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

[usernamezrhardtodo]

What are you actually talking about?

Every single member of our current bottom 6 was either signed as a UFA or acquired in a trade. Even if Matthews and co were paid 1$ each, why would that extra money go to the existing bottom 6 players? Are we going to spend it to go back in time and force St Louis to pay Acciari more? Or Kampf’s agent is going to tell us “we agree to sign for 1.5” and Tre is going to tell him “no, 3 per or get the hell out of my office”.

If we had extra money, half the current bottom 6 players wouldn’t be here because we’d spend it on better players that push them further down/out of the lineup. Some of them would be out of an NHL job or stuck in a PTO on another team. The only players that have an argument for being “squeezed” for money are Sandin, Liljegren, and any other RFAs that can’t go on the open market. Last time we paid RFAs more money everyone started crying.

We’re not going to pay Bunting his 5 mil ask because he’s not worth it and you can get a better player for that money, not because we cant afford to do that. People complain about the country club atmosphere but now all of a sudden we need to pay our bottom 6ers more than they’re worth through their 30s so we don’t hurt their feelings that their linemates move on in FA sometimes lol.

What I am talking about is the fact that there is no continuity to our bottom 6 because we are forced to get guys from the bargain bin. We had to wait until the season practically started to sign Aston-Reese because of the cap. We could have had Acciari in the summer but we couldn't afford a measly 500k or whatever extra he signed in STL for. The issue is not to overpay or give long term deals to the bottom 6 guys...but we can't luck out to get a Kampf every single year...it just doesn't happen.

So having a bit of extra cap space would go a long way in making this a team instead of a "group".

 

[Dekes For Days]

Yup can't argue with any of that because we would have had so much more cap flexibility.
Also having Matthews and Marner on bridge deals of 3 years would allow them to EARN their current contracts.

They already earned the contracts they have now. If we bridged them, we're not saving much on the cap through those few years, and we're having to re-sign them at a horrible time after their best Hart-caliber seasons and what would have been a heavily increased cap.

Matthews @ approx $12 mil even if it were just for 5 years now would have gotten the Leafs the full 8 prime years coming out of the ELC

You would never have gotten Matthews at 12m after the bridge. Especially not if the cap had risen normally. Your argument essentially boils down to we should have underpaid everybody cause you wanna and all problems solved. That's not a plan. That's an unrealistic dream.

When Pittsburgh and LA and Chicago all won multiple Cups each just check where their stars were at $$$ either on their ELC or 2nd cheaper bridge deals and then got paid for winning.

That's not what happened at all. Their stars weren't bridged. In fact, they mostly got 5 year deals like Matthews. And Pittsburgh's stars both got a higher cap percentage than our stars, and all got their post-ELC contracts consistent with our stars before winning.

 

[ToneDog]

Look at it this way. Are you winning a cup with Matthews as your teams best player? Cause he's about to be paid like the top player in the league, and he already has been for the past 5 years and failed to live up to it in the playoffs. Hell he wasn't even worth it this regular season.

We're finally at the point in this league where $10m players can win cups, either Eichel or Bob will. But those two players are also the Conn Smythe favorites. Do you see a future where Matthews can win the Conn Smythe? If you do, pay him. But I sure don't. He's done nothing to indicate that thus far.

I'm moving him and re-doing how this team is built

You still have to sell tickets and concessions to 41 home games along with Matthews jerseys. At the end of the day, Matthews makes them money and they will pay to keep the paying regular season customers happy. Playoffs are gravy or they would not bring these 7 time losers all back IMO.

 

[JKG33]

I'll put in another way for you. Are we closer to winning a cup without Matthews while we still have unmovable Tavares on the books until 2025? Or are you only targeting Matthews because there's the possibility of movement?

I think it's the latter and that's a horrible piece of business. Matthews will still be a prime age player after 2025.

If you're resetting the franchise and getting rid of Tavares, Marner and Nylander as well, that's just a different animal and takes us completely out of the cup conversation for a number of years anyway.

I would be absolutely shocked if Matthews won a cup at the salary he commands, in Toronto or otherwise. Not a guy I want to be gutting my cap for

You still have to sell tickets and concessions to 41 home games along with Matthews jerseys. At the end of the day, Matthews makes them money and they will pay to keep the paying regular season customers happy. Playoffs are gravy or they would not bring these 7 time losers all back IMO.

