Toronto Maple Leafs: Kyle Dubas shows resolve with William Nylander contract

The Toronto Maple Leafs signed William Nylander to a six-year deal ending an excruciating time for Kyle Dubas but one he needed to go through.

One thing we learned throughout this contract negotiation between William Nylander and the Toronto Maple Leafs, Kyle Dubas showed his resolve during these contract negotiations as it went down to the wire.

The Leafs and Nylander came to an agreement on a six-year deal which was

While Leafs Nation is happy to see a resolution for what was two months of anguish, Kyle Dubas is probably wondering if this could have all been avoided. Obviously, he is relieved to get this deal done but was it worth not having one of his top core players in the lineup and missing training camp.

Nylander is getting compensated handsomely in this deal when you look at the portion of his contract paid out in signing bonuses versus his actual salary. Not only does he get a decent signing bonus in the second year of his deal but it comes with some certainty if there’s a potential lockout.

So who won the deal? That’s going to be the big debate over the next couple of days and it’s actually started with some analysts thinking that the Leafs overpaid to get a deal done. The problem is determining what people think Nylander is worth, what he was looking to get in a deal and the team was offering.

The big win for Nylander is avoiding a bridge deal because it was clear he didn’t want one and the Leafs could have easily said that they weren’t going to offer a long-term deal. According to Dubas, the team would have let Nylander sit out of it came down to that option.

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There’s obviously pressure on Nylander to prove his value after the prolonged absence and for Dubas since he will hope to avoid a similar outcome with Auston Matthews and Mitch Marner who are next on his list.

One thing Dubas made clear, he can be patient to get these deals done but next time around he might put more pressure on sorting things out before training camp. It probably means seeing Jake Gardiner walk away in free agency but at this point, the Leafs should be confident in the development of their younger defencemen.

At the same time, Leafs Nation shouldn’t worry about that right now and just focus on what’s ahead and that’s getting one of your top scorers back on a team with the best goal differential in the league.

There aren’t many teams adding a player of Nylander’s calibre at this point in the season unless they pay a heavy price in a trade. if the NHL isn’t worried about the Leafs, Saturday might have given them more of a reason to be.

What do you think about the Nylander deal? Is there anything to be worried about down the road with the other contracts? Let us know in the comments below.