Bender said:
Depends what the motivating factor is. I'm saying that when you make that much money is the motivating factor only money or is it something beyond that?
I think the problem there though is that people who think Nylander should take less to fit in with the cap here always sort of speak about his decision like there's some sort of concrete guarantee he has that being in Toronto will lead to more on-ice success than if he goes elsewhere when we don't know that and what we've seen in the past is that any sort of immediate talent advantage Toronto has over any other team is likely to be eroded as the years go on and eventually rendered meaningless. What percent chance is it that Toronto will have more success than, say, Carolina over Nylander's tenure? How do those odds change 3 or 5 years from now? Truth is, none of us know. Arguing that Nylander should be motivated by those things is arguing that he should be motivated by conjecture and argument.
So other than money, which is at least tangible and definite, what should be motivating Nylander? Odds are he'll be playing with good players wherever he goes and signing with the Leafs at a rate for the benefit of the team means he's making his decision on the basis of something that he has no control over. He seems like a pretty self-contained guy who'll be living in Sweden most of the time so should he be motivated by what's best for his colleagues? His employers?
So it's not that money is the only thing that might be motivating him, it's that we have no real way of saying how other things actually affect him or how he views the various opportunities in front of him. There are a lot of people here who are arguing that the deal the Leafs want Nylander to sign would ultimately be in Nylander's interest when really, the only thing they're thinking of is their own interests.