1 Year of Discomfort to Keep Willy

If Tkachucks making 9.5m and had 104 points including 42 goals and Gaudreau got 9.75m for 115 points including 40 goals. Pasta got 11.25m but he had 113 points and 61 goals.

Based on those 3 I dont see him getting 11m. Hes not achieved 100 points nore more than 40 goals. Now if he gets 115 points and 60 goals here's 11m but knowing him 50 goals and 85 points be a tad more realistic.

Like it causes more headaches then its worth considering next year Leafs wont have a lot of assets and as shown no wiggle room to improve much if anything. Depth scoring, and goaltending would be an issue here as while Woll's been good sample size is small. And for the Dcore Zadorov and potentially Pesce could get more.


In general the comparable's really dont support him getting 11m

The deal I would give 9.5m x 8 years

It's not crazy but, you're still looking down the barrel of Knies and Marners next contract.

I think it might be better to let Tavares walk if he's not willing to come back on a super friendly deal closer to 5 million.

Trading Willy this year for good defensive pieces isn't entirely insane either. Waiting 2 years for all the contracts and salary cap to finally balance out might be wasted prime contention.

Swappy doodle doo

Hard to say what he'll be worth by the end of the season. Also tough to say if he'll be worth it, he's kinda known for dissappearing at times. Will he remain this motivated once he gets his contract?

In general you dont need to give him that or trade him. Let him play out the year thats really it.

If he asks for that good bye they can go add Sam Reinhart if need be he wont cost that. Sucks to lose him for nothing but if you can get Sam Reinhart for 8.5m you can then explore other moves.

Cause having 4 guys in double digits even if its for a year not wise in this division.

BOS, TBL, FLA, OTT, and DET are knocking at the door and soon MTL could be to. Need all the space and help we can get as it cant just be 4 guys running the show. They need help

If they are giving Nylander double digits, they really need it to be 10M MAX, and Tavares to take less than 7M, maybe 6M or something closer to 5M as suggested by oilfire, especially considering that Marner, Knies,and Woll all need raises the following year, but more importantly, they need to spend on defense (and goaltending -combined 5-6M for starter+backup) at some point. Don't want to be in a situation where they spend the next 5-years pinching pennies, and then all of a sudden Matthews leaves or res-signs another mega deal, either way their window is probably gone by then.

Brodie probably needs to come back at ~3M. Makes bringing in a 6.5M defender unsustainable if guys aren't taking even the slightest "haircut". They will need to use an ELC/ around league-min contract instead of Zadorov (maybe Niemela in the following year), and then they could probably afford to sign Pesce, although I think he would cost the Leafs a bit more.