Leafs sign Matthews to 4yr extension

[Invictus]

Pronger was 35 (I think) when he signed his last contract.
Weber around the same when he 'hung them up'
Price could closely apply, but I think he could have easily gotten a long term contract before injury trouble. I'd have to look into timelines more.

Rick DiPietro is a god and going to comeback this year and lead my Mock Draft team to victory!

Half the players you listed are goalies. My statement, although I didn't specify, is directed at skaters.

[sasquatch]

Pronger was 35 (I think) when he signed his last contract.
Weber around the same when he 'hung them up'
Price could closely apply, but I think he could have easily gotten a long term contract before injury trouble. I'd have to look into timelines more.

Rick DiPietro is a god and going to comeback this year and lead my Mock Draft team to victory!

Half the players you listed are goalies. My statement, although I didn't specify, is directed at skaters.

Marc Savard, Marian Hossa, Ryan Ellis...

There's literally heaps of examples.

Great deal for Matthews. What is the league maximum? This can't be far off...

[beyondthewall19]

Short-lived time at the top salary-wise for MacKinnon, eh?

[stevegamer]

A 4 year extension that isn't kicking in right now is plenty long term.

[Invictus]

Hossa was 8 years into a 12 year contract. His contract would have expired in modern age contracts and again he was over 35.

Savard was ~33 his last year... and signed his last 7 year contract the year he played his last year (25 games).
That's exactly what you do to maximize!
Short contracts to maximize earnings then a longer term one on the way out. That's how you do it.

Auston Matthews isn't over 33 in the decline! Give me a real comparable <25 years old.

Let's look at Ryan Ellis.
First Contract: 3 year ELC.
Second Contract: 5 year 2.5m/year
Third Contract: 8 year 6.25m/year Which he played basically 2 years of.

So Ellis is closer (28 years old on last contract)... but not a great example either. Had his 2nd contract been an 8 year contract he would of had only one year left (which he did play 4 games of) and wouldn't of been able to sign his last 8 year deal. Losing out on more money then what he actually received.

[Invictus]

A 4 year extension that isn't kicking in right now is plenty long term.

Just long enough for the cracks in the foundation to show. Then.... off to Arizona!

Just kidding Leaf fans... Arizona won't be around by then...

[Invictus]

One player I did think of as a close comparable, but didn’t actual happen (career end), was Crosby.

Back when he had concussion issues. You don’t mess around with that, sign for insurance.

I’m not sure how his contract slot went to see what he actually did and I’m back on phone / too lazy to do so now

[Zorro]

I just remember constantly reading that Matthews is going to give the Leafs a “hometown discount”.. These short term contracts are not a “hometown discount”.. I don’t blame the player as he is maximizing his deals!! But definitely doesn’t seem like a team first guy like I have been reading. But can you blame him??

[rataylor22]

The maximum % of cap a player can sign for is 20%, so Matthews isn’t even close.

The amount of players who have suffered career ending injuries by 31 are in the single digit percentage points. The amount of even above average skill level players who have done so can probably be counted on one hand.

Matthews is doing (close) to what every elite NHL player is doing. Arguably, from the perspective of Matthews, even this contract is too long. And even then he took a discount, just like every elite NHLer does. At the same time, Toronto fans don’t have to like how Matthews handles his contracts, because it is different (though much smarter) than basically ever other superstar. That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with what he’s doing.

[Axeman33]

A 4 year extension that isn't kicking in right now is plenty long term.

Half of what it could have been for the Leafs side of the house. If you believe Chris Johnston, who broke the contract story, he says Matthews only wanted 3yrs. Leafs managed to get another year out of him.

Dont get me wrong, I think this is the smart play for Matthews to maximize his career earnings although I think he's leaving money on the table with this one. He'll be 31 at the end of this deal and I am not sure he gets more than $13.25M when this one expires, but that's the gamble he's willing to take. He could have had four more years making that much (maybe, because term probably played into the dollar amount) or something really close to it.

