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

[Mr Positive]

Shouldn't you be worrying about McDavid re-signing instead of the how overpaid the Leafs stars are (who signed with the team)?

That quote is from such an Oiler basher. I don't know them but they edited everything pro Oiler out of it

“I love playing in Edmonton, and I really feel at home there. Lauren loves being in Edmonton. There are a lot – a lot — of things that check the boxes for us in Edmonton. We're super comfortable there,” McDavid said. “But with that all being said, it’s three years down the road. We’ve got to kind of see where our lives are at and kind of go from there.

“I don't say that to raise eyebrows or cause panic. It's just the way that it is,” he cautioned. “But I love playing in Edmonton, I'm 100 per cent committed to winning in Edmonton with this group…

“And we're gonna see it through.”

Motivated McDavid '100 per cent committed' to winning Cup with these Oilers

It's now or never for Connor McDavid and the Oilers, and they all know it. With three years left on his deal, and his future unclear, McDavid knows what needs to be done: "I'm 100 per cent committed to winning in Edmonton."

www.sportsnet.ca

Honestly a totally fair comment. I would be alarmed if he gave a generic response. Still of course anything could happen and if the team doesn't seriously contend he will likely leave. And just like all the trolls giggling about Matthews leaving for the USA, we Oiler fans will always have the same thing until McDavid signs. And yes I would be crazy happy if he signed a similar deal to what Matthews just signed.

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

Considering Crosby's obsession with the number 87, why would you assume it would change much? There's a reason both of his post ELC contracts average out to $8.7 million per year or did you think that was just a weird coincidence?

At most, Crosby would have opted for an $87 million contract over 8 years, for an AAV of 10.875 million per year so he could maintain some weird tie to the number 87.

He's not superstitious, but he is a little stitious.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Who are you even talking to?

No, I’m not worried, already signed McDavid long term once (when Leafs fans like yourself said he wouldn’t sign, or play for Edmonton). And unlike your inferior player, he’ll be signed long term.

You’re acting like some gotcha thing when it’s not relevant to the topic of Auston Matthews shitty contract lol. Just classic deflection.

And of course you make a shitty thread that was quickly shut down.

Massive L.

Thought he could try and bring his thread that got shutdown here.
Lmao at the mod with the looney tunes, that’s all folks.

 

[Leaf Fans]

Poor Leafs fans are a mess over this contract. Some are now actively hoping for him to get injured to justify the length of the contract. Wow!

Again, the Leafs will NEVER trade Matthews. Not happening that makes no sense unless Leaf’s fans are now also hoping for their team to drop off a cliff to justify this god awful contract.

The only things that justify this contract are BAD for the Leafs.

You just made that up. Those are not my feelings at all.

 

[Beukeboom Fan]

Yeah they’ll only give him an even bigger contract at 30….

Keep dreaming if you think the Leafs won’t go all in on signing Matthews again

While I tend to agree - I do think that it's a fair point to give the ML a chance to see how the team is doing.

Let's say that over the next 5 seasons the Leaf's aren't able to get over the hump and had sustained play-off success. At that point, it's apparent that changes need to be made and they can go in a different direction.

Marner is a stud and Tavares is a ppg guy at his worst. They got 4 forwards who finished in the top 30 for points last year. This isnt an honest debate imo.

Choice:

Option A: Pay Matthews

or

Option B: Dont pay matthews? Let him walk? Trade away your generational face-of-franchise player at age 25?

Id be super happy my team gets a prime Matthews for the next 5 years.

Agree with this. If the Leafs either haven't won or not close to winning the Cup - they can make a decision at that point knowing they've given it a long run.

 

[WeDislikeEich]

Congrats Toronto fans! You have your star center signed through most of his prime.

It seems maybe just a bit pricey considering the term, but not unexpected. Star players get paid big money and Matthews is a star.

 

[Strangle]

If the cap goes up over the next five years, then 13 million AAV isnt going to be looked at the same. A 15 million AAV contract may very well be less valuable.

