NHL Network: Elliotte Friedman when asked what Auston Matthews contract extension means for extending William Nylander.
** NHLRumors.com transcription
Bruce Boudreau: “Hey Elliotte, do you think by that number and that term (Auston Matthews four year, $13.25 million per extension), that that will affect Nylanders signing?”
Elliotte Friedman: “Well you know Bruce, I think that’s the question that we’re all kind of wondering here. Like I, we, interview Nylander in Stockholm. He’s here as part of the tour cause the Maple Leafs are going to play here in a couple of months.
And he was smart. Bruce, I really tried, I did.”
Boudreau: “I can only imagine.”
Friedman: “He was not having any of my questions. He ducked them beautifully. He did a great job of saying, ‘look, I have time. I still have the rest of this year. I don’t see what the rush is and we have time to sort this out.’
I do think, I specifically asked Nylander about, is he worried about taking a discount if nobody else is going to. He said he wouldn’t even go there.
I think Bruce to answer your question, I think where this goes is, this number for Matthews, I’m with you guys, I think it’s what he wanted. I think it’s what they knew they were going to have to give him. I think now the question is not only for Nylander, what does it mean for (Mitch) Marner too?
Like what, Marner’s up in two years. He’s eligible for an extension next year. What does this mean for his number? What does this mean for Nylander’s number.
And this is the way I think guys it’s going to play out. I think the Maple Leafs are going to say, ‘look, we wanted to get Matthews done. We wanted to extend him and they did. Now we’re going to let next year play out. And a lot of our decisions – Marner, Nylander, (Tyler) Bertuzzi, (Max) Domi – other players around there, (Ilya) Samsonov. We can make those decisions late this year or after this season.’
And I think that’s the way Toronto’s going to do it.”