[Daydream Nation]

Dont get me wrong, I think this is the smart play for Matthews to maximize his career earnings although I think he's leaving money on the table with this one. He'll be 31 at the end of this deal and I am not sure he gets more than $13.25M when this one expires, but that's the gamble he's willing to take. He could have had four more years making that much (maybe, because term probably played into the dollar amount) or something really close to it.

I agree. The advantage to the shorter deal is that at 31 he can leave for another team in their competitive window for his last few productive seasons. Invictus talked about the cracks in the foundations. I think we are already seeing them and wouldn't be surprised if the Leafs already had their best chance for a Cup during this run. So at the age of 31 Matthews could either chase a Cup, sign a bloated contracted, or even resign with Toronto for the rest of his career. Great move by Matthews.

[2014olympicgold]

He gets a $1,609,750 raise that kicks in 2024. Your projected cap the next few yrs is:
2023-24: $83,500,000 (under contract for 13.94% of cap)
2024-25: $87,500,000 (under contract for 15.14% of cap)
2025-26: $92,000,000 (under contract for 14.40% of cap)
2026-27: Could be around $97,000,000 (under contract for 13.66% of cap)
2027-28: Could be around $100,000,000 (under contract for 13.25% of cap)

Cap raises $4m when his deal kicks in. I think they can def sign Nylander. Deal with a tight cap 1yr, and then use the money from Tavares to get Marner re-signed, and to build around the 3.

If Matthews had 2 more yrs on his deal he's on now, he would sign in 2025-26 for $13,928,800 (15.14% of cap).

I was expecting him to sign a deal like this for 5yrs, but 4yrs I'll take it.

[Axeman33]

He gets a $1,609,750 raise that kicks in 2024. Your projected cap the next few yrs is:
2023-24: $83,500,000 (under contract for 13.94% of cap)
2024-25: $87,500,000 (under contract for 15.14% of cap)
2025-26: $92,000,000 (under contract for 14.40% of cap)
2026-27: Could be around $97,000,000 (under contract for 13.66% of cap)
2027-28: Could be around $100,000,000 (under contract for 13.25% of cap)

Cap raises $4m when his deal kicks in. I think they can def sign Nylander. Deal with a tight cap 1yr, and then use the money from Tavares to get Marner re-signed, and to build around the 3.

If Matthews had 2 more yrs on his deal he's on now, he would sign in 2025-26 for $13,928,800 (15.14% of cap).

I was expecting him to sign a deal like this for 5yrs, but 4yrs I'll take it.

And their D is still mediocre!!!

[2014olympicgold]

And their D is still mediocre!!!

Ya I think the Matthews/Nylander stuff has distracted us from realizing that Woll, Rielly, McCabe and Timmins are the only goalies and Dmen under contract next yr

[Axeman33]

Ya I think the Matthews/Nylander stuff has distracted us from realizing that Woll, Rielly, McCabe and Timmins are the only goalies and Dmen under contract next yr

At the end of the day, you can say that Matthews left some money on the table because he didn't maximize his contract but realistically, how many teams with these guys making big money, let's say over $10M against the cap, win the Cup? Toews and PKane both signed their big money deals after they won the Cup in 2015. Eichel was making $10M last year, he's probably the biggest contract to win the Cup in ages that I can think of. Can anyone think of anyone making more than $10M against the cap who has won the Cup?

This is why I dont think teams like Toronto or even Edmonton will win the Cup. I dont think Colorado will win it again any time soon either. They are too heavily invested in too few players and struggle to fill out their roster with quality depth. I am not saying these guys aren't worth it but I am saying teams that have these huge contracts will struggle to win it all because they lack the depth due to salary constraints against the cap. That and they are relying on depth players to out-perform their cheap contracts, which rarely happens often enough when it counts.

Maybe if we start to see a big jump in the cap ceiling, but in the short term, there's no way these teams will win because the players are thinking money first, Cup second. I cant say I blame them. They have a short career and need to do what they can to provide, but it does show to me the priorities. They ALL want to win the Cup, but not if it means not getting theirs first.