoo Sports’ Nick Ashbourne also believes a huge issue could surface in how Nylander’s value could increase if he can play center and wing, therefore pricing him out of town.

Nylander has spent his entire career in Toronto and is now entering the last year of the six-year, $45 million deal signed back in 2018, and could have agreed to a new deal since July 1st, like teammate Auston Matthews, who inked a new deal.

During his exit interview at the end of the season press conference earlier this spring, Nylander was adamant that he hopes to stay in Toronto, where he had his best season yet putting up 40 goals and 47 assists in 82 games.

But what if he prices himself out as market values centers more highly than wingers. This is how Ashbourne explains it:

“It looks like the 2024-25 season could be a major cap crunch for the Maple Leafs if they retain Nylander under any circumstances with Matthews new cap figure ($13.25M) kicking in and the Swede likely to command a sizable raise. If Nylander is able to elevate his game in any way, that raise could get even heftier, potentially rising to a point that it would no longer be feasible for the Maple Leafs to retain him.

“Nylander can only price himself out of their market by playing at an extremely high level.”

I guess only time will tell the real impact of Nylander’s position change in Toronto.

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