That is the very purpose of signing star players to longterm deals pronto. You get them locked up with the understanding the cap situation will change over the course of the contract. While you pay a premium for their peak years, the hope is the cap will rise during the back end—making the back half of the contract fair value. If you sign AM to an 8 year deal, in 5 years, the going rate for star players may be 16 million a year. Meaning AM would be making way less.

That is never how these long term deals work out though. What usually happens is that you add on years to the deal to lower the AAV. Teams add those extra years, not thinking the AAV will be ‘fair value’, but because they are acting in a short-term mindset and leaving the problem for years down the road.

Years that will usually leave you with an anchor of a contract, a buyout, retaining salary in a trade to move the contract or moving assets and having to retain salary. These teams don’t often work out for the teams on the back end.

With the cap expected to rise ‘dramatically’ over the next 2-5 years, these deals also don’t work out for the player either. The players might not have caught in yet but I’m sure the agents will.

I expect to see more deals like this in the near future for super star level players. Until the cap normalizes at least.

 

[MoreMogilny]

Congrats Toronto fans! You have your star center signed through most of his prime.

It seems maybe just a bit pricey considering the term, but not unexpected. Star players get paid big money and Matthews is a star.

At the end of the day, that’s what is most important. I lost count of the amount of times that I’ve seen someone say he will ditch Toronto after his second contract. But here we are today and he’s signed for an additional 4 years after this one. He easily could have left for more money than the Leafs have paid him but he wants to be here.

Yeah the term isn’t great. But the money itself is fine. It’s much better for the Leafs than the alternative.

 

[BB88]

Why do you assume the Leafs will go all in with re-signing him?

You keep pushing out ridiculous scenarios assuming the Leafs have to re-sign him even higher after the age of 30.

The Leafs let Sundin walk because he wanted too much after 30, they could do the same with Matthews.

Ridiculous scenarios?
That’s what we see happen every year, teams(especially good/contending) teams try to sign their franchise players. At 30y Matthews should still be among the absolute elites

There’s not a damm chance Leafs are just going to let Matthews walk without fight

 

[Divine]

Ridiculous scenarios?
That’s what we see happen every year, teams(especially good/contending) teams try to sign their franchise players. At 30y Matthews should still be among the absolute elites

There’s not a damm chance Leafs are just going to let Matthews walk without fight

What do you think a 31 year old Matthews gets on the free market and for how much?

 

[BobClarkesfrontteeth]

What do you think a 31 year old Matthews gets on the free market and for how much?

He will get approx 15 to 16% of the team's salary cap as long as he continues to stay healthy and continue at this level of play.

 

[Divine]

He will get approx 15 to 16% of the team's salary cap as long as he continues to stay healthy and continue at this level of play.

I highly doubt that - it's never happened before at that age.

Iginla took a higher cap hit than Matthews on a shorter term, and even he took a lower cap percentage on his next contract. The same with Thornton.

I think Matthews took some bad advice going short term, it hasn't worked out for any other player yet. There's a reason almost every UFA wants 7 or 8 years, and why the NHL intentionally made 8 years exclusive to their current team as a way to encourage player retention. If players don't care for 8 years, then the NHL's entire 8 year team-exclusive term makes no sense.

 

[Nothingbutglass]

Speculation. You covered this a few pages back. You are starting to repeat yourself.

 

[KingAlfie11]

How long do you think TSN and Sportsnet will talk about Matthews contact extention and making him the top paid player in the NHL??

 

[Divine]

How long do you think TSN and Sportsnet will talk about Matthews contact extention and making him the top paid player in the NHL??

That I'm not sure.

But, I am sure you'll watch every second of it and then come here to let us know.

 

[caymanmew]

What is interesting is I have been telling people they think this will be the Leafs going forward but it won't.

