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

[Kiwi]

Issue for Shanny is that it would look pretty awkward for him to have to call the board and tell them the franchise player is leaving.

Which is why it's more likely the first scenario you described happen.thr front office will likely move quickly to get Matthew's signed to whatever deal they can, and just deal with the fallout after.

Fingers crossed he's willing to be flexible with the aav

Here's hoping but I've got my doubts he's going to be doing anybody any favors with the AAV or term on his next deal

I won't be happy but I'll accept it, but if Matthews or any other player starts whining about not winning I'm going to lose it

You can get paid and still leave the team with enough leeway to build a very good team around you, you can't demand the world and still have that however

 

[Jmo89]

And $13 is absolute "we'll overpay you" max. McDavid makes 12.5 and MacKinnon 12.6. In all fairness, Matthews should be at 11.8 or 12.5 max. Twist my arm at $13, fine, but no less than 6 years. Hard stop, end of story. Anything more then the Leafs have themselves to blame for hitching their wagon to a kid who doesn't prioritize winning a Cup.

I agree with you completely but this is a hill management/MLSE will die on.

I bet they'll end up going with something like 14M/5y.

 

[WillyC]

$10.34 x 5 would put him north of $100 million so far as a Maple Leaf.

What’s up with these guys and their greedy agents?

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

$10.34 x 5 would put him north of $100 million so far as a Maple Leaf.

What’s up with these guys and their greedy agents?

The agents tell the superstars that it is their responsibility to raise the bar on salaries for all the players...that's how they sell it to them.

 

[Leaffan197703]

It's better to over pay matthews than lose him for nothing in free agency #1 centers don't grow on trees

 

[trellaine201]

It's better to over pay matthews than lose him for nothing in free agency #1 centers don't grow on trees

This! I have gone through many scenarios and totally agree.

 

[authentic]

It's better to over pay matthews than lose him for nothing in free agency #1 centers don't grow on trees

This is exactly why I'm not worried about him resigning. Yes it will be for 14 million or more but that's far better than the alternative

 

[Martin Skoula]

Why is everyone so hell bent on getting Matthews’ 34/35 year old seasons? 4-6 year term covers our window and lets us sell him while he’s still in his prime if we don’t win. Plus you cover your downside on the risk of his wrist never getting back to what it was.

 

[thewave]

This is exactly why I'm not worried about him resigning. Yes it will be for 14 million or more but that's far better than the alternative

If it's 14m I think they trade him before.

 

[Squiffy]

Why is everyone so hell bent on getting Matthews’ 34/35 year old seasons? 4-6 year term covers our window and lets us sell him while he’s still in his prime if we don’t win. Plus you cover your downside on the risk of his wrist never getting back to what it was.

Because we will be made the subject of fun on HF otherwise?

I'll take 5 at 14 and gamble on the cap again. Fallout will be silly but make sense 2029.

 

[authentic]

If it's 14m I think they trade him before.

Ideally we should go for 13 but somehow I think that's too good to be true. Really though a difference of 1 million shouldn't be that big of a deal which is why I would be fine with 14. I just don't see any possible way we're trading him to be honest.

 

[Stephen]

Why is everyone so hell bent on getting Matthews’ 34/35 year old seasons? 4-6 year term covers our window and lets us sell him while he’s still in his prime if we don’t win. Plus you cover your downside on the risk of his wrist never getting back to what it was.

Yeah, 6 years is the sweet spot for me too. That's 14 full seasons in Toronto, taking us to 2030.

 

[3blizzard4]

Ideally we should go for 13 but somehow I think that's too good to be true. Really though a difference of 1 million shouldn't be that big of a deal which is why I would be fine with 14. I just don't see any possible way we're trading him to be honest.

I dont see us trading him on money related issues. If he is traded then he wants out and he has told management thus.

We wanted a #1 superstar centre since Sundin left.

If Matty is gone, good luck replacing him.

