News Article: Auston Matthews - August 1st., Contract Crickets

[pcruz]

WAT?

Bro has been runner up on the Hart a few times

He carried his team to a cup at 26

He put up 111 points in 71 games this year

MacK is undoubtedly a top 5 player in the league, are you ok?

Mack was 2nd in Hart twice:

Lost to Taylor Hall who outscored his closest teammate by nearly double.

In that season, 4 players in Colorado outscored the 2nd place point producer in NJ

Name	GP	G	A	Pts
MacKinnon	74	39	58	97
Rantanen	81	29	55	84
Landeskog	78	25	37	62
Barrie	68	14	43	57
Kerfoot	79	19	24	43
Hall	76	39	54	93
Hischier	82	20	32	52
Palmieri	62	24	20	44
Butcher	81	5	39	44

In that year, MacKinnon and Hall were 5th and 6th in scoring, but Hall had no help in getting his goals and points when compared to the guys who ended up ahead of him.

There was no argument for MacKinnon to win the Hart that season. There was much more merit in the guys who finished the season with more points to be quite honest, but the giant chasm in between the production of Hall compared to the rest of his team is what ultimately won him the trophy.


The second time MacKinnon came 2nd in Hart voting, the argument for him to win it was the same as Hall's.

He ended the season 5th in league scoring with 93 points in 69 games played.

The next best teammate was Makar with 50 points that year.

However, Draisaitl scored almost 20 more points than Mack did in all of 2 more games played that year.

That was just too much to overlook.


As great as MacKinnon is, he did not carry the Avs to the Cup, he definitely played a huge part, but to say he carried them is a huge mischaracterization and a big insult to Makar, Rantanen, Nichushkin, Landeskog. Hell, Makar and Rantanen both outscored Mack.

He's a great player, but at the time he signed his current contract, MacKinnon had scored 40 goals a total of 1 time.
Matthews did it in his rookie season, and has done it a few times since. He scored 40 goals this year and was lambasted as having a dismal season....

Mack's best goal scoring seasons are what the NHL considers to be a terrible season for Matthews, that speaks volumes.

As of today, Matthews has scored 17 more goals than MacKinnon has, despite playing 230 less games.
I mean, since MacKinnon was drafted, Matthews sits 8th in total goals scored, all of 22 goals behind Kane for 3rd most.
If you go by even strength goals, Matthews sits 4th since MacKinnon was drafted, 11 goals behind Marchand and Kane for 2nd.

 

[rojac]

No stress no worries man. Nothing to see here man, no fire, no blaze bros. It's all good David says so man. Relax. They better have a freaking deal worked out for these guys july 1st

Or what?

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

Why was Joyce fired so suddenly?

No official reason was provided.

They agreed to part ways.

Considering Joyce was promoted to head of scouting and Dubas didn't have a contract extension, it is not unreasonable to assume Joyce was a threat to Dubas' job.

An NHL front office runs the same as any other large corporate entity. Where boardroom politics play a large role in who stays and who goes. A big part of any NHL General Manager's job is just keeping it.

I can't imagine Dubas was happy seeing Joyce come in and be given a job title and description that sounds suspiciously like Dubas'.

Then for Joyce to be given more power within the organization as head of scouting, well, I'm sure Dubas wasn't too happy with that either.

Dubas did a good job eliminating all the internal competition to his and Keefe's jobs over the years.

Whether it was planned that way or coincidence, I couldn't tell you.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

Im frustrated with this team too but man you have a lot of bitterness/disgust/hatred after the fact judgement towards something none of us can control. Its always easier after the fact to know what should have or could been done but in real time its a little more difficult. Anyone can pick apart anyone/decision after the fact. Whatever decisions that were or werent made or will be made will happen whether we agree or not so for me personally I have my opinions but I also realize that whatever happens happens. Its all pretty interesting if nothing else.

It's not "after the fact" when I said it was the wrong move at the time.

And even if I am using hindsight, I'm not sure why that should be an issue anyway. That's what a job performance review is. Judging how well someone has performed at their job, after the fact.

I wouldn't be concerned about anyone using hindsight to judge if I was you.

I would be more focused on the fact that hindsight has constantly proven them wrong.

 

[sunstersun]

That is insane. Just trade him - which would be so much easier if he had 2 years left instead of one. Thanks Dubas.


And then Marner wants $12.5M and Nylander wants $10M, and 3 players are making $36.5M.

Where do you draw the line?

Ship Marner out.

 

[IPS]

MacKinnon was not the best player on his team when they won.

MacKinnon is really good, top 5 for sure.

He took 12.6 to be the highest paid and he also said he was taking a discount, how much of a discount did he take? I'm going with $0.

Lol what does diminishing Mackinnon do for you? Seriously?

 

[ORRFForever]

Ship Marner out.

Works for me.

