NHL Rumors: The Toronto Maple Leafs and William Nylander nearing a deal around $11.5 million per

Sportsnet: Elliotte Friedman on Headlines reports that the Toronto Maple Leafs are nearing an eight-year contract extension worth $11.5 million.

** NHLRumors.com transcription

“It’s getting close. The Toronto Maple Leafs. Principals aren’t talking. The Maple Leafs fly home from San Jose on Sunday. And we could see this as soon as Monday and I do believe the AAV for Nylander is going to be around $11.5 million a year.

Now obviously there’s going to be a ton of debate about this. I think quite simply it came down to one fact the, Toronto Maple Leafs wanted to keep the player. They think he’s a good player and a big part of their future and this was the price that it took to get them for eight years and that’s what they’re going to do.

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So think we could see it as soon as Monday, around 11 and a half million a year.

Ron McLean: “What about the percentage of the cap and does this put them in a real…”

Friedman: “13%”

McLean: “13%. Okay you answer that. The core fives put them in a real bind or is cap going up to solve it.”

Friedman: “Caps going up and you know, the one thing is, is that the calendar dictated you had to deal with Nylander now. So they had choice and I think they said, we want to do this and then we’ll deal with everything else as we have too.”

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