If Toronto can't sell out because poor baby Matthews leaves, there's about 30 other markets in trouble too

 

[ToneDog]

I would be absolutely shocked if Matthews won a cup at the salary he commands, in Toronto or otherwise. Not a guy I want to be gutting my cap for


If Toronto can't sell out because poor baby Matthews leaves, there's about 30 other markets in trouble too

They will sell out but the people paying $300 per ticket and $17 a beer won't be happy. Do you want to watch Al Pacino for $20 or Pee Wee Herman??

 

[JKG33]

They will sell out but the people paying $300 per ticket and $17 a beer won't be happy. Do you want to watch Al Pacino for $20 or Pee Wee Herman??

They did fine in the Kessel years, they'll do fine without the most overrated player in Leafs history

 

[pcruz]

I agree with you that's why I said "well" above average. This just adds to the lunacy of wanting him off the team, no other player within his realm of offensive talent has anywhere close to his defensive prowess



Hurt. Had a point in 12 straight playoff games until he got hit in the hand with a flying puck in game 3 and went scoreless after that. Funny how that works.

Didn't the guy everyone is fawning over also not score any in that series.
And didn't the supposed best 2 way, most underrated player also not do much of anything thus far in the playoffs, especially outside of the power play?

Call me nuts, but I think that whoever was matched up with Matthews these playoffs was essentially neutered offensively as their entire focus was keeping 34 off the score sheet, and he still registered a point in 12 straight games, including single-handedly carrying the team to a come-back win with 2 great goals.




As for the person talking about a disconnect between the top 4 and the bottom 6.


When is the last time you went to watch a game and thought: "man I hope Zack Aston-Reese is playing tonight, I just love watching him fly out there"

Yeah, never.

Truth is the stars draw the fans.

I mean, maybe we could have a bunch of Kerfoots out there making 3.5 and doing little more than skating.

I don't hear anyone's opinion on dumping 3.5 off Keefoot and 4.7 on Murray, and using that money for upgrades and raises.

 

[ToneDog]

They did fine in the Kessel years, they'll do fine without the most overrated player in Leafs history

Yes, they will do fine without any star but IMO they prefer to pay Matty. He will bend them over again and they will like it.

 

[Martin Skoula]

What I am talking about is the fact that there is no continuity to our bottom 6 because we are forced to get guys from the bargain bin. We had to wait until the season practically started to sign Aston-Reese because of the cap. We could have had Acciari in the summer but we couldn't afford a measly 500k or whatever extra he signed in STL for. The issue is not to overpay or give long term deals to the bottom 6 guys...but we can't luck out to get a Kampf every single year...it just doesn't happen.

So having a bit of extra cap space would go a long way in making this a team instead of a "group".

Yeah but that was because we expected Muzzin to play and couldn’t commit money/term if it ended up he was healthier, we’re not playing 6.25 mil down this offseason. Honestly even with Muzzin we could have offered Acciari the same 1.5 mil, he might have just preferred St Louis and wanted more money or term to come here.

The solution to bottom 6 continuity is getting RFAs who aren’t broken down yet imo, say if Kapanen committed to becoming a more physical version of Grabner and got Kerfoot’s money for 3-4 years. Fixing the problem needs trade asset or draft investment more than it needs an extra few mil in cap unless Tre can hunt down guys like Frederic on the cheap.

Hell even getting another high priced LW that can push Knies down to 3LW would do more for the bottom 6 than spending more in UFA.

 

[Gabriel426]

D we really want him for 8 years with his wonky wrists. If we have not won with him in the next 5 year we probably are not going to win with this group

If his wrists are the problem, you trade him now.
If the belief is that he can’t win, you trade him now.

Saying let’s see what’s happen in the next 6 yrs… is really delaying to face the problem.

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

Matthews has not been above average defensively.

If he were given pk minutes, he would consistently be top 5 Selke the last 3 seasons based on his takeaways, blocked shots and overwhelming advanced stats for shot suppression.

Whether people like it or not, a player who is as strong defensively and can score 60 goals comes along once in a few decades.

Doug Gilmour immediately comes to mind with a Selke and 128 point season.

The closest 2 way players in the league are Barkov, Kopitar and Stone. None of them have the same offensive ability of Matthews, not even close.


Would it be good to sign him to 8 years and 13 million? Yes.

Is it likely to happen?
No.

Same as Draisaitl and McDavid won't sign for under 13 either...

And Matthews has been a better player than Draisaitl, without relying on McDavid to get him 30 power play goals a season.

I used to be in that camp until the last few years of watching Leon carve up teams on one leg and basically be a one man show for stretches of time. I have never seen AM come close to those performances in the playoffs. If you asked around and posed the question of Leon or AM for the same price...I would bet Leon takes the vast majority of the votes.

