Edited Jul. 14, 2023 at 11:25 p.m.
Quoting: exo2769
No and it's tough to continually hear this Leaf propaganda that since not everyone else agrees on Nylander that everyone MUST therefore hate the Leafs. And what even crazier is that everyone can agree he's good. It's just that the moment we don't think he's...Johnny Gaudreau good Or Huberdeau good...coming off dual 115 point seasons... that we now HATE the Leafs and offend every fiber of Leafs fans.
I wanted the Leafs to win last year and think it's good for the NHL to have them be a good team. Marner IMO is worth every penny he's been given. The Leafs leading PKer...has a career LOW of 61 points...3rd in Selke voting. He's amazing. Nylander...in my opinion is very overrated. He's a 1way offensive playmaker like Kane/Gaudreau/Kuch/Huberdeau, BUT Nylander doesn't score like they do. He's been a PPG player once in his EIGHT years and never more than 90 points. Can't play physical. Can't play a 2way game. Doesn't play against the opponents shut down line. And EVERY year he gets bench and bumped up to be with Matthews "to get him going". Every year. Thats not a $9.5M player.
Nylander is good. He's really good. He's not great. And because I said the 3rd one...that means I obviously hate the Leafs organization...
He's been PPG+ twice now and every year (except his hold out year) has been an improvement on the last (Gaudreau's numbers are all over, surprised people think he's better than Huberdeau), so I would at least expect another PPG season.
Fiala is comparable to Nylander as a player now, but he signed as an RFA and he only had one PPG season. He needed a contract and that year and the following were flat caps. Nylander is better than Bratt who is also signing at as an RFA. So, while Bratt likely catches up to Nylander during that contract (maybe even this year), he's 24 so that means there's still another pay day waiting for him at 32.
Forsberg is a good comparable as a player but also in terms of contract situation. He signed 8.5Mx8 but he didn't hit the open market and he signed in a tax free state. Nylander is going to start at 9M+ on the open market and as
@MoreHitzSeider pointed out likely goes to the highest bidder that nets him the most money (not necessarily the highest cap hit). Reality is the cap is going up and there are typically teams willing to overpay on ufas.
If Chicago wants to keep Nylander or sign him as a ufa next year, they are probably offering 8.5-9. 25Mx7. They won't be the highest bidders but they aren't going to chase him. I would think they offer 8.8Mx7 contract with large signing bonuses.