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Global Moderator
Again, no he didn't.
McDavid earns more real money and carries a higher aav (even taking into account just the first 5 years of his contract).
Of course it is..
When Matthews contract is up in 5 years the NHL's best player McDavid will still be under contract for multiple years.
So Matthews as a UFA will be signing his years 6-8 of his McDavid deal at ~$15 mil AAV (Best guess and could much higher).
So when you look at equal length of full term 8 years
McDavid = 8 X $12.5 mil AAV = $100 mil total.
vs
Matthews = 5 years X 11.634 mil + 3 years @ ~$15 mil AAV = $103.17 mil total [$12.896 AAV average]
So when McDavid is still making $12.5 AAV Matthews will now be on contract 3 and be having a ~$15 mil AAV and end up costing +$2.5 mil more AAV per year than Connor.
Leafs are paying more $$$ over the next 8 years for Matthews,than McDavid and his AAV will be higher after 5 years and its only [$12.5 mil - $11.634 mil] = $866k less savings for the next 5 years.
PS. That doesn't even factor in the possibility of the risk of Matthews walking away as a UFA in 5 years.
That is why Marner and Matthews don't want to lock in long term because they hope to sell the least amount of UFA years today while using up their RFA years to position themselves to break the bank financially on their 3 contract deals at UFA prices at the youngest age possible.
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