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

[I Hart Conor Garland]

Haha yeah. Except I will consistently put them in the corner and take the biggest payday. The leafs will never win a cup tying up so much money on him and others

Shhh, don't tell them. They may hear you and stop getting in their own way.

 

[Arthur Morgan]

Yes, you just have a lot more of them on HF.

yeah well the rest of you kinda team up against us for some reason as well. every fan base is the same

Haha yeah. Except I will consistently put them in the corner and take the biggest payday. The leafs will never win a cup tying up so much money on him and others

yeah you know this league is backwards. it's the players like Matthews that should get paid. the depth players are the ones that should take pay cuts. we dont pay to watch depth players in the NHL.

caps going up as well just the kicker is, its short term so that cap % will never get as low as it could at 8x

 

[Skolman]

All this thread really says is how under rated Matthews is on HF. People really hate he is a Leaf.

What in this thread gives you the impression that Matthews is underrated on HF?

Because basically everyone outside of Leafs fans don't believe he's a top 2-3 forward in the league like the majority of you do?

 

[shaner8989]

There is something to be said about not paying guys into their mid-late thirties. The Leafs have locked up the best goal scorer in the league for the entirety of his prime years.

Did the Leafs wanna pay Matthews 13 mill when he’s 35? I highly doubt.

 

[kevsh]

Did the Leafs wanna pay Matthews 13 mill when he’s 35? I highly doubt.

Here's the problem though. In four years, at age 30, he's a UFA again unless the Leafs re-sign him (likely the Summer prior, when he's still 29. As in still very much in his prime).

Given the cap is likely to go up a few million between now and then, unless his play falls off dramatically he's lining himself him to make even more on his next deal, and he'll be in a position to ask for longer term. 6 years? 7 years?

With his full NMC, that means he can come back after year 3 of the deal and ask for another raise and longer term. If the Leafs don't give him what he wants he walks to free agency at age 30 (again, still in his prime) and the Leafs get nothing in return. Both MLSE and Matthews know they simply can't let that happen.

Make no mistake fellow HFBoards, the only thing Matthews "gives up" on this deal is the security of a longer term deal. Otherwise, he got what he wanted with another, likely even bigger payday when this new deal expires. Meanwhile the Leafs have virtually no leverage on his next contract.

AM34 took MLSE to the cleaners. And his gift to the team - you know the sacrifice he made to help them surround him with a winning roster? Maybe took a couple of hundred K off his ask ... in return for a shorter deal so he can get another huge payday next time around.

 

[SeanMoneyHands]

Leafs best shot at the cup was last year with OReilly. It's really too bad they couldnt resign him because he brought an element that the team lacked and no longer has, now that hes gone.

But he made it public that he didn't want to resign....over locker room issues I think it was? Would rather have him as the #2C than Pajama boy Tavares.

 

[sd1976]

The fact that he hasn't accomplished anything that you would consider generational.

Except for what I listed, but ok…

 

[sd1976]

The fact that two players scored 60+ last year kinda shows that feat isn't generational, no?

No. Because no one wouldn’t consider Mcdavid as generational.

 

[TheDoldrums]

What in this thread gives you the impression that Matthews is underrated on HF?

Because basically everyone outside of Leafs fans don't believe he's a top 2-3 forward in the league like the majority of you do?

Basically everyone who really values analytics believes he's a top 2-3 forward in the league. All the nerds. They're not Leafs fans, they just follow the data.

 

[Mr Positive]

There is something to be said about not paying guys into their mid-late thirties. The Leafs have locked up the best goal scorer in the league for the entirety of his prime years.

Did the Leafs wanna pay Matthews 13 mill when he’s 35? I highly doubt.

That is a consolation prize, but every team in the league would want to gamble with term on an elite player if they could.

Matthews would likely be worth that cap hit at 35 or LTIRed.

 

[HockeyVirus]

What in this thread gives you the impression that Matthews is underrated on HF?

Because basically everyone outside of Leafs fans don't believe he's a top 2-3 forward in the league like the majority of you do?

Because 99% of these fans don't watch the games. They see Pasta score 60 and think oh well it's not a big deal without having watched those games and seeing how dominant Matthews was. Even honest Bruins fans will tell you Pasta is pretty one dimensional, he isn't close to a two way winger. Elite scorer on the PP and stuff, basically a modern Kessel.

Matthews was physically dominant, he was defensively elite. He brings so much more than offense, and still outscores basically everyone outside of last season.

 

[Rabid Ranger]

I hope Matthews can live up to HF's expectations...

 

[HockeyVirus]

I hope Matthews can live up to HF's expectations...

He already has outside of 1 season...

 

[myleafs]

If the Leafs still have not won or even made he finals by the last year of this upcoming deal the "core 4" has utterly failed and they need to go scorched earth. That is made infinitely harder with an additional four years (and larger AAV) so that's the benefit for the Leafs. Not to mention staying healthy has been a legit concern


Contract is not a win by any means for the Leafs but what were they gonna do, let him walk and get 15 million elsewhere, immediately revert back to the mid 2010s? Dubas is a good GM but he let his sweet little boys take him to task on the first negotiation and gave them basically 100% of the leverage this time around

Not saying I disagree with much of what you say here but why would the leafs immediately turn into a crappy team?....they still have everyone else and 13.25 cap space to spend.

