News Article: Nylander voted Comeback Player of the Year in the PHWA's Midseason Awards

[18leafsfan18]

How was Connor Mcdavid's plus 100 point season a down year? lol I think Mcdavid coming back from a serious knee injury and leading the league in points and on pace for over 120 points is easily the comeback player of the year but i don't take these awards seriously anyway . But good for William that he is having a bounce back year

I'm sorry I don't understand what you are referring to.

Below is the criteria for the award and the top 3 players that were voted on (The two I referred to in the post).

Comeback Player of the Year Award - to the player who returned to a previous high level of performance that was interrupted by subpar play, long-term injury or major illness.

1. Nylander
2. James Neal
3. Duclair

No mention of McDavid at all. McDavid was never interrupted by subpar play, a long term injury or a major illness. He didn't miss a single game.

Edit: Copy Paste Didn't work properly.

 

[Hockey Talker29]

No kidding.
Hard to imagine there were some who said he was great last year.

He was nowhere near as bad as some thought. Terrible first 19 games. After that he was really good, but he had poor usage (TOI and linemates), and had a run of bad luck to top it off.

He looks about the same to me as he did in February last year. He was our best player that month.

 

[18leafsfan18]

No one forced Pastrnak to sign that contract when he did and if things were different and he needed a new contract, I'm sure he would want more than the $6.7 million he's currently making. So I don't care when Brad Marchand says players on Boston don't mind making less on team friendly contracts, because it's easy to say now when their contracts are not about to expire.

McKinnon said the same thing about his contract.

Fact is if players perform in their ELC they get paid. Simple as that.

 

[Zonk]

True, but go to the main board and see the absolute anguish of the Leaf-haters that both Nylander and Matthews were selected.

 

[LeafsNation75]

McKinnon said the same thing about his contract.

Fact is if players perform in their ELC they get paid. Simple as that.

It's the same way Steven Stamkos signed for $8.5 million AAV in Tampa Bay along with Nikita Kucherov who got $9.5 million AAV from them and Victor Hedman who agreed to $7.875 milling AAV. If all three decided to leave as UFA's I'm sure they would have signed for a lot more than what Tampa is giving them and I don't care about that no state tax loop hole others bring up when the Lightning are mentioned.

 

[ACC1224]

He was nowhere near as bad as some thought. Terrible first 19 games. After that he was really good, but he had poor usage (TOI and linemates), and had a run of bad luck to top it off.

He looks about the same to me as he did in February last year. He was our best player that month.

It's always been his effort for me. Much better this year.

 

[TheTotalPackage]

But...but his contract!

I will continue to be of the belief that Nylander's is and will be the best contract of the big three, all things considered.

 

[34]

He deserves it, Willy has been nothing short of spectacular. He is outperforming Pettersson from Vancouver for the better swede.

 

[yubbers]

Credit where due. He's earning his money. Let's for once use an asset while it has value :p

 

[Stamkos4life]

Why do you think he won this award?
Seems this validates those who weren't happy with his season last year if anything.

The only way you can win the "comeback" award is by having a bad year prior.

Strange how some cant seem to realize this simple fact.

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

I'm not buying any of this until Waffles weighs in.

 

[Duke Silver]

Does anyone have an issue with his contract?

For someone who spends as much time here as you do, I'm surprised you don't have a better pulse on the conversation.

 

[LeafingTheWay]

It's the same way Steven Stamkos signed for $8.5 million AAV in Tampa Bay along with Nikita Kucherov who got $9.5 million AAV from them and Victor Hedman who agreed to $7.875 milling AAV. If all three decided to leave as UFA's I'm sure they would have signed for a lot more than what Tampa is giving them and I don't care about that no state tax loop hole others bring up when the Lightning are mentioned.

Re: bolded - Why don't you care about the no state tax loop hole lol?

 

[LeafingTheWay]

The only way you can win the "comeback" award is by having a bad year prior.

Strange how some cant seem to realize this simple fact.

Who's saying Nylander didn't have a bad year in terms of points? No one's saying that lol. We're all on the same page with that.

