Confirmed with Link: Leafs sign F Auston Matthews to extension (4 years, $13.25M AAV)

[Fogelhund]

There are those that will find the negatives in this. The reason being.. they find negatives with everything, generally being negative people. It's pretty clear reading through the posts. This has nothing to do with logic, it's just they are negative people.

Personally, I don't mind this deal at all. I'm not tied to Matthews long-term, and am concerned about his ability to physically be healthy enough to perform when needed, and maybe just overall concerned about his ability to raise his game when needed. I'm patient enough to not want to throw very talented players overboard yet, but would say this gives us enough time to make future decisions. He's been THE best goal scorer in the league, since he joined, and it's hard to replace that, and he's rounded out his game well too. But, we need his wrists healthy, and we need his BEST in the playoffs, and we haven't seen that yet.

I like that there are no NMC/NTC in this deal. If it's not working out for us, he'll be moved, and that's a positive for the Leafs.

He's a star, and an incredible goal scorer when healthy.. but he hasn't always been healthy, and that's happened too often. We have five more years of control, so if it doesn't work out for us, we can still trade him for a randsome, with two to three years left on the contract.

I get the desire to have him controlled for 1 + 8 years... but I think given his wrist problems, and our lack of playoff success, and likelihood an 8 year commitment from Matty likely means NMC, that this is the better outcome for us.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

IMO, Teams would throw whatever he wants at him to get him to sign.

Who is to say that those 4 year contracts would be more than 13.25 million. He could get injured this season or have a 2nd poor season in a row. This route has the lowest risk in maximizing his career earnings. Not even getting into the fact no team he would want to go to has close to 13.25 million in cap space.

 

[ToneDog]

Regualr season powerhouse and could be a contending team if there was any room left to add

You do not build a team via free agency and mortgage the future at the TDL. Dumbass proved this in his 5 wasted years here. Draft and develop some players already and then you might actually make a serious run. Oh yeah, BTW you do not find these guys in the late rounds no matter how smart your GM thinks he is.

 

[tuckerintensity]

Wrong. This sets him up to take a long-term cushy retirement deal by signing again while he's still (hopefully) an upper level player at 30-31.

Which is the exact same thing that would have happened if we walked him to UFA. He'd have gotten a three or four year deal at a higher AAV (more money) and still be set up for the same deal at or around the age of 30.

 

[Gary Nylund]

Curious on some examples of franchise players signing a 4 year deal on the 2nd contract after their ELC. Especially after already signing a shorter term 1st contract. All the recentish guys i can think of that signed the 5 year terms followed them up with 8+ year deals.

Yeah I'm curious about this as well.

Always pro's and con's but its an odd hypothetical some are working from.

Feels like a lot of contradictory story telling.

The greediest player in the NHL passed up an opportunity to make more in UFA. The arrogant prick needed to be the highest paid player, but was scared he'd have a down year. So he wanted security in the dollars, but passed on approx $50M in the back-half of the deal, so he could gamble on a big payday at 31 rather than next year when the cap is seeing the biggest jump in 5+ years.

All this is a bit over the top. At least for me, I've never called him greedy myself, it just looks like he wants to max out his career earnings and find the right balance between risk and reward.

As far as gambling on a big payday at 31, that makes a ton of sense as then he will still benefit from the cap jumps to that point, but it's also when he'll be past his prime and if he finds just one GM dumb enough, he might be the most overpaid player in the NHL when he's 36/37/38/39 and if that's what happens, he'll absolutely have earned as much as he could possibly hope to over the course of his career. If he jumped to another team next year, sure he could max out those 7 years but then when that contracts over and done with, his decline would likely be a lot more obvious by then and getting someone to overpay him at that point is less likely. Think where JT is at today, he might be looking to be in a similar spot down the road, just a few years older and many more millions overpaid.

 

[ToneDog]

There are those that will find the negatives in this. The reason being.. they find negatives with everything, generally being negative people. It's pretty clear reading through the posts. This has nothing to do with logic, it's just they are negative people.

Personally, I don't mind this deal at all. I'm not tied to Matthews long-term, and am concerned about his ability to physically be healthy enough to perform when needed, and maybe just overall concerned about his ability to raise his game when needed. I'm patient enough to not want to throw very talented players overboard yet, but would say this gives us enough time to make future decisions. He's been THE best goal scorer in the league, since he joined, and it's hard to replace that, and he's rounded out his game well too. But, we need his wrists healthy, and we need his BEST in the playoffs, and we haven't seen that yet.

