Nylander deal sets pricey precedent for Canucks and Pettersson contract
The Toronto Maple Leafs announced a new contract for William Nylander this morning and subsequently removed the star winger from the pending free agency pool. Across the country on the West Coast, another Canadian franchise is watching carefully as they deal with a significant contract negotiation of their own.
Elias Pettersson is in the final year of his second contract with the Vancouver Canucks. The forward has 48 points in 39 games and is on pace for his second consecutive 100-point season. The future of the franchise will be shaped by this deal with the pending restricted free agent.
Contract negotiations in the NHL rely heavily on comparables, and it’s very likely that the recent Nylander extension will be referenced during negotiations between the Canucks and Pettersson.
Nylander’s contract is the richest by total value in the Maple Leafs’ long history. The 27-year-old will be paid $92 million over the course of eight years, with a whopping $69 million of that total being awarded as bonuses. The cap hit will be $11.5 million per season, and the contract has a full no-movement clause throughout.
While it’s a very rich contract, there are a few reasons why Pettersson’s camp would be able to argue that the Canucks forward is more valuable than Nylander and, thus, deserves more than the behemoth deal revealed this morning.
Pettersson has spent the majority of his NHL career as a centre, while Nylander plays on the wing. Centres are more highly valued across the league. The three projected highest-paid players for next season all play down the middle.
While Nylander has put up eye-popping numbers so far this season, Pettersson’s look better across the last few complete seasons for each player. The centreman had just one fewer goal but 15 more points last season than his winger counterpart.
There are some differences in the negotiations of the two players that work in the Canucks favour for getting a smaller deal. For example, Pettersson will be a restricted free agent upon the conclusion of his current contract, while Nylander would have been able to hit the open market.
The term of the Pettersson contract will also significantly affect the average annual value of the deal. If he wants a long-term contract, then the $11.5 given to Nylander will likely stand as the floor.
While the $11.5 million per season looks like a big number on paper, it will likely be just the starting point for Pettersson’s camp once they’re ready to start intense negotiation discussions.
With the salary cap expected to take a big jump next season, $11.5 million will not be as significant a portion of the total cap over the coming years. However, the increasing buyout penalty the Canucks owe to Oliver Ekman-Larsson will eliminate some of their gains from the increasing cap.
There are a lot of factors to consider in the Pettersson contract negotiations, but one thing is certain: today’s deal between Nylander and the Maple Leafs shows just how expensive a long-term deal for Pettersson could be.