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

[baton elevated]

I'd do 12.8x4. I'd then knock on Sakic's door to see if he is interested in a Big Yankee Matty for East coast Canadian MacKinnon trade. I mean why wouldn't he take that? I hear Matty is much better than MacKinnon.

Ha ha, you sold me!

 

[ToneDog]

The story going around was that AM did the Leafs a favor by going to 5yrs instead of 8 because his hit would have been even higher had they signed an 8yr deal. So, let's see if he was doing the solid or it was just after the fact PR.

It's a pretty simple decision for Brad. If AM wants more than $13M on anything less than 6yrs...you trade him. He will show you what his priority is by his asking price.

They will pay him. They can trade Willie later if the need to.

 

[Sypher04]

The story going around was that AM did the Leafs a favor by going to 5yrs instead of 8 because his hit would have been even higher had they signed an 8yr deal. So, let's see if he was doing the solid or it was just after the fact PR.

It's a pretty simple decision for Brad. If AM wants more than $13M on anything less than 6yrs...you trade him. He will show you what his priority is by his asking price.

That’s an oversimplification. If Matthews is willing to do 13M for say 4 or 5 years, that’s an easy re-sign for us. And similarly, if he wanted say 13.25 would be silly to walk away over

 

[Sypher04]

SIMMONS SAYS: Maple Leafs' Auston Matthews will be the highest paid player in the NHL

The usual popular collection of here and there and this and that

torontosun.com

Connor McDavid may well be the most dominant athlete in North American professional sports — everywhere but in his bank account.

There are 108 Major League Baseball players, led by Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer at $43 million, earning more than McDavid is paid by the Edmonton Oilers and more than Nathan MacKinnon will be paid next season by the Colorado Avalanche.
Article content

There are 107 current National Basketball Association players earning more than $12.6 million a year, which is just above McDavid’s salary grade and precisely what MacKinnon will be paid in the coming year. Steph Curry leads the NBA at $48 million a season.

There are 104 National Football League players, topped by Lamar Jackson’s mammoth deal of $52 million per season, who will be paid more than McDavid and MacKinnon will manage in the upcoming National Hockey League season.

All of this makes the upcoming negotiations with Auston Matthews, free agent in 2024, all the more complicated for Brad Treliving, the new general manager of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

You can argue, quite sensibly, that Matthews does not deserve to be paid anything more than McDavid or MacKinnon. And nowhere near where the big boys of the other games are found.

But you can bet that when pen is put to paper, Matthews, without McDavid’s bevy of Hart Trophies, without his four scoring championships, without MacKinnon’s Stanley Cup ring, will clock in somewhere between $14 million and $15 million a season — significantly more than players who have accomplished more than him — but nowhere near the figures given to the elite from the other major sports.

The NHL salary cap for the coming season is expected to be $83.5 million. That’s $50 million below the NBA cap, $141 million lower than the NFL cap.

Typical Simmons garbage and fear mongering

1) there’s currently no reason to specifically assume the deal would be 14-15M.
2) comparing to McDavid’s deal on AAV alone is really disingenuous, especially so when we know for fact the Oilers offered McDavid north of 13M on his current deal
3) MacKinnon has won a cup but that doesn’t play much into salary at all. Regular season wise, Matthews is the most accomplished player

 

[Legion34]

Or LA just takes their chances that Matthews reaches UFA and they give up zero assets...

If I was them that's what I'd do considering they don't know Matthews just won't do the same thing to them as he is going to do to Toronto July 1st.

That doesn’t happen

Florida could have just “took their chances” that tkachuk signed a qualifying offer in Calgary and became a ufa.

Realistically. IFFFF Matthews wants out. The leafs would take offers. Get a deal contingent on an extension

Then they take it to Matthews camp. They do NOT tell the team. Hey LA. Matthews wants to sign with you. Give us something.