I like that there are no NMC/NTC in this deal. If it's not working out for us, he'll be moved, and that's a positive for the Leafs.

He's a star, and an incredible goal scorer when healthy.. but he hasn't always been healthy, and that's happened too often. We have five more years of control, so if it doesn't work out for us, we can still trade him for a randsome, with two to three years left on the contract.

I get the desire to have him controlled for 1 + 8 years... but I think given his wrist problems, and our lack of playoff success, and likelihood an 8 year commitment from Matty likely means NMC, that this is the better outcome for us.

I do not mind the term but I thought Matty could have bought himself some goodwill by signing for under $13m. If he shits the bed again, most Leafs fans won't be forgiving next summer IMO.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

There are those that will find the negatives in this. The reason being.. they find negatives with everything, generally being negative people. It's pretty clear reading through the posts. This has nothing to do with logic, it's just they are negative people.

Personally, I don't mind this deal at all. I'm not tied to Matthews long-term, and am concerned about his ability to physically be healthy enough to perform when needed, and maybe just overall concerned about his ability to raise his game when needed. I'm patient enough to not want to throw very talented players overboard yet, but would say this gives us enough time to make future decisions. He's been THE best goal scorer in the league, since he joined, and it's hard to replace that, and he's rounded out his game well too. But, we need his wrists healthy, and we need his BEST in the playoffs, and we haven't seen that yet.

I like that there are no NMC/NTC in this deal. If it's not working out for us, he'll be moved, and that's a positive for the Leafs.

He's a star, and an incredible goal scorer when healthy.. but he hasn't always been healthy, and that's happened too often. We have five more years of control, so if it doesn't work out for us, we can still trade him for a randsome, with two to three years left on the contract.

I get the desire to have him controlled for 1 + 8 years... but I think given his wrist problems, and our lack of playoff success, and likelihood an 8 year commitment from Matty likely means NMC, that this is the better outcome for us.

The first issue I see is that you paid a guy top dollar who has a lot of injury/consistency problems, as you mentioned. Second, due to the term/AAV there is 0 chance of this becoming anything but a very expensive contract, I.e. no deals/bargain down the road. Going to be hard to compete with teams tying down their core to deals that likely end up as bargains as the terms allows that to happen.

 

[ShaneFalco]

There are those that will find the negatives in this. The reason being.. they find negatives with everything, generally being negative people. It's pretty clear reading through the posts. This has nothing to do with logic, it's just they are negative people.

Personally, I don't mind this deal at all. I'm not tied to Matthews long-term, and am concerned about his ability to physically be healthy enough to perform when needed, and maybe just overall concerned about his ability to raise his game when needed. I'm patient enough to not want to throw very talented players overboard yet, but would say this gives us enough time to make future decisions. He's been THE best goal scorer in the league, since he joined, and it's hard to replace that, and he's rounded out his game well too. But, we need his wrists healthy, and we need his BEST in the playoffs, and we haven't seen that yet.

I like that there are no NMC/NTC in this deal. If it's not working out for us, he'll be moved, and that's a positive for the Leafs.

He's a star, and an incredible goal scorer when healthy.. but he hasn't always been healthy, and that's happened too often. We have five more years of control, so if it doesn't work out for us, we can still trade him for a randsome, with two to three years left on the contract.

I get the desire to have him controlled for 1 + 8 years... but I think given his wrist problems, and our lack of playoff success, and likelihood an 8 year commitment from Matty likely means NMC, that this is the better outcome for us.

This whole shtick is beyond tiring. It's a fn hockey forum where you're going to get different viewpoints. I've stayed away from this place because of posts like this. Some people are passionate fans - you do you. But stop with the miserable people bs

 

[ACC1224]

Who is to say that those 4 year contracts would be more than 13.25 million. He could get injured this season or have a 2nd poor season in a row. This route has the lowest risk in maximizing his career earnings. Not even getting into the fact no team he would want to go to has close to 13.25 million in cap space.

Team would find space if it came down to it, IMO.
The lowest risk would be signing 8 years.

 

[Fogelhund]

The first issue I see is that you paid a guy top dollar who has a lot of injury/consistency problems, as you mentioned. Second, due to the term/AAV there is 0 chance of this becoming anything but a very expensive contract, I.e. no deals/bargain down the road. Going to be hard to compete with teams tying down their core to deals that likely end up as bargains as the terms allows that to happen.

Risk/reward. He was getting paid no matter what. Sure, he has some injury problems, but that wasn't going to be enough reason to bargain him down to $12 mil for example. I think we all know that.