 

[Maple Leaf]

Works for me.

Doesnt work unless you get a comparable asset

 

[ORRFForever]

Doesnt work unless you get a comparable asset

Of course but with 2 years left on his contract, I'm sure it is doable.

I would LOVE to keep Marner, Matthews and Nylander but they have to be willing to take a little less to make it work otherwise the team will be top heavy and unable to succeed in the playoffs.

 

[Boxscore]

8 years anything between 13M to 14M is OK

No it's not, it's foolish. Matthews is not worth that and the Leafs will never be able to build a true contender if we pay him that. On what planet is Matt Tkachuk (back-to-back 100+ point seasons and lead his team to a Cup) worth 9.5 and Matthews worth 14-15, both on an 8 year deal? Ludicrous.

Nate MacKinnon just won a Cup and signed for 12.6 x 8. Matthews just took a crap in the playoffs again and we're ready to give him 14-15 for the same term a Cup champ, and elite player, like MacKinnon just signed? This is crazy talk. Leafs fans have Stockholm Syndrome when it comes to Matthews lol.

That’s fair but so would Mackinnon’s camp. So round up to $13 AAV (15.5%) and call it a day.

Matthews, and his camp, aren't fair. They're all about making every dollar they possibly can. Matthews leveraged the Leafs before and he'll do it again, which is why we won't win a Cup with him. He's proving to be a me-first player and person.

 

[TMLBlueandWhite]

The thing that boggles my mind most about all this worrying over the Matthews contract is that it could have easily been avoided.

If Shanahan didn't completely flip flop when it comes to contracts, the team wouldn't even be in this mess right now.

https://www.therecord.com/sports/hockey/2014/05/14/shanahan-realistic-about-how-difficult-it-is-to-make-changes-to-leafs.html

"Nonis is fond of saying even as he signs players to long-term deals that none of them include full no-trade clauses.

Shanahan believes that gives the Leafs roster flexibility to make changes."

Anyone remember this comment from the Nylander holdout:

Shanahan says Leafs expect its young stars to take less money to stay together"

"We all found a way to fit with each other so that we could keep adding to the group... That's obviously what we're asking some of our young leaders to do."

The cap flexibility Shanahan was so enamored with? Gone.

The NMC's that Shanahan dislikes so much? Back.

The future of the team's franchise player? Uncertain.

Now the team finds itself staring down the barrel of a gun. Held hostage risking losing the face of the franchise. Shanahan's greatest accomplishment was finishing last place to draft Matthews.

His lasting legacy may be losing him to free agency for no return.

 

[Ciao]

I don't get a good feeling about an eight-year buyout-proof contract at $14-million+ with a full NMC.

That's a lot of risk for the Leafs. I don't know that I would want to go there, even for Auston Matthews.

Might be best to trade him now, and let his new team sign him.

 

[Stamkos4life]

Mack was 2nd in Hart twice:

Lost to Taylor Hall who outscored his closest teammate by nearly double.

In that season, 4 players in Colorado outscored the 2nd place point producer in NJ

[TABLE=collapse]
[TR]
[TD]Name[/TD]
[TD]GP[/TD]
[TD]G[/TD]
[TD]A[/TD]
[TD]Pts[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]MacKinnon[/TD]
[TD]74[/TD]
[TD]39[/TD]
[TD]58[/TD]
[TD]97[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Rantanen[/TD]
[TD]81[/TD]
[TD]29[/TD]
[TD]55[/TD]
[TD]84[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Landeskog[/TD]
[TD]78[/TD]
[TD]25[/TD]
[TD]37[/TD]
[TD]62[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Barrie[/TD]
[TD]68[/TD]
[TD]14[/TD]
[TD]43[/TD]
[TD]57[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Kerfoot[/TD]
[TD]79[/TD]
[TD]19[/TD]
[TD]24[/TD]
[TD]43[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Hall[/TD]
[TD]76[/TD]
[TD]39[/TD]
[TD]54[/TD]
[TD]93[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Hischier[/TD]
[TD]82[/TD]
[TD]20[/TD]
[TD]32[/TD]
[TD]52[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Palmieri[/TD]
[TD]62[/TD]
[TD]24[/TD]
[TD]20[/TD]
[TD]44[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]Butcher[/TD]
[TD]81[/TD]
[TD]5[/TD]
[TD]39[/TD]
[TD]44[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

In that year, MacKinnon and Hall were 5th and 6th in scoring, but Hall had no help in getting his goals and points when compared to the guys who ended up ahead of him.

There was no argument for MacKinnon to win the Hart that season. There was much more merit in the guys who finished the season with more points to be quite honest, but the giant chasm in between the production of Hall compared to the rest of his team is what ultimately won him the trophy.


The second time MacKinnon came 2nd in Hart voting, the argument for him to win it was the same as Hall's.

He ended the season 5th in league scoring with 93 points in 69 games played.