Matthews @ 13.25 + Rielly at 7 = 20.25
Let's say Marner gets 12.5
Nylander gets 9.5

In a few years this is 42.25 on a 95M+ cap which is right in that range. The Leafs were unique because they literally signed their 4 the season before a flat cap with the expectation the cap would go up. That didn't happen, Toronto was the unluckiest team in the league in that regard due to the amount of money they put up right before. So that has been a big source of problems.

If we had a 95M cap right now, these deals would have been a steal the past few years.

And of course, Tavares is off the books in 2 years and will likely command half his current money, assuming he doesn't take a discount like Spezza or Gio. So 11M is now able to be spent on Tavares ++.

To anyone paying attention the risk isn't to the core. It is the fact they have no one but the core signed beyond the next few years. How can they fill out a team in free agency that is any good and stay under the cap? They need prospects to hit in a big way.

The issue with that thought is we have had a relatively stable cap and a lot of players have signed long-term for much cheaper. Now obviously development needs to go right but a number of the younger teams. How are the leafs going to compete with teams like NJD, Buffalo, or Ottawa if their players develop as expected and are mostly all signed long-term under 9M?

I suspect we will see a period of the winners having their top 4 be lower percentages as the cap jumps up and young stars are signed for cheap.

 

[Suntouchable13]

Why do you assume the Leafs will go all in with re-signing him?

You keep pushing out ridiculous scenarios assuming the Leafs have to re-sign him even higher after the age of 30.

The Leafs let Sundin walk because he wanted too much after 30, they could do the same with Matthews.

Mats Sundin was with Toronto till he was 36-37 years old. They didn't let him walk till he was about to retire.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

This is ALL downside for the leafs unless Matthews really regress in the next 5 years, in which case, its a rebuild anyways.

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

He will get approx 15 to 16% of the team's salary cap as long as he continues to stay healthy and continue at this level of play.

Yeah I'm not really getting the Leafs fans take here.

They're evidently completely OK with Matthews being the highest paid player in the league... But also apparently think his play is going to regress significantly by the time he's 30 to not command a good contract in four years.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

What do you think a 31 year old Matthews gets on the free market and for how much?

What do you think he will get? 5MM cause he'll be garbage by age 31?

 

[Tad Mikowsky]

What do you think he will get? 5MM cause he'll be garbage by age 31?

I don’t get it. Either Auston Matthews is an exceptional hockey player who should be signed long term to a big cap hit, or he’s a depreciating asset that hit his peak hence why he’s signed for four years.

Leafs fans like the one you quoted seem confused.

 

[FriendlyGhost92]

What do you think he will get? 5MM cause he'll be garbage by age 31?

He's apparently completely justified as being the highest paid player in the league... But is apparently going to decline significantly over those four years lol.

 

[Divine]

What do you think he will get? 5MM cause he'll be garbage by age 31?

I'll give you an answer when you answer what you think a 31 year old Matthews will be paid, and by how long. I expect much higher than 5M, I'm not expecting him to take an 8M discount, maybe you are.

Asking my question back to me because you acknowledge you can't answer isn't a solution.

 

[GirardSpinorama]

He's apparently completely justified as being the highest paid player in the league... But is apparently going to decline significantly over those four years lol.

Its hilarious mental gymnastics for them not to realize that Matthews is trying to maximize his total career earnings by escalating his contract with the cap increase as much as possible.

I'll give you an answer when you answer what you think a 31 year old Matthews will be paid, and by how much. I expect much higher than 5M, I'm not expecting him to take an 8M discount, maybe you are.

Asking my question back to me because you acknowledge you can't answer isn't a solution.

He'll get more than Mack at Age 31 while being a vastly inferior player with no cups. Likely in the 14.5MM range. Now you.

 

[Divine]

Its hilarious mental gymnastics for them not to realize that Matthews is trying to maximize his total career earnings by escalating his contract with the cap increase as much as possible.


He'll get more than Mack at Age 31 while being a vastly inferior player with no cups. Likely in the 14.5MM range.

I disagree.

I think he get's in the 11-12M range if he declines at the same rate as other superstars did after 30.