We now have him for five more seasons under control. If there is no success over that time period, who cares what his contract requests are... it's time to completely rethink this club. If Matthews can't bring this team success in his twenties, chances are real low he will in his thirties. If the injuries persist, and we aren't successful, I'd trade him with two years left.

If we win the cup with him on this contract... pay them man... who cares.

This whole shtick is beyond tiring. It's a fn hockey forum where you're going to get different viewpoints. I've stayed away from this place because of posts like this. Some people are passionate fans - you do you. But stop with the miserable people bs

I'm sorry you have hurt feelings. Best of luck, posting about not posting.

I do not mind the term but I thought Matty could have bought himself some goodwill by signing for under $13m. If he shits the bed again, most Leafs fans won't be forgiving next summer IMO.

Does $12.9mil let him off the hook? Would fans really be forgiving of this player, and team, if they don't get past the first round/second round with such a contract? Toronto fans are pretty harsh, I think he could have taken a $10 mil contract, and people would still be upset at him and the team if people don't get the cup that they feel is owed to them.

 

[ToneDog]

This whole shtick is beyond tiring. It's a fn hockey forum where you're going to get different viewpoints. I've stayed away from this place because of posts like this. Some people are passionate fans - you do you. But stop with the miserable people bs

Come on, 7 straight years of making the playoffs. It should be sunshine, lollipops and rainbows 24x7x365. Some Leafs fans are not worthy of this elite talent.

 

[ACC1224]

I do not mind the term but I thought Matty could have bought himself some goodwill by signing for under $13m. If he shits the bed again, most Leafs fans won't be forgiving next summer IMO.

I've talked to 5 people now in the real world and everyone thought the deal was fine.
Most people don't really care what the players make, they just want the team to win.

This board, IMO isn't a good representation of the fanbase.

 

[ToneDog]

Risk/reward. He was getting paid no matter what. Sure, he has some injury problems, but that wasn't going to be enough reason to bargain him down to $12 mil for example. I think we all know that.

We now have him for five more seasons under control. If there is no success over that time period, who cares what his contract requests are... it's time to completely rethink this club. If Matthews can't bring this team success in his twenties, chances are real low he will in his thirties. If the injuries persist, and we aren't successful, I'd trade him with two years left.

If we win the cup with him on this contract... pay them man... who cares.



I'm sorry you have hurt feelings. Best of luck, posting about not posting.


Does $12.9mil let him off the hook? Would fans really be forgiving of this player, and team, if they don't get past the first round/second round with such a contract? Toronto fans are pretty harsh, I think he could have taken a $10 mil contract, and people would still be upset at him and the team if people don't get the cup that they feel is owed to them.

If he took $100K or $200K more than MacKinnon, he won't get the flack he will get now after signing for $13.25m. Said he'd take a discount and then did not leave a nickel on the table. Better not shit the bed again Matty.

 

[tuckerintensity]

Curious on some examples of franchise players signing a 4 year deal on the 2nd contract after their ELC. Especially after already signing a shorter term 1st contract. All the recentish guys i can think of that signed the 5 year terms followed them up with 8+ year deals.

Does it matter? If Matthews was insisting on a short term deal (reports are he'd entertain a max contract at a much higher AAV), that's what you have to work with. What's certain is that on the open market a ton of teams would toss him him offers better than this on both short and long term options (not that four years is short, it's pretty much middle of the road).

it just looks like he wants to max out his career earnings and find the right balance between risk and reward.

Which is really all anyone in the world is trying to do, not just hockey players.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

Team would find space if it came down to it, IMO.
The lowest risk would be signing 8 years.

Ya they could make a few terrible trades to free up the cap space as teams would know they have to clear cap.

Signing for 8 years would be the lowest risk but also the lowest reward. The current route he picked has the highest reward/lowest risk combination. Hence why he or more likely his agent picked it

 

[ToneDog]

I've talked to 5 people now in the real world and everyone thought the deal was fine.
Most people don't really care what the players make, they just want the team to win.

This board, IMO isn't a good representation of the fanbase.

Unfortunately, there is a cap and what players make impacts the depth. By going short term, Leafs won't get any benefit from a rising cap because he will be milking it the next time he rings the bell Take Draisaitl for example who has been making 8.5m for years, which is huge for the Oilers. Hell even McDavid at $12.5m is a bargain compared to 34.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

Risk/reward. He was getting paid no matter what. Sure, he has some injury problems, but that wasn't going to be enough reason to bargain him down to $12 mil for example. I think we all know that.