Also. If Matthews wants a trade and the team doesn’t make the offer. He won t go there. It shows you aren’t that important to them. Players have egos. Mack signed for 12.6. Matthews wants to be highest paid.

Brodie signed here because he knew the team tried to trade for him.

Bottom line is IF a team has a chance to get him. They aren’t leaving it to chance for a year.

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

That’s an oversimplification. If Matthews is willing to do 13M for say 4 or 5 years, that’s an easy re-sign for us. And similarly, if he wanted say 13.25 would be silly to walk away over

I don't really think it is an oversimplification because we have precedents now. You have Nathan taking an 8yr deal at 12.6 after he won the cup AND was considered underpaid from his last deal. That to me shows what he is about. Imagine if AM had signed a deal like Nate did and was underpaid for his RFA years...what would his ask be?

It comes down to priorities IMO. You made a ton...you can probably see 3 generations of your family set...what is another few million going to get you besides worse teammates?

 

[Legion34]

That’s an oversimplification. If Matthews is willing to do 13M for say 4 or 5 years, that’s an easy re-sign for us. And similarly, if he wanted say 13.25 would be silly to walk away over

Also. If he f gave us 13 x4 that would be 12.2 x9.

That would be reasonable. And he gave a cap discount in the lean years

 

[Sypher04]

That doesn’t happen

Florida could have just “took their chances” that tkachuk signed a qualifying offer in Calgary and became a ufa.

Realistically. IFFFF Matthews wants out. The leafs would take offers. Get a deal contingent on an extension

Then they take it to Matthews camp. They do NOT tell the team. Hey LA. Matthews wants to sign with you. Give us something.

Also. If Matthews wants a trade and the team doesn’t make the offer. He won t go there. It shows you aren’t that important to them. Players have egos. Mack signed for 12.6. Matthews wants to be highest paid.

Brodie signed here because he knew the team tried to trade for him.

Bottom line is IF a team has a chance to get him. They aren’t leaving it to chance for a year.

I agree with your overall post. One nitpick I’d make is we don’t actually know what Matthews wants. We presume he will the highest paid player, but if that’s actually important to him, who knows.

 

[Legion34]

I don't really think it is an oversimplification because we have precedents now. You have Nathan taking an 8yr deal at 12.6 after he won the cup AND was considered underpaid from his last deal. That to me shows what he is about. Imagine if AM had signed a deal like Nate did and was underpaid for his RFA years...what would his ask be?

It comes down to priorities IMO. You made a ton...you can probably see 3 generations of your family set...what is another few million going to get you besides worse teammates?

He was only considered “underpaid” because he was a lafreniere level bust who completely doubted himself and his abilities (he openly acknowledges he was in therapy and believed he couldn’t do it).

He took an overpayment for where he was but to his massive credit he worked hard and became what he was supposed to be. A tier under Matthews

He also went on and on about how he was going to take less

Then became the highest paid in the league.

 

[Stephen]

Typical Simmons garbage and fear mongering

1) there’s currently no reason to specifically assume the deal would be 14-15M.
2) comparing to McDavid’s deal on AAV alone is really disingenuous, especially so when we know for fact the Oilers offered McDavid north of 13M on his current deal
3) MacKinnon has won a cup but that doesn’t play much into salary at all. Regular season wise, Matthews is the most accomplished player

I agree with the cross sports comparisons that were brought up, and this is where we have to hold the NHL's feet to the fire.

In 2004 before the NHL lockout, the Leafs were worth $521 million and they paid Mats Sundin around $9 million a season.

NHL Franchise Values Before and After the 2004-2005 Lockout

NHL Franchise Values have soared over the past 7 years thanks to increased revenues and cost certainty thanks to the CBA.

www.davemanuel.com

In 2023, the Leafs are worth $2.12 billion dollars and we're struggling to pay Auston Matthews $13 million on his next deal even though the franchise is worth 4x vs 20 years ago.

