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

[Gabriel426]

That scenario actually has the potential to be our worst nightmare. If at that point we sign him for the 8 years I'm guessing he'll be after and then his level of play goes down hill fast, we're f***ed. Considering that NHL players do inevitably fade away at some point, this is not an unlikely scenario and would make the Tavares contract everyone's complaining about seem like a massive bargain by comparison.

Cliff notes - pretty good "worst case" my ass.

Well as long as we win a Cup, I don't mind paying AM till he is 50

 

[Arzak]

What must be missing in your life to have a complete meltdown over this deal.

It's sad, yet slightly amusing.

Not the best deal but it could be worse. The best we could hope for at this point.

I don't get the term concerns, I'm not betting my money on his wrist being worth 14M 5 years from now.

All in all it could be worse. Imagine paying something similar for elite PK...

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

Jeez I thought they banned that level of signing bonuses but I guess that is the next CBA

What they should really ban is the NMC. It's being given to 3rd liners now it seems. If you give them a limited NTC in the first 1/2 of the deal it would open up a lot of trades and keeping players a bit on their toes IMO. They are too comfortable now...look at Mitch...you think he is sweating anything? Not with a full NMC in his pocket he isn't. The players already get almost 99% guaranteed money if they get bonuses and they also want to be able to park themselves and not give a shit for the last few years of a bad contract....that sucks for the team and the fans.

 

[Gallagbi]

Last year was 11.5k for us vs 7k regular season.

Sounds similar to ours and they may have gone up higher comparatively than the factors i used. It feels like its crept up

 

[ULF_55]

Auston Matthews Contract, Cap Hit, Salary and Stats | Puckpedia

See the latest contract, injury news, and transactions for Auston Matthews including cap hit, AAV, salary, signing bonus, clauses, and agent on PuckPedia.

puckpedia.com

 

[usernamezrhardtodo]

A few posters brought up players like Iginla and Marleau and started acting like Matthews isn't doing anything out of the ordinary. Like, if you can find two exceptions spanning the whole universe that did the same thing, it's now "ordinary".

But I ask again. Every other superstar player could have taken this path and made far more money. Pasta, Mack, and every other super star player in the history of hockey other than Iginla and Marleau. But why don't they? What possible explanation is there for Matthews doing this other than pure unadulterated greed?

People will say the players that signed for less are either stupid...or they just don't know how valuable they are. The media is acting like Auston did us a favor by saying he could have gotten 15M if he was a UFA...which may be true..but is it a good team with great players paying him that much? Doubt it.

 

[Arzak]

That scenario actually has the potential to be our worst nightmare. If at that point we sign him for the 8 years I'm guessing he'll be after and then his level of play goes down hill fast, we're f***ed. Considering that NHL players do inevitably fade away at some point, this is not an unlikely scenario and would make the Tavares contract everyone's complaining about seem like a massive bargain by comparison.

Cliff notes - pretty good "worst case" my ass.

This is the most realistic scenario.

Paul keeps reminding us MLSE profits greatly from big names, regardless of postseason success. And he is not wrong on that part.

Matthews might get 14M x 8 years here and while not exactly worth the money if your goal is to with the Cup, MLSE can turn it into profit. It's almost certain profit vs gambling with Cup.

JT 2.0

 

[Gary Nylund]

Well as long as we win a Cup, I don't mind paying AM till he is 50

Hard to picture us winning but if we do, I'm sure there won't be much complaining about anything, at least for a time. I'd still prefer to make wise decisions no matter what and if we do win the cup, I'd like to see us do our best to try to win another one.

I'd be fine with a GM who decides right now that that sensible thing to do is to trade Matthews 3 years from now no matter how many cups we win or don't win during that time. He'll still be under contract for two more years so he'll fetch a massive return, and based on what we've seen so far, there's every reason that he'll want to max out his earnings again for his next contract which means an 8 year deal that I want no part of. Might be hard to trade the guy if comes a couple of months after him winning the Conn Smythe and leading us to the cup but f*** it, I'd prefer to pay guys based on what I think they might do for the team in the future, not pay them bonuses for past performances for which they've already been paid for, and very well paid at that.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Well as long as we win a Cup, I don't mind paying AM till he is 50

hahahahahahahahahahaha

 

[hockeyes]

In a vacuum it's a whatever contract. With all the baggage and failures from this organization and core group, it's disappointing that he couldn't give a little and try and at least pretend to be a team first guy.

