Confirmed with Link: Nylander signs extension of 8 years - 11.5M AAV

[ICBM]

Which team would offer Nylander 13.1 AAV with full NMC and fully front loaded contract?

A desperate one like Dubas' Penguins, for example.

 

[francis246]

Because upfront money is supposed to help lower the AAV.

Would you rather have more money now so you can invest and grow that; OR wait till the end restricting you from investing significant amounts?

When has that ever happened? I think that’s a Toronto sports fans dream. But that has never happened that I can remember. Can we point to one player or team that can say they used that tactic?

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Leafs should be able to ignore the cap - this limit is pointless for teams that can pay.

The point is for owners to make money via League revenue. Balanced teams help that. The cap will never go. The owners know they couldn’t compete with TOR NYR, etc.

 

[PromisedLand]

Folks keep repeating this, but is there a single contract where this has actually happened? Not trying to be argumentative, but can't think of any.

Bonuses are definitely a way to attract a player, but I don't see much evidence around the league of it leading to cheaper deals overall

The reason being there aren't many teams that can front load the contracts like Leafs can.

Below is the breakdown

Nylander can invest 10 million for a meagre return of 2% for the year on July 1st as a lumpsum instead of waiting months to do it. Then next year on July 1st he can re-invest 20 million with a span of 12 months - compound it and see how sweet it is compared to getting paid 11.5 over the course of the playing year.

The whole idea of giving out fully front loaded contract is to lower the AAV;

For comparison look at Pasta's contract structure

How is it that we gave Nylander not only the fully front loaded contract but also full NMC and did not get anything in return in terms of AAV. I just don't understand why does Shanahan keep screwing the pooch so bad

EDIT (adding more info): Here is a signing bonus primer

https://ca.rbcwealthmanagement.com/documents/1943269/1943331/Signing_bonus_planning_for_sports_professionals.pdf/2ebb1a52-d371-4152-8915-8a714163238a

Same applies when you consider the Canada-Sweden tax treaty

View Treaty - Canada.ca

www.treaty-accord.gc.ca

 

[New User Name]

Players like signing bonuses because it's way to soften possible buyouts.
As well, the money they receive on July 1 can be invested immediately and earn significant interest.
I did read a few years ago about taxation savings as well but can't find anything about that at thye moment.

Or you can read PromiseLands post just above mine for more details^^^^^^^^:

 

[beleaf101]

Congratulations to Willie
Looking forward there will be lots of debate about how this contract will age but for me today is not the day.

Today we should celebrate the player and how he got here. In his draft he was not a slam dunk. The manager who drafted him. The scouts who insisted we take him. The player development team and all the coaches
should be getting some love today and of course Willy himself.
We (the organization) finally got one right.

 

[thewave]

Then the owners are going to need to offer the players union something juicy in return. Maybe shortening the RFA age a year or two early might do it

They have to fix three or so issues regarding contracts.

1. Tax problem between US and Canada
2. The NMC should ended
3. Shorten max term

 

[Confucius]

The point is for owners to make money via League revenue. Balanced teams help that. The cap will never go. The owners know they couldn’t compete with TOR NYR, etc.

If revenue is split fairly evenly, it makes little sense to spend your own money. Let’s play in a 5,000 seat arena, think of the savings on expenses and our league revenue wouldn’t change.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

If revenue is split fairly evenly, it makes little sense to spend your own money. Let’s play in a 5,000 seat arena, think of the savings on expenses and our league revenue wouldn’t change.

Some teams do that.

 

[myleafs]

There is also a world when this iteration of the team wins, and every single fan is ecstatic about having all of these guys under contract. Have to let it play out and see what happens. Will they become Tampa Bay...or San Jose?

While I understand the sentiment, Ill take a conference finals and a trip to the finals any day.

 

[BLONG7]

Willy got his money...........MNC, and tons of money in signing bonuses...........term....the kid picked a great time, to have a career year.

Treveling didn't seem to have much leverage!! LOL

 

[DcW]

I’m sure Willy will bust his arse the rest of the season but wouldn’t be surprised if you saw a mid season slump starting tomorrow

 

[Jojalu]

I would have never guess Robertson would be on that list

 

[myleafs]

This too is true... such a dumb move to go to Pittsburgh... if I were in his spot, I would have waited for a better opportunity... Ottawa, Arizona... other better jobs would have opened up... dumb

im not a dubas fan but come on...35 milly guaranteed, full control of hockey ops. Yea, what a dope..

 

[ToneDog]

Sid before the Ducks game



Dangle get it



Bobcat today nails it

 

[Ziggdiezan]

I think the issue will be that they will have no room to "miss" on a long-term mid-level contract, i.e., the second and third line forwards or second pairing defensemen who typically make in the $5 - $6 million range. Can you risk giving bertuzzi a long term deal at $6 million per season on the chance that he doesn't perform or runs into non career ending injuries? As a result, I think we will continue to see a lot of one year deals to fill out the roster.

Definitely increases that risk, agreed not sure if we will see a commitment to a long term option for those extra spots as you mentioned

 

[PromisedLand]

Next step is removing Tavares and his 11m from the equation and start rebuilding around Matthews/Marner/Nylander with youth. If Tavares refuses to waive then give the C to Matthews and start him on the third line.

