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

[Riptide]

the NHL is to blame, how long should the owners and GARY SHITMAN get away with pinching pennies and enforcing this hard cap. I said it on the Leafs board. Matthews is looking at NBA players and going, why are their superstars signing short term deals and maximizing their earnings and us NHL superstars are happy with being told it's team first always? It's bullshit, NHL guys deserve to be paid better. I don't blame Matthews for saying you know what, it's great everyone else is okay with being underpaid but I've worked hard, I'm one of the best in the NHL, I'm going to get my full value. The MacKinnon deal is a f***ing joke. He signed way under market value and just because he did that doesn't mean that everyone else should. The system has to change, there has to be flexibility and we need more players to sign contracts like these. Would make the NHL way more entertaining and drive up overall revenue.

haha Gilbert Arenas said it best in a recent interview, there are a ton of athletes that rather have lots of money, compared to less money and ring. He even mentioned you even have pro athletes selling their rings because they don't have enough money LOL. He said the cost of taking less to win a ring in the grand scheme of things for the athlete is probably not worth it. I found that really funny.

If an athlete like Mackinnon finishes his career after his current contract (and odds are he'll sign another shorter term deal) with 150m+ in career earnings... and needs to "sell his ring because he doesn't have enough money", then he's a f***ing moron. Even with piss poor tax planning and everything going wrong... he should still have at least 30-40m in the bank. If he can't live on that then I have zero sympathy for him and more money isn't really going to solve his issues anyway.

So while I don't get too upset with a player deciding that he wants to maximize every penny possible... In this case I'm also thankful that he's not on my team.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

I mean if we are trying to be fair Detroit isn't trying to win anything right now but I get what your saying. They can spend some more money and players can make a little more than their worth.

That being said back to my point nothing is cheap anymore and yes players are going to be requesting more money for their services and the top talent is going to have leverage and will get paid on their terms.


It worked for the Penguins, winning the cup is hard.

Do you know how many times we heard how much of our cap was tied into Crosby, Malkin, Letang? How we would never be able to build a team with those contracts?

It worked out pretty well

It worked because Crosby, a far superior player, took a long term deal and left a lot of money on the table. If you get a generational player locked up at that percentage of the cap for a long term it leaves money to fill out the rest of the team.
Matthews and probably Marner making similar cap percentage hits on much shorter deals than Crosby and Malkin who are both superior players makes it a lot tougher to fill out a roster.

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

Would the Leafs be better overpaying Chiarot, Compher and Holl? I don't agree with that logic at all.

Tavares is the real problem, and he will be gone in 2 years or less.

Guess I hit a nerve. I dunno. Detroit's sucked for 7 years and they've won just as many 2nd round games as Toronto in that time.

Tavares is absolutely a problem. The two years he'll be gone isn't fast enough, because they're probably gonna lose Nylander in that time. Doesn't change the fact that we just had our first $10M player winning the Cup and Toronto currently has three that make well over that.

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

Is Matthews really $1 million better than Nate MacKinnon?
$2 million better than David Pastrnak?
$3 million better than Alexander Barkov?
$4 million better than Brayden Point or Matthew Tkachuk or Cale Makar?
$5 million better than Tim Stutzle?
$6 million better than Tage Thompson?

Those are all recent contracts given some very, very good hockey players.

There’s a lot of opportunity cost tied up in that deal. Im finding it very difficult to find a lens where this is a “good” contract for the Leafs.

The fans "need" it to be a positive contract and therefore it is.

 

[PensandCaps]

scored 101 goals in a 125 game span from 2020-22. 0.80 GPG over a two season stretch, He's worth a blank check.

 

[3ladesof5teel]

It worked because Crosby, a far superior player, took a long term deal and left a lot of money on the table. If you get a generational player locked up at that percentage of the cap for a long term it leaves money to fill out the rest of the team.
Matthews and probably Marner making similar cap percentage hits on much shorter deals than Crosby and Malkin who are both superior players makes it a lot tougher to fill out a roster.