The next best teammate was Makar with 50 points that year.

However, Draisaitl scored almost 20 more points than Mack did in all of 2 more games played that year.

That was just too much to overlook.


As great as MacKinnon is, he did not carry the Avs to the Cup, he definitely played a huge part, but to say he carried them is a huge mischaracterization and a big insult to Makar, Rantanen, Nichushkin, Landeskog. Hell, Makar and Rantanen both outscored Mack.

He's a great player, but at the time he signed his current contract, MacKinnon had scored 40 goals a total of 1 time.
Matthews did it in his rookie season, and has done it a few times since. He scored 40 goals this year and was lambasted as having a dismal season....

Mack's best goal scoring seasons are what the NHL considers to be a terrible season for Matthews, that speaks volumes.

As of today, Matthews has scored 17 more goals than MacKinnon has, despite playing 230 less games.
I mean, since MacKinnon was drafted, Matthews sits 8th in total goals scored, all of 22 goals behind Kane for 3rd most.
If you go by even strength goals, Matthews sits 4th since MacKinnon was drafted, 11 goals behind Marchand and Kane for 2nd.

I love how people fixate on goals and the regular season while not caring about anything else when talking about Matthews.

Points > goals.

This year alone mack had 111 points to Matthew's 85!

Out of the 7 seasons Matthews has been in the league, auston has only had more points twice.

In the playoffs, mack has a 1.30 ppg over his career vs a 0.88 for Matthews. That's a difference of 34 points per 82 games!

Yet auston thinks he deserves to be the highest paid player? Gtfo

 

[ToneDog]

I love how people fixate on goals and the regular season while not caring about anything else when talking about Matthews.

Points > goals.

This year alone mack had 111 points to Matthew's 85!

Out of the 7 seasons Matthews has been in the league, auston has only had more points twice.

In the playoffs, mack has a 1.30 ppg over his career vs a 0.88 for Matthews. That's a difference of 34 points per 82 games!

Yet auston thinks he deserves to be the highest paid player? Gtfo

Captain Dubious all but made it a gimme that Matty would be highest paid player on his next contract by giving him 5 years and 11.640. All Matty has to do is ask for a $1m raise and voila, he is the highest paid player.

 

[ToneDog]

WAT?

Bro has been runner up on the Hart a few times

He carried his team to a cup at 26

He put up 111 points in 71 games this year

MacK is undoubtedly a top 5 player in the league, are you ok?

Even MacLean said Matty is not worth more than Mac and McD, yesterday on the Kyper show but it is the Leafs and because they can pay, they will and it will put them behind the eight ball again. Less than two weeks to go to see if the Leafs make the same mistake Dumbass did.

The last year of JT's contract will be the challenge if they overpay 34 and 88. After that they will have some breathing room so they can overpay Skip the Playoffs.

 

[Stamkos4life]

Ovechkin never put up a season as good as Matthews did last year. Ovi's physical game is traded off for Matthews defensive game.

Yeah that's false.

When ovi had 65 goals and 111 points, his next highest teammate had 26 goals (semin) and 69 points (backstrom). He won the hart, lindsay, art Ross and rocket which is already more awards in 1 single season. He led the league by 6 points.

Matthews had 60 goals and 106 points, his next highest teammates had 35 goals and 97 points (marner) followed by 34 goals and 80 points. He won the rocket, hart and lindsay. He was 17 points behind #1.

In awards alone, ovi has a better season. Then when you account for quality of teammates, it isnt that close.

 

[Stamkos4life]

"Dubasites" keep using the excuse about the cap being stagnant...but that wasn't as big an issue as paying 3 guys over $10M. We also had bargain bin players that we got for a lot less than we would have if the cap kept going up. It's the PERCENTAGE of the cap that we allocated to 4 similar players...all on offence that did us in. Do you think you are getting Kampf for 1.5M if the cap was going up steadily? or Bunting for 900k? Not a chance...so even if the cap went up..Dubas would have still faced a similar if not exact problem.

Most of the dubas fan boys can't seem to understand this simple concept.

The contracts he gave out to our 3 rfas were bad regardless of the cap being stagnant or not.

As soon as Kyle signed tavares, there were some of us who knew having 4 forwards taking up almost 50% of your cap was doomed to fail. We were harrassed and made fun of. Told we werent real leaf fans by Zeke and others of the club.

Fast forward a few years and we have been proven 100% correct.

What a waste of the last 5 seasons. Yet they're sad Kyle is gone. It is absolutely wild.

 

[Gaberd2608]

Even MacLean said Matty is not worth more than Mac and McD, yesterday on the Kyper show but it is the Leafs and because they can pay, they will and it will put them behind the eight ball again. Less than two weeks to go to see if the Leafs make the same mistake Dumbass did.