 

[Eternal Leaf]

It's the same way Steven Stamkos signed for $8.5 million AAV in Tampa Bay along with Nikita Kucherov who got $9.5 million AAV from them and Victor Hedman who agreed to $7.875 milling AAV. If all three decided to leave as UFA's I'm sure they would have signed for a lot more than what Tampa is giving them and I don't care about that no state tax loop hole others bring up when the Lightning are mentioned.

Players don’t care about cap hits. That’s fluff to them. They only care about what they get after taxes.

Kucherov would have needed a 11-12m cap hit in Toronto to come close to what his take-home pay is in Tampa.

So yes it makes sense to care about the state tax loop hole.

 

[LeafsNation75]

Re: bolded - Why don't you care about the no state tax loop hole lol?

Because some people have made the argument that players in Tampa sign for less AAV than what they are worth on the open market, because they will make up for it due to the no state tax in Florida.

 

[LeafsNation75]

Players don’t care about cap hits. That’s fluff to them. They only care about what they get after taxes.

Kucherov would have needed a 11-12m cap hit in Toronto to come close to what his take-home pay is in Tampa.

So yes it makes sense to care about the state tax loop hole.

If he had not signed that 8 year contract extension when he had 100 points in the 2018 season, he would have got at least $11 million AAV as a UFA coming off the season he had last year.

 

[LeafingTheWay]

Because some people have made the argument that players in Tampa sign for less AAV than what they are worth on the open market, because they will make up for it due to the no state tax in Florida.

Because it's true though

I'm pretty sure no one here actually knows how much the difference/savings are, but there is. Even CapFriendly shows an estimation on how much each team pays in terms of state tax.

I'm sure they did take pay-cuts, but it's not as big as everyone makes it out to be because of the tax-location factor.

 

[Eternal Leaf]

If he had not signed that 8 year contract extension when he had 100 points in the 2018 season, he would have got at least $11 million AAV as a UFA coming off the season he had last year.

But how does that matter?

The advantage is still there. Let's assume he waited to become a UFA and signed for 11M in Tampa, he still takes home more money than signing 11M in Toronto or most other cities.

Regardless of when he signed, he was always going to come in at a lower cap hit in Tampa compared to anywhere else due to the "no state tax" factor.

I'm sure they gave small discounts to the Lightning but it's exaggerated by the cap hit. They didn't go and say "yeah I love you guys so much, just cut 2-3m/year off the top of my contract."

 

[PatrikBerglund]

Nylander is Toronto's best forward.

Heck, probably best player.

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

Nylander is Toronto's best forward.

Heck, probably best player.

well, our best forward is easily going to be our best player because our defensemen and goalies aren't offering much competition. But it's not Nylander, he's probably 3rd best

 

[Notsince67]

Focusing on his season last year to criticize his performance is absolutely negative. At least own it

Is that not the point of the award? He was not good last year. No point sugar coating it. He looks great now. The real issue is that people around here are unwilling to address their own bad takes that it was all a function of bad luck. Only somebody who is willfully blind would claim that his game hasnt improved significantly.

 

[Notsince67]

Great work by Nylander. This really highlights the people who thought he is the worst player that ever existed, and a bad team guy. Sadly thats still not in the past as shown in this thread.

My my memory, people said he had a lot of skill but played like shit...
Sound like there is now some recognition about that. Come back does not mean most improved. It means moving from crap to good.

 

[ACC1224]

For someone who spends as much time here as you do, I'm surprised you don't have a better pulse on the conversation.

What are some of the things that are hated about it?
Seems to be fair for what he brings.
I thought Dubas caved by making him whole after he sat out but I got past it.

 

[Duke Silver]

What are some of the things that are hated about it?
Seems to be fair for what he brings.
I thought Dubas caved by making him whole after he sat out but I got past it.

C'mon man, pay attention. All we heard last year was "Nylander shouldn't be making more than Pastrnak", "Nylander should be making Ehlers money", "Nylander is almost a million overpaid", "Melander", "Greedlander", etc. And that continued into the beginning of this year, where he has proceeded to shut (most) everyone up.