Confirmed Signing with Link: [TOR] F Auston Matthews signs extension with the Maple Leafs (4 years, $13.25M AAV)

[Funk21]

Our organization should be ashamed. We basically said to any player who is coming up that you run the show not us. What has this guy ever done to deserve 13.25 million a year……answer nothing.

If I am Nylander what does that say about my contract negotiations? I want 10 million by 3/4 years.

We are f#%+ing clown shoes, a$”hats, the laughing stock of the NHL. The fact that Treliving, Shanny or anybody else in this organization signed off on this means the entire lot should all be fired immediately. I trade AM the minute I can because you can’t win with him.

Honestly I think I may be looking for a new team to root for, so disappointed.

 

[Nylanderthal]

The escalator was the reason.

And escrow repayment is why it’s been stagnant. The cap will rise, or is that now the string hfb will cling to now in order to say the leafs are screwed

 

[wonton15]

Nylander 4x10 coming up

 

[TheGroceryStick]

I mean, you just hope that your star player with all the leverage (like all star players do) doesn’t abide the situation to this degree (like every other star player didn’t).

But not AM.

You realize the worst case is him taking this into the season , causing drama and walking. Right?

Or you know. Leafs bad

 

[JKG33]

Only hockey fans will complain about aav.. wonder what the new narrative will be since a 10+ mil player won the cup

The fact that a $10m AAV player only just now won a cup isn't the argument you think it is

 

[WetcoastOrca]

A top 10 player overall but others have taken discounts to help their teams win. Going to be tough to fill a team if Marner goes for a similar deal.

 

[mkatcherin00]

Ideally he would have signed for 12 or 13.5, but you have to pay that million dollar premium for the playoff prowess

 

[Goose]

I’m happy to take a shot with this core for the next four years then plan on retooling if it doesn’t work out.

I don’t need to see Matthews in blue and white for his whole career. He’s never felt like the kind of team-first player or captain material that I’d hate to see walk.

We’ll have him for his prime, and if he doesn’t win a cup with us, we’ll get a lot of good hockey out of it and playoffs every year at minimum.

Could be a lot worse.

That said, it’s not like Treliving is a big step up on Dubas at the negotiating table, which is a bit disappointing.

 

[Travis093]

Matthews is just waiting for Arizona to finish their Arena before he signs there

 

[TBF1972]

Well it's a bit less than rumored I guess. 13.5 x3 seemed possible.

Will that be enough for Nylander to look at it like Matthews left money on the table?

that is the discount people speculated about.

 

[Dirty Dog]

You realize the worst case is him taking this into the season , causing drama and walking. Right?

Or you know. Leafs bad

Yup that’s his leverage! Like every other star player in his situation. AM took that leverage and got an unprecedented player friendly deal…something no one else has done.

What are you disagreeing with?

 

[93gilmour93]

 

[WetcoastOrca]

View attachment 738317

Is that him counting his money?

 

[Nothingbutglass]

Lol dubas still being blamed like some boogeyman, how many moves does Tree have to make before that card is all used up

He needs to give short contracts to his best players with NMCs in their last year so he doesnt have any leverage in negotiations and then stagger them so they all happen at the same time.

 

[Zerotonine]

4 years for that kind of money is insanity. He is looking for a huge payday in 4 years obviously with the cap increases

 

[Ghost of Jody Hull]

And escrow repayment is why it’s been stagnant. The cap will rise, or is that now the string hfb will cling to now in order to say the leafs are screwed

The cap will rise, yes. But if the Leafs' big-ticket contracts rise at a similar rate, they won't be much better off.

The best players in the East (Point, Kucherov, Pastrnak, M.Tkachuk, Hughes, etc) will be signed at much lower contracts for the next 4-5 years than Matthews (and Marner) will be.

So even as the cap rises, the Leafs will continue to be at a disadvantage compared to the teams they're competing with.

NJ has Hughes + Meier locked at a similar cost than Matthews + Kampf. And one could argue that Hughes will be every bit as good as Matthews moving forward, while Meier vs Kampf is...

 

[93gilmour93]

Is that him counting his money?

That’s HF Boards dreams of him leaving Toronto going up in smoke

 

[cyris]

Because in 4 years you’ll need to go through this again, you’re not going to let his contract run out , without a trade or extension by waiting 5 years.

Oh no so our worst case scenario is we have the league’s premier goal scorer for the entirety of his prime then get assets back in a sign and trade when he enters his 30s.

Damn that’s such a bad position to be in

 

[Paralyzer]

I thought he was going to Zona, New York, Los Angeles ...

Ohhh nooo here come the AAV kings and queens to complain about the money. Go focus your energy on that min wage job you got

Whatever floats your sinking ship I guess.

 

[ole ole]

He’s still young enough to have plenty of years chasing a Cup after taking Toronto’s money. He’ll be 30 when this deal is over.

Heck, he could finish this deal, spend 3 years signing for below value to try to win, and come back to Toronto to pack it in and finish his career with another mega deal.

Ya sure he's the type to sign below value to chase a cup.
Face it. With Matthews it's all about the name on the back of the sweater not the logo on the front. As good as he is i'm glad it's the Leafs who has one of the most selfish players ever to lace them up.

 

[3ladesof5teel]

Frankly im not snd I doubt the team is worried about that. If they don’t get something done in the next 3 years it’s a retool/blow it up situation anyway. 4 year extension with 1 year remaining means 5 hockey seasons.
That’s an eternity

3 years is a short window for a generational talent and a top 3 player in the game. Expectations should be higher and with a player like that you should be continuing to build around him. A 29 year old Austin Matthews should still be a top player in the league.

Toronto definitely wanted to lock him up longer.

 

[sennysensen]

For the 1st time ever... Nick. Kypreos. Was. Right. Shocking.

Geez, with some of the posters ripping Matthews, he might be underrated. They're dumber than the folks a couple years ago saying he's on par with McDavid and about to score 70 every year.

Matthews has disappointed a bit in the playoffs, but not too bad. He's passed the eye test, but it's harder to score on good teams. Albeit, he hasn't been great in elimination games. He could improve, but doesn't seem to have another gear. But I wouldn't call him a choker, he's been adequate.

John Tavares is the Leaf player who has been a total playoff choker, his numbers are awful.

 

[Tripod]

Our organization should be ashamed. We basically said to any player who is coming up that you run the show not us. What has this guy ever done to deserve 13.25 million a year……answer nothing.

If I am Nylander what does that say about my contract negotiations? I want 10 million by 3/4 years.

We are f#%+ing clown shoes, a$”hats, the laughing stock of the NHL. The fact that Treliving, Shanny or anybody else in this organization signed off on this means the entire lot should all be fired immediately. I trade AM the minute I can because you can’t win with him.

Honestly I think I may be looking for a new team to root for, so disappointed.

The Leafs held no barginaining power. He could have asked for 14 million. His cap % is less than McDavid still.

Your options were doing the deal he wanted, or he could walk and you have to trade him beforehand....and become a much worse team.

And this comes from a non Leafs fan

 

[sepHF]

the highest paid player in the entire NHL was 22nd in scoring last year

 

[VivaLasVegas]

The best part is that 4 years in pretty much any other sport is long term. 8 year deals are pretty insane tbh, rarely ever work so the whole narrative is kinda funny. HF really is Twitter lite.

Yeah, if you took HFBoards seriously, you'd either be raving mad or totally crazy in short order.