 

[myleafs]

Trading a 30 year old Matthews after 12 seasons of trying is very different than trading a 25/26 year old Matthews when the team is still very firmly in the competitive window - blowing it up with a guy making double digits on the wrong side of 30 as the centrepiece makes no sense. Obviously impossible to say where the team is in 4 years but undeniably having Matthews on a shorter term deal gives them more flexibility to evaluate where they are. Their defence was also fine last year and far from their main issue in the playoffs

I agree about Matthews but the leafs D is far from okay this year. Season hasnt started yet so Treliving has time to work on it but as it stands now, there is no way in hell that the leafs D can go 4 rounds and be effective.

 

[DollardStLaurent]

Granted, Matthews is better than Horvat but $4,750,000 per season better? These same people who mocked the Isles signing of Horvat are now praising the signing of Matthews.

 

[Golden_Jet]

No. Because no one wouldn’t consider Mcdavid as generational.

Matthew’s is a Franchise centre , not generational.

Unless your one of those that thinks there is 6-10 generational players, all the time.
Making the word generational useless.
You know once in a generation.

Your a generational player, not generational at one aspect of hockey,
As that doesn’t exist.

 

[Space umpire]

All this thread really says is how under rated Matthews is on HF. People really hate he is a Leaf.

I love that he is a Leaf. He’s a regular season star who becomes invisible when it really counts.
So you get 5 more years of bragging (October to April) then the lot of you will whine like puppies blaming Bettman, taxes, the weather, the referees or the US dollar for yet another failure.
What are we at now 56 years?

 

[Rob Brown]

What in this thread gives you the impression that Matthews is underrated on HF?

Because basically everyone outside of Leafs fans don't believe he's a top 2-3 forward in the league like the majority of you do?

I dunno, you have people in this thread saying he's not a top 5 scorer in the league, despite being the top scorer since he joined the league.

 

[Leaf Fans]

Leafs best shot at the cup was last year with OReilly. It's really too bad they couldnt resign him because he brought an element that the team lacked and no longer has, now that hes gone.

But he made it public that he didn't want to resign....over locker room issues I think it was? Would rather have him as the #2C than Pajama boy Tavares.

No, over not wanting to be in the spotlight.

 

[Skolman]

I dunno, you have people in this thread saying he's not a top 5 scorer in the league, despite being the top scorer since he joined the league.

Find me those posts where people have claimed Matthews isn't a top 5 goal scorer in the league

 

[666]

Not for elite players when the cap goes up. This narrative is not true but now that is suits the leafs we see it all over the site. Why can't leaf fans come to terms with reality? Every thread its constant denial. They convinced Murray to go on the LTIR instead of having to buy him out.... Very obvious that's a good thing for the leafs. Matthews is overpaid on the shortest term compared to players like Mackinnon and Pasternak. It's flat out factual. But on the other hand they have retained their top 10 player so that's good. These are the realities that most of the fan base argues that simply make no sense.

Us Leafs fans have some experience with this. First, while Tavares is still a PPG guy he's getting 50% of his points on the PP and is slowing down. Most Leafs fans would have preferred that contract to have ended by this season but we are stuck with 2 more years at $11M. So in that case the long contract was NOT to the Leafs advantage, however he was 28 at the time not 26 like Matthews will be on Sept 17.

The other experience we have with this is in Matthews' last contract. Everyone lost their shit when he only signed for 5 years at $11.643M. The reasoning was that more term would have cost more money and the Leafs had serious cap issues since signing Taveras. Everyone went nuts that it was only 5 years and Matthews would be gone by next season. At the time McDavid was signed for $12.5M and considering what happened in the last 4 years with Matthews getting a Hart and two Richards and a Person it could certainly be argued that Matthews could have been worth $12M+ but definitely was a good value at $11.6M. Well, now we know what we actually will end up paying for those 8 years and it works out to (11.640250*5 +13.25*3)/8 for an average of $12.24M. I don't think any Leafs fans should have an issue with paying Matthews $12.24M for those eight years especially since the cap was lower for the first five years.

Matthews will be 31 on Sept 17 of the year that his next-next deal starts. It's possible that we Tavares him but our history says that this will probably work out ok, we'll see.

 

[Jared Dunn]

Not saying I disagree with much of what you say here but why would the leafs immediately turn into a crappy team?....they still have everyone else and 13.25 cap space to spend.

I just mean more of a middling team, the sum of the parts they replace Matthews with would still be a downgrade

 

[Dache]

He took a 1.6 million pay increase. All It means is you don't get a 2.5 depth guy who plays 8-13 mins a game and instead play a ELC guy.

No one thought Ovi and the Caps would win either.

Can't believe I am depending a team I hate. You do realize you could rebuild and end up with a Nolan Patrick, right? You should be happy as hell to have a guy capable of 60 goals a season. Those guys deserve big money.

Oddly enough the caps won in year 5 of that contract

 

[Roo]

Not for elite players when the cap goes up. This narrative is not true but now that is suits the leafs we see it all over the site. Why can't leaf fans come to terms with reality? Every thread its constant denial. They convinced Murray to go on the LTIR instead of having to buy him out.... Very obvious that's a good thing for the leafs. Matthews is overpaid on the shortest term compared to players like Mackinnon and Pasternak. It's flat out factual. But on the other hand they have retained their top 10 player so that's good. These are the realities that most of the fan base argues that simply make no sense.

Its just two different views. You dont know how he’d perform at age, say 33. If he’s still a top player you pay him as one. If the cap is indeed going up by quite a bit, it probably matters less. Auston is the one rolling the dice here. We’ve all seen how the Tavares contract has aged, so can you really not understand this other view that many fans have?

Auston was always going to become the top paid player in the league, its his turn up. Soon enough it will be someone else.