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

Here's the thing people

Matthews seems to be looking to maximize the amount of money he's going to make over his career

So I think we can predict he's going to want something short now then another long contract afterwards with another high AAV

I see a ton of people on here saying give him the short deal then let him go and don't sign him to the long deal

What has this team done since Matthews has been here that suggests they won't do exactly what he wants even if it's to the teams detriment? We haven't done anything to suggest we can make a cold calculated decision when it comes to any of our top end players

This is all wonderful in theory but until management can show some willingness to behave in a more business like manner I've got a really bad feeling about how this ends for the team

Yup...the excuse for giving him a detrimental (to the team) 8yr deal after this shorter one will be that he is going to be the leading Leaf scorer in history..best player...blah blah. We are not all of a sudden going to have the fortitude to make that decision unless we really shit the bed and are in a rebuild where AM says he wants out.

 

[sunstersun]

The facts are Matthews is not a generational player.

 

[ToneDog]

I used to be in that camp until the last few years of watching Leon carve up teams on one leg and basically be a one man show for stretches of time. I have never seen AM come close to those performances in the playoffs. If you asked around and posed the question of Leon or AM for the same price...I would bet Leon takes the vast majority of the votes.

Riddle me this. Do the Leafs beat Florida if they had McDavid and Draisaitl instead of 16 and 34 ?? 100%, so why do they think they deserve more money and why do the Leafs give it to them, with bonuses, less term and NMC ??

Leafs management is as weak off the ice as these two are on it.

 

[LeafSteel]

I fixed the title to read properly…​

​

Auston Matthews doesn't plan on leaving the Toronto Maple Leafs any money for any other players.​

 

[Mess]

I am okay with paying Matthews the higher AAV in a post Tavares world, and they would need a serious rethink on whether they can run a Batman-Batman duo of Matthews and Marner.

The $22 million we pay Tavares and Marner should ideally be invested into 3x players making an average of $7 million.

That is my position as well .. Auston is unique and one of the best players and goal scorers on the planet so you would like to keep him..

Ideally an easy decision would be to have his increase come at the expense of Tavares. But as we know he is locked in for 2 more years with that NMC. So we need to ride this out 2 more years ,before he walks to takes a massive haircut to stay.

However I believe it would be an untenable situation in 2024-25 with Matthews raise to $13-14, Nylander $9-9.5 & both Tavares at $11 and Marner at $10.9 mil all on the books at the same time.

So in the meantime it comes down to Marner and Nylander as to who needs to go, to make room for Matthews new contract, and Marner current deal + expected raise makes him the odd man out for Cap reasons. As even after his raise perhaps to $9 to 9.5 mil Willy will still be less than Marner makes now.

 

[geo25]

Why do we even want him back?

He's chased money at every stage of his career. He's been a playoff disappointment at every stage of his career. I wouldn't even bring him back at his current cap hit. Let him go worry about money somewhere else.

Same here...

 

[Maple Leaf]

Same here...

No
We are running it back
keefe 2

 

[pcruz]

I used to be in that camp until the last few years of watching Leon carve up teams on one leg and basically be a one man show for stretches of time. I have never seen AM come close to those performances in the playoffs. If you asked around and posed the question of Leon or AM for the same price...I would bet Leon takes the vast majority of the votes.

Leon was really fantastic in the playoffs.

After all his points, especially on the power play, he went 0-fer with tons of goals against and took a bunch of vegetative-state level penalties that ensure his team didn't have the chance to win against Vegas.

If you'll look, Toronto lost their games by 1 goal and at no point was Matthews a liability while on the ice.


In fact, he was so dominant that he held Tampa Bay to 0 shots on goal for while he was on the ice in a whole game.


You understand that you can help your team win by scoring, or by creating goals, but also by not allowing the other team to score.


As much as Holl plays a good game most of the time, and he is fed tough minutes, he is on the ice for an inordinate amount of goals against and that makes him a liability.

In the first round, Matthews was on the ice for these goals against:

Immediately after line change while still skating into the zone
Immediately after line change while still skating into the zone

That was games 1-4.

And then Nylander went on his line and the defensive lapses caused 2 or 3 more goals against including one where the puck slid through Samsonov somehow.

In round 2, Barkov didn't do shit the while series while man-marking Matthews.
If not for Bob making unreal save after unreal save, Matthews scores 3 goals minimum in that series and there is no arguing.
Instead, the puck hits the shaft of the stick and goes away from the net, the puck hits the loose part of the jersey and gets trapped and a few times is slightly deflected onto the post and out.