Report: Maple Leafs highest-valued NHL franchise, Senators up 21 per cent

Sportico released its 2022 valuations for each NHL franchise, and the Maple Leafs have the highest value at $2.12 billion, $110 million more than the second-place New York Rangers.

www.sportsnet.ca

This isn't even a Leafs issue. It's a league issue where this market pays through its nose to watch the team, and the system has turned us on our best players. Garbage league. Garbage financial system. Garbage window dressing teams.

 

[Legion34]

I agree with your overall post. One nitpick I’d make is we don’t actually know what Matthews wants. We presume he will the highest paid player, but if that’s actually important to him, who knows.

That’s true. Friedman reported he is going to sign at highest AAV with a 4-5 year term.

But we don’t actually know that

 

[Sypher04]

I don't really think it is an oversimplification because we have precedents now. You have Nathan taking an 8yr deal at 12.6 after he won the cup AND was considered underpaid from his last deal. That to me shows what he is about. Imagine if AM had signed a deal like Nate did and was underpaid for his RFA years...what would his ask be?

It comes down to priorities IMO. You made a ton...you can probably see 3 generations of your family set...what is another few million going to get you besides worse teammates?

It’s an oversimplification still imo. Mac winning is not especially relevant to his price. If the Avs lose that year again in the 2nd round, I would strongly bet his AAV is essentially the same. And at this point in their respective careers 8 years vs 4 or 5 years shouldn’t really change the price in the player’s favour.

The fact he was underpaid on his last deal isn’t because he did the team some solid or anything, he had a slow start to his career and wasn’t worth any more than he signed for. Obviously it looked great in the latter 3 years or so of the deal.

Ultimately I don’t think the ask is overly different though. Star players know their worth, but there was no world where the Avs could have afforded to pay MacKinnon his worth and also make him whole on the previous contract as well. Same would apply to Matthews in your hypothetical

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

He was only considered “underpaid” because he was a lafreniere level bust who completely doubted himself and his abilities (he openly acknowledges he was in therapy and believed he couldn’t do it).

He took an overpayment for where he was but to his massive credit he worked hard and became what he was supposed to be. A tier under Matthews

He also went on and on about how he was going to take less

Then became the highest paid in the league.

He probably did take less than he was worth in his deal. You have to remember that McDavid's deal was how many years ago and the cap is going up soon. So he could have been in the 13M+ category but I think he did the right thing and symbolically took $100k more than Connor. It's not like Nate was worth 14m and gave them a deal...it was more about not squeezing the team. I would just like to see the core 4 act more like Reilly and take a bit less...not a whole lot...but just enough to say you think winning is the most important thing. I don't see that yet from AM....maybe he will surprise us.

 

[Racer88]

No point, 12.8x4 gives us more flexibility than distress trades. You could sign him to that and make pretty much so he requests a trade.

I actually could live with that contract. It gives us 2 years of him with the crippling Tavares contract gone

 

[Racer88]

That’s an oversimplification. If Matthews is willing to do 13M for say 4 or 5 years, that’s an easy re-sign for us. And similarly, if he wanted say 13.25 would be silly to walk away over

So how about 13.5 or 13.75 or 14.0……..where is the line

I agree with the cross sports comparisons that were brought up, and this is where we have to hold the NHL's feet to the fire.

In 2004 before the NHL lockout, the Leafs were worth $521 million and they paid Mats Sundin around $9 million a season.

NHL Franchise Values Before and After the 2004-2005 Lockout

NHL Franchise Values have soared over the past 7 years thanks to increased revenues and cost certainty thanks to the CBA.

www.davemanuel.com

In 2023, the Leafs are worth $2.12 billion dollars and we're struggling to pay Auston Matthews $13 million on his next deal even though the franchise is worth 4x vs 20 years ago.