 

[Boxscore]

I dont see us trading him on money related issues. If he is traded then he wants out and he has told management thus.

We wanted a #1 superstar centre since Sundin left.

If Matty is gone, good luck replacing him.

This is true but Matthews has to up his game in the playoffs and be willing to give the Leafs a hometown discount for us to be able to surround him with enough talent to contend, and not just win one round.

 

[TorontoTrades]

Lol I swear Leafs fans can't wait to be finishing 9th-11th in the east every year again... How quickly people forget the first 15 years of the last 20.

 

[Boxscore]

Lol I swear Leafs fans can't wait to be finishing 9th-11th in the east every year again... How quickly people forget the first 15 years of the last 20.

This is a valid point. In another thread I had mentioned that the main problem with messing with this core is that they provide high-end entertainment for 82 regular season games. This core makes Leafs games fun again -- until the playoffs arrive. Then the fun is short-lived because they bail early.

The honest question is: as fans, would we rather have an exciting 82 game ride that ends in annual post season disappointment, or a more frustrating and far less exciting regular season that could result in the team going to the Conference Finals or so?

Ideally, the answer would be both, which would require the core 4 to agree to all take less on their next deals so we can keep them plus add better depth pieces around them. The frustrating part is many of us have little faith in these guys having the character and selflessness to leave decent money on the table for the betterment of the team.

 

[Dough72]

if he leaves it's as a loser and a quitter. If he stays he has the entire 2nd half of his career to turn things around and finish the job.

 

[hockeywiz542]

Tough lessons of the Stanley Cup playoffs: Inside the Canes' collapse, plus the next 'copycat' trend

With the conference finals nearing an end, here's more of what teams and fans have learned -- and what still needs reinforcement.

www.espn.com

The Maple Leafs might break up the "Core 4" because they haven't found sufficient playoff success. Florida made the Tkachuk trade as much for business as for intangibles. Huberdeau turns 30 in June. Weegar turns 30 next January. Both were due new long-term contracts. Calgary supplied them. Florida wasn't sure it would. When Tkachuk became available, the Panthers managed to get younger and save money. That's the crux of the move. Take the right lesson from it, copycats.

What's interesting about the Leafs is that they might actually be on the other side of the Matthew Tkachuk trade.

Auston Matthews is a UFA next summer. His no-move clause kicks in this summer. I believe he wants to remain in Toronto. I also know the ground has shifted under his feet after this season. What if he decides he's not coming back? Should the GM double-down for a final run? Or find your Huberdeau and Weegar?

The Maple Leafs eliminated the Tampa Bay Lightning on April 29, for their first playoff series victory since 2004.

On May 23, the general manager that put that team together, Kyle Dubas, released a statement explaining that he would "not get into the specifics" about "the circumstances of my departure," except that it wasn't his choice to leave.

It's said life comes at you fast. The Leafs come at you like lightspeed.

One minute, a core of players and their wunderkind GM have finally shown playoff moxie and are contending for the franchise's first Stanley Cup since 1967. The next minute, the GM's turfed, the core might implode and it turns out the Leafs' lifecycle of total franchise annihilation every few years wasn't in fact broken.

 

[thewave]

Lol I swear Leafs fans can't wait to be finishing 9th-11th in the east every year again... How quickly people forget the first 15 years of the last 20.

Leafs fans couldn't wait to give an inexperienced GM with the idea of playing a non physical game the keys to the city. They got exactly what the more rational based fans knew was coming and now they are pointing fingers in every direction while ignoring their own idiocy.

Play stupid games, win stupid prizes.

 

[socko]

I was fine with Dubas's experience level. I just think he wasn't very good at the job. His and Shanny's belief in the core is mind-boggling to me. They've been at it for 7 years and not in 1 of those years did I think they gave a satisfactory performance in the playoffs. 0 for 7. People say Gilmour and Clark didn't win the Cup either. No, they didn't. They fell short. But they played like champions. These guys have never played like champions ever, to think you're going to win a Cup with this core, you have to be smoking something at his point.