Only one worthy of wearing the "C" is Rielly

 

[ponder]

Next year is gonna suck, insane cap squeeze, but it’s one year. After that, assuming:
- Marner gets a bit of a raise
- JT either goes way down in salary, or we let him walk

Then after next year, our total % of cap taken up by Matthews/Nylander/Marner/JT will be the lowest it’s been since Matthews/Nylander/Marner came off their rookie contracts.

Do I wish these guys would take discounts? Of course! But they won’t do it, so ultimately, for each of Matthews/Nylander/Marner our choices are/were:

1) Sign them long term to their full UFA market rate (which are very high salaries, because they’re very good players)

2) Trade them at the deadline as rentals (IMO trading them well before the deadline is not realistic for a contending team, they’re our best players and we want to keep them if we can)

3) Keep them as “own rentals” and let them walk for nothing

The first option keeps our contention window open for many years, the second two options close it. I’d rather keep contending for cups for many years with Matthews, Nylander and Marner (and maybe JT), vs. losing some/all of them and having our contention window close.

There’s a tonne of luck/randomness in hockey, and to a large extent your best shot at a cup is to just keep contending as many years as possible. This is what the Caps and Blues did, both were considered perennial playoff disappointments until they eventually won a cup, hopefully we can do the same. Of course we could also be more like the Thornton/Marleau Sharks, or Sedins Nucks, and never have it work out, that’s certainly a very significant possibility, but you gotta keep trying if you can, and we can.

Matthews/Marner/Nylander are the reason we finish high in the standings each year, and have shots to contend, even if we haven’t gone deep in the playoffs with them yet. If we took the “let them walk” or “trade them as rentals” routes, we likely wouldn’t even make the playoffs at all.

 

[Confucius]

Yeah but they all play in B markets, condos cost more in Toronto than the hinterlands. lol!

 

[Ziggdiezan]

I agree that the cap allocation isn't great by any stretch, but I think this is what they're trying to do, not that I'm in full support of it...

I think management sees it like this.

1. Roughly the 2024 cap allocation that I mentioned previously, with the cap in the $87.5 million range.

2. In 2025 Tavares re-signs an extension in the 2 x $5.5 million range, in the same year the cap is expected to rise about $4 million ($91.5 million cap) which gives you $9.5 million to spend. Marner gets a raise to about $12.5 million, which gives you $7.9 million to extend Knies, make a decision on McCabe and upgrade your goaltending. Meanwhile, the thought is that guys like Minten, Cowan, Niemela and Robertson (if still around) will be ready to play on the team full time and keep the bottom end of the roster cheap.

3. In 2026 the cap jumps $3-$4 more million, without anybody due a big raise, meaning in can be spent to increase forward depth. Beyond 2026, Tavares' deal comes off the books and the Leafs start planning to extend Matthews again, while freeing up some additional cap.

Ya I get what the idea is, basically switching Nylander and JT's cap hit for the most part and running it back. Not sure I agree or how many years of failure we will need to see for a major shakeup of the roster construction though. I just don't think having a super top heavy forward group is the way to thr cup and/or consistent deep playoff runs. Really hope I'm wrong though

 

[PromisedLand]

Leafs can't ice a Cup competitive team with 3 players in the TOP 12 highest AAV so lets try making that 4.

There are 32 NHL teams and next year Leafs will have 1/4 or 4 of 12 of the highest AAV in a Salary Cap World.

The other 8 other Top 12 players are spread out among 31 other teams.

Brendan Shanahan is a JOKE! A snake thats killing the leafs

 

[nuck]

When has that ever happened? I think that’s a Toronto sports fans dream. But that has never happened that I can remember. Can we point to one player or team that can say they used that tactic?

I doubt they would bother announce it but it only makes sense. Otherwise, why spend any extra money on the bonuses? The teams that do less of it do it to save money. Pasta got less bonuses than Marner or Matthews. Ranta got none but MacKinnon milked it like a Leaf. JT got it to balance out the supposed Sharks offer for $13M. It doesn't just make a a player lockout proof, it is money in their pocket and out of the clubs coffers who are paying for their "product" many months in advance.

Why offer something that costs you hundreds of thousands of dollars if all your competitors are not offering it to their players? What business intentionally pays their employees more than their competition for the same service? Because it allows you to give a financial benefit beyond the cap hit and use the power of your franchise wealth in a way other clubs can't.

 

[Confucius]

Ya I get what the idea is, basically switching Nylander and JT's cap hit for the most part and running it back. Not sure I agree or how many years of failure we will need to see for a major shakeup of the roster construction though. I just don't think having a super top heavy forward group is the way to thr cup and/or consistent deep playoff runs. Really hope I'm wrong though

I wouldn’t call all these years of entertainment failures. Now the few before we got Matty and the Ballard years now they were failures. Your post reminds me of my mom, if I don’t become a Dr. I failed…

 

[leafs in five]

So now that Willy got the bag, as many many fans here wanted him to …. Is the team better?

he already plays for us mate

 

[PromisedLand]

ah we can fill out the rest of the roster with a chunk of lint from a dryer, and a few tic tacs from the center console of my car lol

We can ask Shanahan's "killer instinct" to make itself visible from the fairyland shanny has it stored

What a JOKE!