My point was many many were saying the same things about it not working. Lets face it on HFboards

if another team signs a player "hes no good, or hes paid to much"

If a team trades a player away "he is getting older and sucks now we dont need him"

You very rarely find objective viewpoints from outside fans. We all like to pile it on Toronto fans

 

[GreatSaveEssensa]

Can't blame a guy for wanting to maximize his career earnings the best he can I guess... AM is doing that perfectly these past 2 deals

If he gets a major injury or his body breaks down then he sure isn't maximizing anything. I get it, he gambled on himself. But it’s called gambling for a reason.

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

scored 101 goals in a 125 game span from 2020-22. 0.80 GPG over a two season stretch, He's worth a blank check.

Also .88 GPG career in the playoffs.

... No wait that's PPG. Shit!

 

[Haatley]

right around the top players in the league with the cap going up. Hell look what gas and other goods cost now. Everyone needs more money to live. I get it these guys are millionaires but you get the idea

Paranin, Pasta Tavares, Doughtry, Hubdeau, Barkov are all just making slighty under him which they should be. And hes within a million of McDavid and Mack. If Mack signed today with the current state of the economy he would likely be a million more. People are going to get paid more in the current market

Not sure what you dont understand........you seem upset?

Slightly under?

Huberdeau makes almost 3 million less that he signed coming off a 115 point season (vs the 85 points Matthews got)
Nate Mackinnon is a better point producer, particularly in the playoffs. Also won a cup. Makes 600k LESS on a long term deal.
Panarin is making about 1.5 million less and scored more points last season.
Pastrnak scored 60 goals and 115 points last year to Matthews 40 goals and 85 points. Won a Richard. 2 million less.

His contract is not comparable to players who have performed better.

How do I seem upset? Just calling you out for a terrible take.

scored 101 goals in a 125 game span from 2020-22. 0.80 GPG over a two season stretch, He's worth a blank check.

Scored 40 last year. 14th in league. 22nd in points. 3rd on his team in scoring.

 

[Tufted Titmouse]

Guess I hit a nerve. I dunno. Detroit's sucked for 7 years and they've won just as many 2nd round games as Toronto in that time.

Tavares is absolutely a problem. The two years he'll be gone isn't fast enough, because they're probably gonna lose Nylander in that time. Doesn't change the fact that we just had our first $10M player winning the Cup and Toronto currently has three that make well over that.

I'll tell you what - I'll start taking your snipes more seriously once you take that big step and make the playoffs.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

My point was many many were saying the same things about it not working. Lets face it on HFboards

if another team signs a player "hes no good, or hes paid to much"

If a team trades a player away "he is getting older and sucks now we dont need him"

You very rarely find objective viewpoints from outside fans. We all like to pile it on Toronto fans

I don’t recall anyone saying that about Crosby or McDavid or McKinnon.
I think most posters are consistent that they prefer their star players on long term deals.
As a Vancouver fan I’ll go on record and say that I want EP signed to a long term deal.
I think what we’re seeing on here is a lot of Leaf fans trying to justify the shorter deal.

 

[PensandCaps]

Slightly under?

Huberdeau makes almost 3 million less that he signed coming off a 115 point season (vs the 85 points Matthews got)
Nate Mackinnon is a better point producer, particularly in the playoffs. Also won a cup. Makes 600k LESS on a long term deal.
Panarin is making about 1.5 million less and scored more points last season.
Pastrnak scored 60 goals and 115 points last year to Matthews 40 goals and 85 points. Won a Richard. 2 million less.

His contract is not comparable to players who have performed better.

How do I seem upset? Just calling you out for a terrible take.


Scored 40 last year. 14th in league. 22nd in points. 3rd on his team in scoring.

So? an obvious down year and still was elite lol. 40 in 75 games is bum worthy I guess.