 

[Dough72]

there's "Wunderkind" again lol. A moniker he picked up not because of superior pedigree, but because there was no other explanation for why he got the job. Plus he wears glasses and is young and that's really all it takes for some to call him "intellectual" and fantasize he will take on the evil "dinosaurs" and bring change (for some reason this is automatically good, no debate required) with the raw power of his modernness and forward thinking, to right the wrongs and...God it's all so stupid lol

 

[darrylsittler27]

At this pt there is no player a new GM won't look at trading as need be. We can't be blackmailed anymore. That being said I think Marner is gone. We have Nylander and Knows and a if we resign O Reilly, Tavares can move to wing.

I agree with you completely but this is a hill management/MLSE will die on.

I bet they'll end up going with something like 14M/5y.

I dont. A new GM will want Marner gone before he overpaid.

 

[hockeywiz542]

Kevin McGran: Seven Musings: Next Maple Leafs GM only has one thing to figure out. It all has to do with Auston Matthews

First domino is Toronto’s superstar because the scouting department can handle the draft, and assistants can take care of the free agent contracts.

www.thestar.com

There are a lot of moving parts, a lot of deadlines, a lot of work to be done.

But there’s really only one thing the next general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs has to figure out: What to do about Auston Matthews.

The big question is Matthews. It’s been reported that prospective GMs are asking president Brendan Shanahan what he really thinks of his core players. That’s important. Team brass has to be on the same page. Shanahan has told his players he expects them all back, but left the window open for the new GM to make the final call.

Any GM worth his salt will want the Leafs core back. Playoffs are virtually guaranteed in the new guy’s first year.

Making sure Matthews is happy in Toronto, intending to stay, is the call that needs to be made first. Letting him walk to unrestricted free agency — a possible outcome once his no movement clause kicks in July 1 — would be unacceptable. So then it’s trade time.

Let’s say Matthews stays. Then it’s what to do about Mitch Marner and William Nylander? Nylander is easily traded. He has a 10-team no-trade clause that kicks in July 1. Marner is signed for longer, but like Matthews, has a no-movement clause kicking in July 1.

If Matthews locks in, a GM looking for cap wiggle room will be tempted to move Nylander or Marner.

Maybe it’s more tantalizing to run them all back, and see if they can go further than the second round. Let’s remember, they’re barely mid-career, just entering the prime of their playing lives.

The key question over the next two months isn’t so much who is going to be the next Maple Leafs GM? It’s what’s he going to do with Matthews?

 

[Trapper]

One minute, a core of players and their wunderkind GM have finally shown playoff moxie and are contending for the franchise's first Stanley Cup since 1967. The next minute, the GM's turfed, the core might implode and it turns out the Leafs' lifecycle of total franchise annihilation every few years wasn't in fact broken.

Incredible. Winning one round in 7 tries and quickly dispatched in round 2 does not equal moxie. It doesn’t make you a wonderkind or contender. No wonder this team hasn’t won anything in ages.
The bar is set so low and they still can’t even trip over it the majority of the time.
This team needs to prove it can get by round 1 again next year and they aren’t just a blind squirrel.

 

[Fogelhund]

I posted this elsewhere, but I pasting it here too.

Let me state my opinion on this team, on Matthews and it's future.

Matthews shooting was subpar all year, and in particular in the playoffs. Before this season, he was an elite goal scorer, and elite shooter. I think it was clear to all, he just didn't have it this year. Perhaps another wrist issue, perhaps surgery, perhaps he returns to being elite again next year.

If the Matthews of this year, is what we have going forward, as in an above average, but not elite shooter, it doesn't matter what we do roster wise. This team is not going to win, unless Matthews returns to being an elite shooter. (Outside of basically a tear down, and rebuild.)

Matthews, the 12% shooter in regular season and 10% in the playoffs, is NOT an $11 million plus man. Matthews, the 17% shooter in the regular season... and maybe the same in the playoffs is.