Nylander’s aims to bring Stanley Cup to Toronto after signing 8-year deal

William Nylander has the contract. Now he wants the Stanley Cup.

And in the end, that will be the measure of the eight-year, $92 million contract he signed with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Monday.

Does this help the Maple Leafs do what they haven’t done since 1967?

“That’s ultimately why I wanted to stay for eight years,” Nylander said. “I wanted to give it a run to try to win the Cup. I mean, that’s been my last [discussion topic] here before I signed, was how important that was to me.”

The same questions surround the Maple Leafs. Can they win in the Stanley Cup Playoffs? Do they have too much NHL salary cap space tied up in their top four forwards: Nylander, Auston Matthews, Mitchell Marner and John Tavares?

When they defeated the Tampa Bay Lightning in six games in the Eastern Conference First Round last season, they won a playoff series for the first time since 2004. But then they lost to the Florida Panthers in five games in the second round.

Brad Treliving took over as general manager May 31. The first item on the agenda was Matthews, who was eligible to sign July 1 with one season left on his contract. That got done when Matthews signed a four-year, $53 million contract Aug. 25.

Nylander also was eligible to sign July 1 with one season left on his contract. It’s easy to say he should have gotten done too and would have been less expensive then, but that’s not necessarily true.

“I wouldn’t say the price was any cheaper in the summer,” Treliving said.

Nylander had set NHL career highs in goals (40), assists (47) and points (87) in 82 games. There was reason to think that he would continue his trajectory and that the salary cap would rise. The only question was how much, and there is more clarity today.

At the NHL Board of Governors meeting in Seattle on Dec. 5, Commissioner Gary Bettman said the salary cap is projected to rise from $83.5 million this season to $87.7 million next season.

Nylander has 54 points (21 goals, 33 assists) in 37 games, tied for fifth in the NHL with Edmonton Oilers center Connor McDavid, who has 54 points (14 goals, 40 points) in 34 games. Nylander is on pace to reach 119 points (46 goals, 73 assists) in 82 games.

Treliving said the sides got to a point where each felt comfortable.

“It’s like any deal,” Treliving said. “We always want a little less. The player always wants a little more and we find a way to get a deal done. At the end of the day, we got a really good player here who is going to be here for eight more years so we’re happy about it.”

Matthews will have an average annual value of $13.25 million starting next season. Nylander will have an AAV of $11.5 million. Marner, at $10.9 million, and Tavares, at $11 million, and will be in the last season of his contract.

Even if the cap continues to rise, that is a huge percentage of Toronto’s cap, and the Maple Leafs have more work to do keep their core together and surround it with a strong supporting cast. But they would rather deal with that challenge than deal with trying to replace elite talent.

“It’s important,” Treliving said. “I said when I first got here there are some really good players here, they’re hard to get, they’re hard to keep and when you’ve got them, you try to hold onto them. So, I think it’s a good day for us, a real good day for us, to get him signed. We’re excited to get him signed, a top player in what I believe is just entering the prime of his career.”

Nylander has evolved. The 28-year-old is no longer the kid the Maple Leafs selected No. 8 in the 2014 NHL Draft, who played for Toronto of the American Hockey League in 2014-16 and had to learn to be more of a consistent, complete player in the NHL.

“He’s spoken a lot about being a top player in the League and being relied upon in all situations for our team,” coach Sheldon Keefe said. “That’s been his ambition. I think in some cases, his actions or his consistency hasn’t met those ambitions, and we’ve had to push him to work through that, and he has done the work.

“I think he has grown a tremendous amount. He showed last season that he was finding greater consistency and maturity in his game and hasn’t looked back from there. He’s on another level this season.”

He must keep evolving. As Treliving said, to whom much is given, much is expected.

“To me, he can take another step in his leadership,” Treliving said. “When you see ‘Willie’ competing and dug in and playing a 200-foot game, like our top guys do, the rest of the team follows. And so that was my message to him.

“We don’t need him to be anything different. He continues to mature as a player, and when he’s at his best, there’s really few better than him in the League.”

NHL.com independent correspondent Dave McCarthy contributed to this report