Report: Maple Leafs highest-valued NHL franchise, Senators up 21 per cent

Sportico released its 2022 valuations for each NHL franchise, and the Maple Leafs have the highest value at $2.12 billion, $110 million more than the second-place New York Rangers.

www.sportsnet.ca

This isn't even a Leafs issue. It's a league issue where this market pays through its nose to watch the team, and the system has turned us on our best players. Garbage league. Garbage financial system. Garbage window dressing teams.

What the team is worth is irrelevant it’s what the cap is that’s the problem

 

[HamiltonNHL]

i heard Auston has a girlfriend in Phoenix, can anyone confirm ?

 

[Mitch nylander]

i heard Auston has a girlfriend in Phoenix, can anyone confirm ?

No she's from Miami. A friend of mine has met her.

 

[ToneDog]

It’s an oversimplification still imo. Mac winning is not especially relevant to his price. If the Avs lose that year again in the 2nd round, I would strongly bet his AAV is essentially the same. And at this point in their respective careers 8 years vs 4 or 5 years shouldn’t really change the price in the player’s favour.

The fact he was underpaid on his last deal isn’t because he did the team some solid or anything, he had a slow start to his career and wasn’t worth any more than he signed for. Obviously it looked great in the latter 3 years or so of the deal.

Ultimately I don’t think the ask is overly different though. Star players know their worth, but there was no world where the Avs could have afforded to pay MacKinnon his worth and also make him whole on the previous contract as well. Same would apply to Matthews in your hypothetical

Sakic knew it and convinced Mac. Not sure the same will apply to Matty and the Leafs.

No she's from Miami. A friend of mine has met her.

Matty gonna pull a Matthew Tkachuk and go to Florida.

 

[HamiltonNHL]

Matty gonna pull a Matthew Tkachuk and go to Florida.

Pull a Trouba (went to New York).

 

[ToneDog]

Pull a Trouba (went to New York).

Less than 4 weeks to d-day. Hope they started shopping him.

 

[ORRFForever]

Less than 4 weeks to d-day. Hope they started shopping him.

I read (a week plus ago) that they were going to give him a short extension. Is that not true?

 

[ToneDog]

I read (a week plus ago) that they were going to give him a short extension. Is that not true?

That is the rumour. Won't know until closer to end of the month. Still should shop him, Marner and Nylander to cover your baes, although urgency to trade Nylander is less given he has a 10 team NMC July 1st. Having said that, they'll overpay before moving any of them IMO.

 

[baton elevated]

If AM wants to be the highest paid player in the game he is asking for some serious stress levels. Will he be able to live up to it when maybe half a dozen other players in the league out point him. Things can go very wrong for him in the media's eyes. He will be under intense scrutiny. I wouldn't want it, take a little less and let your financial advisors make up the difference in the investment world.

 

[Trapper]

That is the rumour. Won't know until closer to end of the month. Still should shop him, Marner and Nylander to cover your baes, although urgency to trade Nylander is less given he has a 10 team NMC July 1st. Having said that, they'll overpay before moving any of them IMO.

Everyone is saying you give Matthews what he wants. The trouble with that is this time I think Marner asks for the same or more.
So finding out the return should start now.

 

[ToneDog]

Everyone is saying you give Matthews what he wants. The trouble with that is this time I think Marner asks for the same or more.
So finding out the return should start now.

Yup been preaching that today. Less than 4 weeks to d-day.

If AM wants to be the highest paid player in the game he is asking for some serious stress levels. Will he be able to live up to it when maybe half a dozen other players in the league out point him. Things can go very wrong for him in the media's eyes. He will be under intense scrutiny. I wouldn't want it, take a little less and let your financial advisors make up the difference in the investment world.

he should be embarrassed after his and his team's performance vs the 8th seed. Once again the path to the SCF was there for the taking and he was a disappointment. Dude go everything he wanted in his last deal. Bonuses, money, shorter term, NMC in last year and delivered one great year. Time to give back my man. It's too bad Leafs management has no balls.