 

[3ladesof5teel]

Slightly under?

Huberdeau makes almost 3 million less that he signed coming off a 115 point season (vs the 85 points Matthews got)
Nate Mackinnon is a better point producer, particularly in the playoffs. Also won a cup. Makes 600k LESS on a long term deal.
Panarin is making about 1.5 million less and scored more points last season.
Pastrnak scored 60 goals and 115 points last year to Matthews 40 goals and 85 points. Won a Richard. 2 million less.

His contract is not comparable to players who have performed better.

How do I seem upset? Just calling you out for a terrible take.


Scored 40 last year. 14th in league. 22nd in points. 3rd on his team in scoring.

Lets be real

Matthews is a much better player than Huberdeau and Paranin

Has more hardware than Pasta at a younger age

Let pretend he didn't have a 60 goal season at 24 years old and is 2 years younger than him

I would take Matthews on my team in a heartbeat over any of those players outside of Mackinnon

 

[Haatley]

So? an obvious down year and still was elite lol. 40 in 75 games is bum worthy I guess.

An obvious down year? This was more of the norm for him. The outlier season was the one he scored 65 in. Didn't say he was a bum. But he certainly isn't deserving of a blank cheque or being the highest paid player in the league.

 

[AvroArrow]

Is Matthews really $1 million better than Nate MacKinnon?
$2 million better than David Pastrnak?
$3 million better than Alexander Barkov?
$4 million better than Brayden Point or Matthew Tkachuk or Cale Makar?
$5 million better than Tim Stutzle?
$6 million better than Tage Thompson?

Those are all recent contracts given some very, very good hockey players.

There’s a lot of opportunity cost tied up in that deal. Im finding it very difficult to find a lens where this is a “good” contract for the Leafs.

Matthews is better than Pastrnak, Barkov, Point, Tkachuk, Stutzle and Thompson. Makar plays D. He's also making 600K more than Mack, not 1M.

He's a legit top 5 player in the world and being paid like one. It's nice to cherry pick contracts though. Thompson was extended before he broke out, you think if he was a pending UFA now that he's not getting 11M minimum ? Stutzle was a RFA.

Is Matthews 1.5M better than Panarin ?
Is Matthews 2.2M better than Doughty ?
Is Matthews 3M better than Nurse ?


See what I did there ?

 

[PensandCaps]

An obvious down year? This was more of the norm for him. The outlier season was the one he scored 65 in. Didn't say he was a bum. But he certainly isn't deserving of a blank cheque or being the highest paid player in the league.

So Matthews production this season, even though he has far exceeded these past season's results in the 3 previous years before this one, is the norm?

No, his norm is 50+ healthy.

 

[TS Quint]

Hes making less than a million more than Nate so its not really way more is it?

And when Crosby signed his contract you had posters saying it was too much. This shit is like rinse repeat.

Its not too much, this is what contracts will look like with some guys moving forward, I cant even fill up my truck for less than $170 US anymore. Matthews had leverage he used it and is paid fair AAV for the player he is........simple

Man if I was your employer, I would love you guys, sell your self short, cheap labor

What a garbage take.

less than $1m in $. But way more of the cap. The % of cap is what determines the value along with the years. This contract puts him on par with McDavid over the next 8 years unless some of these so called Leafs fans get their wish and he gets injured or takes a nose dive in production.

But ultimately the absolute dumbest take I have seen is you comparing a NHL player to regular people. What you are failing to comprehend is the Leafs will not pay anymore money in salary regardless of what they pay Matthews. They could pay him $80m/year and they still won’t pay a penny more than what they were going to pay in player salaries. The Leafs are going to spend as much as they can on player salaries for the foreseeable future and because players are still only paid 50% of HRR that’s all the money there is.


The only people Matthews took money from are the potential players who could be signed to contracts to improve the team’s chances of winning. Matthews doesn’t care about that. He just demands that hop on my back and I will carry the team money while collapsing under the weight that brings.