It's real easy to adjudicate a performance based on the box score, but if you watched the games, the results did not mirror the performance.

 

[Leaf Fans]

Can't bench our top players. History of waaaaagh and getting coaches fired. This childish behavior is naturally rewarded by 8 figure contracts.

Go Leafs Go!

What history is that?

 

[Leaf Fans]

I fixed the title to read properly…​

​

Auston Matthews doesn't plan on leaving the Toronto Maple Leafs any money for any other players.​

No you didn't. You changed it to fit your opinion.

 

[LeafSteel]

No you didn't. You changed it to fit your opinion.

Please show me where I’ve stated this as my opinion.

It was a joke. Other people got it. Sorry/not sorry you didn’t, or you are just using it as a poor, weak sauce excuse to push your own opinion.

Grow a pair and state it or don’t, but don’t put words in my mouth and say things I haven’t said.

Try harder or at least do it better.

 

[Leaf Fans]

Please show me where I’ve stated this as my opinion.

It was a joke. Other people got it. Sorry/not sorry you didn’t, or you are just using it as a poor, weak sauce excuse to push your own opinion.

Grow a pair and state it or don’t, but don’t put words in my mouth and say things I haven’t said.

Try harder or at least do it better.

No, that is not it at all.

 

[Squiffy]

Pass, it's such an easy pass for me at that number and term.

Try to set the table for a McDavid arrival and liquidate the rest.

Pipe dream. You just can't make that the long term plan when it's so far outside of your control. If that day comes then move heaven and earth at that point, but it can't be the plan.

Matthews won’t do an 8 year deal. At most he might take 4 years. He wants to become a UFA again while still in his prime.

the AAV ask will be around $15M X 3 years wth full no move clause. The leafs will counter with $12M x 8 with no trade restrictions. Whether they can meet in the middle remains to be seen.

That's a pretty big middle. 4*13.5, lets do it.

Yep. 1 mil max this year and next. The bet would be a potential 3-4 mil bump in 3 years, which will be an opportunity for Matthews to demand all that extra cap belongs to him. If the Leafs and Matthews don't put this to bed quick, with a long-term (at least 6 year) commitment, I think we're screwed and will overpay him in dollars for short term or be pressured into trading him.

It seems pretty universally agreed to me that we're seeing least the 5% max cap jump prescribed by the MoU based on HRR for 24-25, $4.175 million based on the presumed 83.5 million cap next year. Haven't seen anything different. The question seems to lie in if it is higher or not. An absolute max jump of 8.35 million lies somewhere closer to highly unlikely then impossible I think.

 

[Kiwi]

Leon was really fantastic in the playoffs.

After all his points, especially on the power play, he went 0-fer with tons of goals against and took a bunch of vegetative-state level penalties that ensure his team didn't have the chance to win against Vegas.

If you'll look, Toronto lost their games by 1 goal and at no point was Matthews a liability while on the ice.


In fact, he was so dominant that he held Tampa Bay to 0 shots on goal for while he was on the ice in a whole game.


You understand that you can help your team win by scoring, or by creating goals, but also by not allowing the other team to score.


As much as Holl plays a good game most of the time, and he is fed tough minutes, he is on the ice for an inordinate amount of goals against and that makes him a liability.

In the first round, Matthews was on the ice for these goals against:

Immediately after line change while still skating into the zone
Immediately after line change while still skating into the zone

That was games 1-4.

And then Nylander went on his line and the defensive lapses caused 2 or 3 more goals against including one where the puck slid through Samsonov somehow.

In round 2, Barkov didn't do shit the while series while man-marking Matthews.
If not for Bob making unreal save after unreal save, Matthews scores 3 goals minimum in that series and there is no arguing.
Instead, the puck hits the shaft of the stick and goes away from the net, the puck hits the loose part of the jersey and gets trapped and a few times is slightly deflected onto the post and out.



It's real easy to adjudicate a performance based on the box score, but if you watched the games, the results did not mirror the performance.

We're paying Matthews to be a premier player in this league

He was given an 11.6M over 5 years which is an unbelievably player friendly deal

If he's going to be compensated like that he doesn't just get to play, have no 5v5 goals against and get a hearty well done afterwards

He should be expected to score goals, put up points, help us win and be the most dominant player on the ice every ******* night because that's what he's being paid to be

I'm through with the excuses, you want to be the top dog and have money thrown at you like your the best player in the league play like it