The Maple Leafs and Nylander have reached a deal!

It took about as long as it possibly could have but we have finally reached the end. 

According to a breaking news report from TSN NHL isnider Darren Dreger he Toronto Maple Leafs and restricted free agent forward William Nylander have reached a deal. 

Dreger is reporting that the deal is a six year deal, we will update this article with more details as they become available so feel free to keep refreshing. 

The news puts an end to the months long hold out from Nylander and the difficult contract negotiation that took place between his representatives and Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Kyle Dubas, both of who, dragged this out much further than anyone from the outside looking in could, or would have expected. 

It seems like Nylander held out as long as he could to get the possible deal he could out of the Maple Leafs and now based on the latest information from Sportsnet NHL insider Elliotte Friedman it sounds like he got very close to what he wanted. Friedman is reporting that the deal is a 6 year term at $6.9 million per season, that would bring the total value of the deal to $41.4 million over the length of the contract.

The big take away here is obviously the fact that in spite of the months long hold out from both the Maple Leafs and William Nylander both sides have walked away from this with a deal that they are likely to be happy with. The Maple Leafs did not want to move beyond the $7 million per season number due to the fact that they still have to work on new deals for both forwards Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner. Although no one truly knows how much either player will earn on their next contracts we do know that it is going to be major money in both cases and will push the Maple Leafs right up against the salary cap. 

Although there has obviously never been any question about the qualifications of general manager Kyle Dubas this also has to be extremely reassuring for Leaf fans who have now seen their GM go right down to the wire in a contract battle, on top of bringing in superstar John Tavares earlier this year.

Update: James Mirtle reports that Nylander's cap hit for this season will be $10.2 million. This is likely due to a signing bonus that will reimburse Nylander any money he would have lost by sitting out until today. This makes this look like a very shrewd move indeed for Nylander who got close to the amount he wanted, lost no money in the process, and earned himself an extra long summer back at home with his family. 

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