William Nylander and the art vs. science dialectic in a contract year

As a member of the Professional Hockey Writers’ Association, I understand how the salary cap works and covering the Maple Leafs, you have to be acutely aware of how past negotiations have fenced the team into a relatively inflexible position regarding transactions and new additions. Understanding the Maple Leafs have finite resources is one thing, praying that Nylander isn’t paid commensurate to his market value is just confounding, anti-labour behavior from fans, As a media member, we’re technically supposed to be neutral but the dirty, little secret of covering a team: you want the players you cover to do well, it makes locker room interactions a lot easier, the people you cover are more likely to give you more interesting answers if they’re in a better mood, so why would you root against Nylander getting paid what he deserves? It’s a puzzling predicament, particularly if you’re invested in Nylander’s success. 

To be abundantly clear, there’s nothing wrong with discussing expiring contracts, it’s a natural part of the North American sporting ecosystem. But to be singularly fixated with the terms of Nylander’s imminent, long-term pact rather than the dazzling artform he has mastered misses the point entirely. Why do we cover hockey in the first place, did we get into this wildly competitive business just to fiddle around with a few decimal points on CapFriendly? Is the larger hockey collective trying to audition for Brandon Pridham’s job? Are you, the reader, thinking ‘8X11, that’s way too much!’ every time No. 88 races up the ice? 

Nylander, to his credit, has always stated he wants to play for the Maple Leafs. After several days of repetitive questions about his upcoming deal, Nylander said he’s deferring negotiations to his agent, Lewis Gross, and that he wouldn’t speak about it until a new deal was completed. He’s given no indication that he’s leaving. These are the facts and there’s a reasonable chance insiders are sitting on aspects of the negotiation that aren’t publicly available, but from Nylander’s perspective, he’s given no indication he’s operating in bad faith. 

At the time of this filing, Nylander ranks 5th in the NHL with 19 goals and 51 points in 36 games, he’s been one of the NHL’s premier shot creators and he’s accelerated Tyler Bertuzzi’s transformation after the first week of November. When he’s scoring impossible goals like this one against the Columbus Blue Jackets, is your first instinct to speculate about a few decimal points? 

Is it a natural inclination to think about a couple hundred thousand dollars or does the artistry of Nylander’s end-to-end rush to defeat the Minnesota Wild in his Stockholm homecoming appeal to you first?

Are you worried about what the next eight years portend when Nylander can cut through one of the NHL’s best defenses and dish it off to Auston Matthews — whose contract negotiations were a point of contention, then became an immediate afterthought once the ink dried, art will always be paramount when evaluating sports and other forms of entertainment over science. 

Nylander’s 2023-24 campaign easily exemplifies why we gravitate to hockey in the first place. To be fixated on his monetary value or approximate market value rather than appreciating the beauty of his game misses the point entirely. Let’s hope both parties see it this way during a long, prosperous marriage.