The last year of JT's contract will be the challenge if they overpay 34 and 88. After that they will have some breathing room so they can overpay Skip the Playoffs.

We still need to dress a team. Tavares contract may expire but if we need to give matthews another $2 million, Marner another $2 million, and Nylander another $2 million, we are down to $4 million in cap space. A big part of me fully thinks the leafs would resign Tavares as well so in the end we just redistribute the same amount of money but nothing actually changes.

The best part about not resigning Tavares is that we can get a new captain. The problem is I think Matthews would have a meltdown when they give it to Rielly. How can you give the captaincy to matthews when he will always put himself before the team lol

 

[Mess]

Well "The Hockey News" is reporting ....

 

[Ciao]

I've been reading about the OEL buyout, and I'm thinking about what things would look like for the Leafs if Matthews' career were to stall less than four years into a major deal.

This is a guy with a history of injuries. Does that include his back?

One piece I read suggested a $1-million annual salary and the rest in signing bonuses over an eight-year contract that averages around $14,5-million per year. Virtually buyout-proof. On that deal, a full NMC is probably a given.

On those terms, all of the risk falls on the Leafs, and there's a lot of risk.

Elsewhere, people are reminded of how good OEL looked when Arizona locked him up, and how bad he looks in comparison now. A one or two million dollar defenceman on an $8-million contract.

If things go sideways, how would a $5-10-million Matthews look here on a $14-million contract?

At least OEL's contract wasn't bonus-heavy and could be bought out, as much as that hurts now.

I don't think the Leafs would have the same option.

There's no escape hatch on that one.

 

[MCR74]

Doesnt work unless you get a comparable asset

You mean an asset who scores in the regular season, then disappears in the playoffs?

 

[Confucius]

Unfortunately, that's true. I'm just amazed that Matthrews and Marner are as greedy as they are. Even if one set an example, it might make a difference.

If I'm Matthews, I LIKE TO THINK I'd say, "We haven't done anything so I'm going to take a little less as an example to the team and so we'll have money remaining for depth". But, who knows, maybe I'd try and get every dollar, too.

The mind reels, Messi turned down 400 million a year to play in the MLS for who knows maybe around 10 million per year. Money definitely is not motivating Messi, come on Mathews rip a page out of that book and take note.

 

[myleafs]

When you get paid like a top 10 player in the league you should drive your line no matter who you play with.

Marner is within sniffing distance of McDavid money and McDavid literally turns whatever pylons he lines up with into beasts and carries the team on his back.

If Marner is the type of player that "needs certain types to succeed" then he is an 8-9M winger max

Does/can Matthews score 50-60 without Marner?

 

[myleafs]

Of course but with 2 years left on his contract, I'm sure it is doable.

I would LOVE to keep Marner, Matthews and Nylander but they have to be willing to take a little less to make it work otherwise the team will be top heavy and unable to succeed in the playoffs.

I guess.....even if they all take team friendly deals is that gonna change anything regarding the way they play? What Im hearing is yea lets sign all of them and run it back. Is money the only consideration when thnking about keeping the band together or not?

The thing that boggles my mind most about all this worrying over the Matthews contract is that it could have easily been avoided.

If Shanahan didn't completely flip flop when it comes to contracts, the team wouldn't even be in this mess right now.

https://www.therecord.com/sports/hockey/2014/05/14/shanahan-realistic-about-how-difficult-it-is-to-make-changes-to-leafs.html

"Nonis is fond of saying even as he signs players to long-term deals that none of them include full no-trade clauses.

Shanahan believes that gives the Leafs roster flexibility to make changes."

Anyone remember this comment from the Nylander holdout:

Shanahan says Leafs expect its young stars to take less money to stay together"

"We all found a way to fit with each other so that we could keep adding to the group... That's obviously what we're asking some of our young leaders to do."

The cap flexibility Shanahan was so enamored with? Gone.

The NMC's that Shanahan dislikes so much? Back.

The future of the team's franchise player? Uncertain.

Now the team finds itself staring down the barrel of a gun. Held hostage risking losing the face of the franchise. Shanahan's greatest accomplishment was finishing last place to draft Matthews.

His lasting legacy may be losing him to free agency for no return.

What are you even talking about? You keep saying Shanny in every post like he made every decision at all times. Where was Dubas when all this was going on?

 

[myleafs]

I love how people fixate on goals and the regular season while not caring about anything else when talking about Matthews.

Points > goals.

This year alone mack had 111 points to Matthew's 85!

Out of the 7 seasons Matthews has been in the league, auston has only had more points twice.

In the playoffs, mack has a 1.30 ppg over his career vs a 0.88 for Matthews. That's a difference of 34 points per 82 games!

Yet auston thinks he deserves to be the highest paid player? Gtfo

Another example of how crazy it is to make Matthews the highest paid player.......Mcdavid had 70 pts more than Auston this yr....70!