 

[666]

That scenario actually has the potential to be our worst nightmare. If at that point we sign him for the 8 years I'm guessing he'll be after and then his level of play goes down hill fast, we're f***ed. Considering that NHL players do inevitably fade away at some point, this is not an unlikely scenario and would make the Tavares contract everyone's complaining about seem like a massive bargain by comparison.

Cliff notes - pretty good "worst case" my ass.

Tavaras was 28 Matthews will be 31. Think man.

You haters just hate everything. Give Matthews a long contract and it's too long. Give him a short one and magically the next contract will be too long. Why are you even here?

 

[nuck]

I have decided I like it. He has probably given up club his peak years and this is less of an overpayment than the first deal as he actually has won an MVP. I wanted a limited NT in the last year but the fact is if they somehow decided they wanted to deal him, they get the best return if he picks his spot and if he wasn't going to resign anyways I think he waives. Of course the team probably needs to be declining for them to make such a move but that's a different matter. The point is he doesn't automatically walk for nothing. Add to that the fact he may wish to resign at 31 and they will have a better idea by then how durable and productive he can be in his 30s than they do now.

Glad its over and the 3 x 15M crap didn't play. Is it low enough for Willie to take a "discount"? I don't care. I don't think they can afford Nylander when they have Mitch on a full NM but at least now they know how much money they have to work with. On to the next one!

 

[Gary Nylund]

Tavaras was 28 Matthews will be 31. Think man.

You haters just hate everything. Give Matthews a long contract and it's too long. Give him a short one and magically the next contract will be too long. Why are you even here?

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.

Think man indeed.

 

[Stephen]

A few posters brought up players like Iginla and Marleau and started acting like Matthews isn't doing anything out of the ordinary. Like, if you can find two exceptions spanning the whole universe that did the same thing, it's now "ordinary".

But I ask again. Every other superstar player could have taken this path and made far more money. Pasta, Mack, and every other super star player in the history of hockey other than Iginla and Marleau. But why don't they? What possible explanation is there for Matthews doing this other than pure unadulterated greed?

The best time to sign Matthews to 8 years was in 2019, locking in his entire early prime and peak years in one easy package as conventionally as possible, but the horse is already out of the barn on that one. If you're starting an 8 year term in 2024-25, I'm truly not seeing why anyone is upset we didn't lock in his aged 32, 33, 34, 35 seasons. Are we dying for those seasons? If things are going well enough I'm sure they can tack on an extension for money that makes sense for the late 2020's and early 2030's.

I ballparked the ideal Matthews contract length at about 6 years taking him to age 33. That would have been an extra 2 years runway on a fixed AAV. They have a 5 year runway to realize their potential.

 

[ACC1224]

For 6 playoffs home games?

It’s based on 4 games for 4 rounds.
They charge once the game is certain to be played and you commit to all or none.

 

[Ziggdiezan]

What they should really ban is the NMC. It's being given to 3rd liners now it seems. If you give them a limited NTC in the first 1/2 of the deal it would open up a lot of trades and keeping players a bit on their toes IMO. They are too comfortable now...look at Mitch...you think he is sweating anything? Not with a full NMC in his pocket he isn't. The players already get almost 99% guaranteed money if they get bonuses and they also want to be able to park themselves and not give a shit for the last few years of a bad contract....that sucks for the team and the fans.

Ya that is true, it does seem to be given out more nowadays. The league would also be a lot more interesting as there would be way more trade options.

 

[666]

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL.

Think man indeed.

Why are you here man? You hate the Leafs. How much time have you spent on here whining about the Leafs. This is about my 10th post since the Leafs lost. How many do you have? 400? 500? 1000? How many of them are you whining? The only thing you say that matters is the playoffs, then why don't you just stop posting and stop watching until the playoffs? How much of your time do you waste on hear whining about the team that you hate? How many rounds of golf do you have in this summer? How many more could you have if you just stopped whining on line about the Leafs? It's bizarre. I really and truly feel sorry for you. Once the Leafs lost to the Habs you snapped and it got worse after game 3 against Florida. Why on earth would you spend so much time on a team that you hate? Your sir have a problem.

 

[Stamkos4life]

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

The ones who have been critical over the last few years have been the most loyal to the team. We want the team to win the Stanley cup. Not fill players bank accounts or watch highlight reels.

The same people who said matthews 2nd contract was good are now telling us his 3rd one is also quite good.

