Matthews Signed

[Kofax]

5 years at $11.634 million per season.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/...act-extension/

[2014olympicgold]

We'll see if there's a NTC in the 5th yr. Can't have a NMC/NTC in his RFA yrs.

Next yr, Toronto owns Number2 and Number3 highest cap hits between Matthews and Tavares. (JT Tied with Doughty at 11mill)

[lucafen4]

5 years of Arizona UFA rumours begins........... NOW.

[chuckcouples]

That's a terrible contract for the Leafs. 4 years of RFA and 1 year of UFA for $11,634,000 per year. Matthews becomes a UFA in 5.5 years. And all of this for a guy who's never had 70 points in a season.

OUCH!

[ericdaoust]

Still not as bad as the Lucic contract

[2014olympicgold]

That's a terrible contract for the Leafs. 4 years of RFA and 1 year of UFA for $11,634,000 per year. Matthews becomes a UFA in 5.5 years. And all of this for a guy who's never had 70 points in a season.

OUCH!

I know anything can change, but he is on pace for 82pts (41G/41A in like 68games)

[Magicstew]

The BAR has been set, time for some more to sign.

[Daydream Nation]

That's a terrible contract for the Leafs. 4 years of RFA and 1 year of UFA for $11,634,000 per year. Matthews becomes a UFA in 5.5 years.
OUCH!

I am somewhat in this camp. For 11.6 that needs to be at least 6 years.

[tweetdrivr]

The deal is extremely signing bonus heavy which I believe insulates Matthews in the event of a lockout. He’ll be a UFA at age 26. And the Leafs have him for what looks like a decent cup window but not beyond. And the AAV seems about right for a player of his ability. He may not have had 70pts but he had 69 (so close right?) his rookie year (with 40 goals) and an 83pt pace last year. It’s a decent deal for the team and a great one for Matthews.

[2014olympicgold]

Here's his capfriendly page:
https://www.capfriendly.com/players/auston-matthews

Still no update on NMC/NTC, but there really isn't anything to eventually update on that front. Likely a NMC final yr.

[DusterDave]

Great thread of tweets from Bob McKenzie here....

From the TOR perspective, this AM34 deal makes sense on the following levels:

— Using the model of how PIT and CHI did things, and TOR aspires to follow in their footsteps, they have two franchise centres in John Tavares and Auston Matthews for the next six playoff runs.

— there’s a premium to be paid for elite C’s; there’s a premium to be paid for elite goal scorers. Matthews is both.

— decreasing term/AAV — an 8 yr deal would’ve come in north of McDavid’s $12.5M by $1M or more — allows TOR to keep core pieces together for at least 5/6 years.

The way I see it, signing Tavares changed everything for TOR. If no Tavares, I don’t doubt for a minute AM34 ends up on an eight-year deal. But Tavares is an accelerant and TOR’s window is narrowed to six years.

I’m sure many Leaf fans are disappointed in AM34’s 5-year term, but you can’t have Tavares and Matthews, with Marner still to be signed, and not have to make allowances/hard choices along the way. So a six-year window, it is.

From Matthews perspective, he had zero problem going for an eight-year deal but in order to hedge against a rising salary cap, he would have had to get a number so big as to cripple the Leafs’ ability to keep their core together. He didn’t want that.

The five-year term doesn’t mean he is shy on commitment to TOR; it means it was the best means to give the club the ability to keep core pieces intact for the next 5/6 years. He still cashed in, of course, and that is reflective of changing times on the NHL salary front.

His AAV is higher than many Leaf fans expected but I suspect you will see that across the board this off-season with the sterling crop of RFAs who are coming out of entry level. It’s a new generation of stars.

Next up: Mitch Marner. It will be fascinating. No doubt in my mind that Marner’s camp will be looking to get close to what Matthews got. That is $11M+ AAV. No doubt in my mind that TOR will be looking to get Marner on a single digit AAV, in the 9’s. Big gap.

TOR will no doubt use the premium centre/premium goal scorer argument against Marner and cite Kucherov at $9.5M as a good comparable. Marner side will cite productivity numbers that are elite and say Kucherov’s $9.5M is not applicable because it tax-free FLA $.

I couldn’t begin to guess how that one ends up or goes, but I would suggest this: Marner’s term will be either three years or 6/7/8. A four-year term would walk Marner to UFA; a five-year term would have him expire at same time as AM34. Neither is good for the club.

[BreadManPanarin]

Chicago gave Kane and Toews the biggest deals in the league (at the time) to reward them for multiple cup wins. Now teams like Edmonton and Toronto are paying crazy money to McDavid and Matthews in anticipation of cup wins. We'll see how it plays out for them. For us, as soon as we started paying two guys that kind of money that's when our cup window suddenly slammed shut.

[hockeyrobot]

One down.....

[tweetdrivr]

Chicago gave Kane and Toews the biggest deals in the league (at the time) to reward them for multiple cup wins. Now teams like Edmonton and Toronto are paying crazy money to McDavid and Matthews in anticipation of cup wins. We'll see how it plays out for them. For us, as soon as we started paying two guys that kind of money that's when our cup window suddenly slammed shut.

.

Those 5 yr/6.3mil contracts Kane and Toews signed in 2010 will look very similar to this Matthews deal 5 years from now. If the Leafs have a couple of cups they’ll need to avoid doing what Chicago did and not hamstring themselves for 8 yrs on guys who will be ageing our of their primes in 3-4 years...

[lucafen4]

Pridham knows what he's doing