Photo credit: Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports

William Nylander enjoyed a very productive 2023-24 season, but confirms that he’s motivated for an even bigger 2024-25 season with the Maple Leafs.

Early in January, the Leafs and Nylander agreed on an 8-year extension that will see him earn $11.5M per season until the end of the 2031-32 campaign.

After a summer full of trade rumours in 2023, despite his limited no-trade clause, Nylander began the 2023-24 season by registered 27 points in the first 17 games of the season. He finished the season with 40 goals and 98 points, both new career highs.

In a recent interview with The Athletic’s Jonas Siegel, Nylander revealed that his performance last season, specifically at the start of it, was due to the pressure he was facing from himself to ensure he was worth what he was asking.
“For me, the contract (situation last year) maybe was a little bit different, a little bit more I put pressure on myself.”Nylander elaborated further, noting that with the new contract, he is putting more pressure on himself to put up even better numbers.
“Now I have pressure to do better than what I did last year. That’s my goal. I want more from myself than what I did last year. That’s it. And that’s every year… You never want to be content.”

Before training camp even started, Nylander was challenged to expand on his game when Craig Berube announced that he would begin training camp at center. It is something the Leafs had tried in the past, but an experiment that didn’t last long. Although he and Max Domi split reps at the most recent practice, Nylander’s stint at center appears to be something that will be long-term thing this season.
Through 603 career NHL games, Nylander has posted 217 goals and 528 points and as he said, is looking to best last season’s career-highs beginning on October 9th when the Leafs take on the Montreal Canadiens.