This is despite the fact we know his 2nd contract has been over priced. Almost every other young star player has signed for 8 years and most of them for under 10m. That's 4 years after matthews signed his.

Dubas did not "reset the market" as his apologists loved to say. He just flat out gave away awful contracts to rfas. I can't believe that one poster tried to say their previous contract had no effect.

Honestly, the lack of logic and common sense is astounding. There is so much wild rationalization taking place right now.

If matthews just got 13.25 x 4 after 85 points and a sub par PO, what would he have asked for if he actually had a good year?

What I find most annoying is that matthews knows his contract set the precedent for marner and Nylander. Nylander mentioned he'd take less if others do. So what does auston do? He bends us over again.

At the end of the day, I suppose we're fortunate we have matthews and not yakupov or RNH, but it sucks when they're the greediest.

BTW, most teams wouldn't be able to give matthews almost 100% in signing bonuses and front loaded. Add on the millions he gets in signung bonuses playing for the hockey mecca of the world. That makes a massive difference. So the idea that he isn't maximizing his $$ by signing with us is not based in reality.

 

[Gabriel426]

Tavaras was 28 Matthews will be 31. Think man.

You haters just hate everything. Give Matthews a long contract and it's too long. Give him a short one and magically the next contract will be too long. Why are you even here?

Here is the thing though, if the Leafs will try to sign AM before his deal expires which is one year before. At that time, AM is 29 going to 30. Not 31 yrs old.
Personally, I would rather have AM signs for 8 yrs instead of 4 yrs.

It’s based on 4 games for 4 rounds.
They charge once the game is certain to be played and you commit to all or none.

okay, so the cost you posted were for 16 games. I assume it is for 2 tickets per game and MLSE will refund for games that didn't play.

 

[Gabriel426]

Hard to picture us winning but if we do, I'm sure there won't be much complaining about anything, at least for a time. I'd still prefer to make wise decisions no matter what and if we do win the cup, I'd like to see us do our best to try to win another one.

I'd be fine with a GM who decides right now that that sensible thing to do is to trade Matthews 3 years from now no matter how many cups we win or don't win during that time. He'll still be under contract for two more years so he'll fetch a massive return, and based on what we've seen so far, there's every reason that he'll want to max out his earnings again for his next contract which means an 8 year deal that I want no part of. Might be hard to trade the guy if comes a couple of months after him winning the Conn Smythe and leading us to the cup but f*** it, I'd prefer to pay guys based on what I think they might do for the team in the future, not pay them bonuses for past performances for which they've already been paid for, and very well paid at that.

Like you, I really think the Leafs will extend AM in 4 yrs with an 8 yrs deal. Lets just hope Leafs win a Cup and treat that as a reward contract.

 

[Bomber0104]

Why are you here man? You hate the Leafs. How much time have you spent on here whining about the Leafs. This is about my 10th post since the Leafs lost. How many do you have? 400? 500? 1000? How many of them are you whining? The only thing you say that matters is the playoffs, then why don't you just stop posting and stop watching until the playoffs? How much of your time do you waste on hear whining about the team that you hate? How many rounds of golf do you have in this summer? How many more could you have if you just stopped whining on line about the Leafs? It's bizarre. I really and truly feel sorry for you. Once the Leafs lost to the Habs you snapped and it got worse after game 3 against Florida. Why on earth would you spend so much time on a team that you hate? Your sir have a problem.

And it's posts like this that make summer reading of Hfboards Leafs all worthwhile.

Not sure I laughed harder at Trumps new mugshot or this.

 

[TheOne]

By that standard, the majority of players in NHL history are failures.

Is this the new copium we're huffing now to excuse the lack of results the past 7 years? Or is it toeing the Dubas philosophy of "we reward failure"?

 

[kb]

FFS, Dubas messed up again with this horrific overpay and ridiculously short term!!

 

[Superstar]

FFS, Dubas messed up again with this horrific overpay and ridiculously short term!!

Nah, Dubas offered 4 x $15 to Matthews, but Matthews pulled a McDavid and countered with 4 x $13.5

 

[francis246]

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.

And the oilers still suck ass. And haven’t won shit either. As many people including myself have said, your star players can take all the discounts you want. If your goaltending isn’t there you ain’t winning the cup. In all my years watching hockey I can confidently say the only thing helping you win a cup is quality/hot goaltending. If you get a goalie that peaks at the right time you’re going to have a deep run.