 

[3ladesof5teel]

Matthews is better than Pastrnak, Barkov, Point, Tkachuk, Stutzle and Thompson. Makar plays D. He's also making 600K more than Mack, not 1M.

He's a legit top 5 player in the world and being paid like one. It's nice to cherry pick contracts though. Thompson was extended before he broke out, you think if he was a pending UFA now that he's not getting 11M minimum ? Stutzle was a RFA.

Is Matthews 1.5M better than Panarin ?
Is Matthews 2.2M better than Doughty ?
Is Matthews 3M better than Nurse ?


See what I did there ?

You make too much sense......expect to get a bunch of laughing faces

 

[Haatley]

So Matthews production this season, even though he has far exceeded these past season's results in the 3 previous years before this one, is the norm?

No, his norm is 50+ healthy.

He scored 50 goals once in 7 years. 100 points once.

You can't say that lol.

 

[Slats432]

Personally the dollar amount doesn't make a difference other than what it means to the rest of the roster. Comparing him to other teams players and how much they make is irrelevant because none of the signings are made in a vacuum. Comparing him to any contract signed a year, two three or any amount of years ago is folly.

And in 1 year, 2 years, when other stars re-up it will still be irrelevant based on the cap going up.

In this league if you have a superstar in their prime, keep them. Good for Matthews and good for the Leafs.

 

[WetcoastOrca]

So Matthews production this season, even though he has far exceeded these past season's results in the 3 previous years before this one, is the norm?

No, his norm is 50+ healthy.

I think reasonable posters can agree that neither last year nor the 60 goal season are the norm. Both are outliers.

 

[Slats432]

Matthews is better than Pastrnak, Barkov, Point, Tkachuk, Stutzle and Thompson. Makar plays D. He's also making 600K more than Mack, not 1M.

He's a legit top 5 player in the world and being paid like one. It's nice to cherry pick contracts though. Thompson was extended before he broke out, you think if he was a pending UFA now that he's not getting 11M minimum ? Stutzle was a RFA.

Is Matthews 1.5M better than Panarin ?
Is Matthews 2.2M better than Doughty ?
Is Matthews 3M better than Nurse ?


See what I did there ?

I don't believe in any contract comparisons (see my explanation above) but comparing him to defensemen makes zero sense.

 

[NobleSix]

That's brutal. My God.

 

[3ladesof5teel]

What a garbage take.

less than $1m in $. But way more of the cap. The % of cap is what determines the value along with the years. This contract puts him on par with McDavid over the next 8 years unless some of these so called Leafs fans get their wish and he gets injured or takes a nose dive in production.

But ultimately the absolute dumbest take I have seen is you comparing a NHL player to regular people. What you are failing to comprehend is the Leafs will not pay anymore money in salary regardless of what they pay Matthews. They could pay him $80m/year and they still won’t pay a penny more than what they were going to pay in player salaries. The Leafs are going to spend as much as they can on player salaries for the foreseeable future and because players are still only paid 50% of HRR that’s all the money there is.


The only people Matthews took money from are the potential players who could be signed to contracts to improve the team’s chances of winning. Matthews doesn’t care about that. He just demands that hop on my back and I will carry the team money while collapsing under the weight that brings.

So dumb of a take that players are asking for more money because everything cost more.....sure.

I never compared and NHL player to regular people, its the context Hate to break it to you but everyone feels cost of living

Appreciate your input though, as we just watch moving forward players will demand more.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

Lets be real

Matthews is a much better player than Huberdeau and Paranin

Has more hardware than Pasta at a younger age

Let pretend he didn't have a 60 goal season at 24 years old and is 2 years younger than him

I would take Matthews on my team in a heartbeat over any of those players outside of Mackinnon

Thats not saying much since fans want to actively get rid of panarin and huberdeau for very little. Pasternak is a way better contract than Matthews.