We now have him for five more seasons under control. If there is no success over that time period, who cares what his contract requests are... it's time to completely rethink this club. If Matthews can't bring this team success in his twenties, chances are real low he will in his thirties. If the injuries persist, and we aren't successful, I'd trade him with two years left.

If we win the cup with him on this contract... pay them man... who cares.



I'm sorry you have hurt feelings. Best of luck, posting about not posting.


Does $12.9mil let him off the hook? Would fans really be forgiving of this player, and team, if they don't get past the first round/second round with such a contract? Toronto fans are pretty harsh, I think he could have taken a $10 mil contract, and people would still be upset at him and the team if people don't get the cup that they feel is owed to them.

If he had another 40 goal sub 90 point season while guy like McDavid put up 60 goal 150 point season I'd say there is a decent chance he wouldn't get more than 13.25 AAV as a UFA. Especially if other guys like Pasta, Rantanen etc out score him like crazy again. Definitely wouldn't expect him to get 12 though as you said .

I don't like using the 5 more years of control viewpoint as then you gotta consider his previous contract as an 11.36 x 4 years, I.e. no UFA years bought which would be a horrible post ELC contract.

I guess I'm of the viewpoint that if Matthews and Co couldn't get it done before, why are they going to get it done being paid even more therefore reducing the depth even further. I also think this means Nylander is likely gone which I'm not pleased about. Unless the team wants to go with over half the team on league mins

 

[Gallagbi]

Ya they could make a few terrible trades to free up the cap space as teams would know they have to clear cap.

Signing for 8 years would be the lowest risk but also the lowest reward. The current route he picked has the highest reward/lowest risk combination. Hence why he or more likely his agent picked it

Its the best fit for each party (Leafs, AM) which is why its being signed.

It doesn't seem to be the most lucrative option short or long term nor is it the most secure

 

[Ziggdiezan]

Does it matter? If Matthews was insisting on a short term deal (reports are he'd entertain a max contract at a much higher AAV), that's what you have to work with. What's certain is that on the open market a ton of teams would toss him him offers better than this on both short and long term options (not that four years is short, it's pretty much middle of the road).

Which is really all anyone in the world is trying to do, not just hockey players.

It matters as the OP is acting like this is a normal contract for a player in Matthews position. It isn't. I can't think of other recent players doing this

 

[justashadowof]

Which is really all anyone in the world is trying to do, not just hockey players.

I don't agree. Lots of people choose much less risk giving up any opportunity for bigger rewards. However that's not usually the disposition of a professional athlete because it's a risky profession. You can end up broke and/or broken in your early 20's starting over after investing all of your youth into it.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

Its the best fit for each party (Leafs, AM) which is why its being signed.

It doesn't seem to be the most lucrative option short or long term nor is it the most secure

It's only the best fit for the leafs as the other option was him walking for free. Definitely the best fit for AM camp though.

As I mentioned in my other post this seems like the highest reward/lowest risk combination from Matthews' perspective.

All in all, I hope he breaks the leafs scoring record and wins a cup here.

 

[Gabriel426]

The Draisaitl deal was far from team friendly when it was signed. The consensus online and in media was that is was a crazy overpay.

It was mainly based on playoffs bc he played better than McD and McD just signed for 12.5mil.
Their gap was not 4mil and that’s why it wasn’t an overpaid.

 

[Sypher04]

I wish I could say it’s surprising that so many here are seemingly more fixated on one down season (largely due to injury) than the years of play before it that set the bar so high that a 44 goal, 94 point pace is now considered poor.

Thrilled to have the deal done. Term is fine with me, though I wanted 5. And AAV is 250k more than I’d hoped. Hard to be upset. Matthews is a Leaf for 5 more years, at least.

 

[ShaneFalco]

I've talked to 5 people now in the real world and everyone thought the deal was fine.
Most people don't really care what the players make, they just want the team to win.

This board, IMO isn't a good representation of the fanbase.

Well if you've talked to five that is most people

 

[Blanche Blanche]

Let’s gooo!!!

We get our Star Center for his prime years!!!

One only has to look at Tavares and see why the king Contracts don’t pan out, and also Matthews isn’t known to be as sturdy as JT or an Ovechkin.

We now have an extended window, let’s see what Treliving does with Matthews Era Leafs.

He has been a life long Leaf since he was a 19 year old kid… Guy has blue and white in his blood no matter what anyone says.
He will be in his 30s when he’s outta here.

Let’s beat Florida this time!!
Nylander Next!!!