Four More Years for Matthews

 

Photo From Editor in Leaf

Back in May when the Leafs were doing their exit interviews after their second-round elimination Auston Matthews reiterated that he wants to stay in Toronto. In the weeks following Leafs fans began speculating how much it would cost to keep Auston. On his 32 Thoughts podcast, Elliott Friedman often stated that his impression was that Auston would be signing a deal between three and five years in length. July 1 came and went and still, there was no news of a Matthews extension, but rumours were floating around online that a deal had been agreed upon it was just a matter of time before the pen was put to paper. Now here we are in the final days of August and fans of the Maple Leafs can take a deep breath because Auston Matthews has signed a four-year contract extension with a cap hit of 13.25 million dollars a season.

Wednesday evening Elliott Friedman tweeted out the contract details and then Auston sent out a tweet to the fans saying he was excited to continue his journey playing for Toronto and their fans. With Auston signing this new deal I want to remind fans that it kicks in on July 1, 2024, and the belief is that Gary will finally “unfreeze” the salary cap and it will grow to a maximum of 86.5 million dollars, meaning the Leafs will have a lot more breathing room when Auston’s new contract begins.

Nick Kypreos while appearing on Sportsnet Connected raised the question of why Auston didn’t sign an eight-year contract like many of his peers have done. It’s simple, Auston will be 30 years old when this extension expires, and he is going to want once again to cash in with a big payday. If the cap continues to climb, we could be looking at a price tag of 17 maybe 18 million dollars a season.

Auston Matthews since being drafted by the Leafs has been an elite forward for the team and we have seen him bring home a Hart Trophy, a Calder Trophy, and 2 Rocket Richard Trophies. Auston currently sits 5^th in goals with 299 and 11^th in points with 542. With Matthews under contract for at least the next five seasons, there is no doubt that if he can continue to produce at the pace, he has for the first seven years Auston will be in the conversation of passing Mats Sundin as the team's leader in goals and possibly points.

One expected criticism from Leaf fans who don’t think Auston is any good and trust me they’re out there, but they are all saying what about his lack of playoff production? Well, he’s your answer 44 points in 55 playoff games putting him 16^th all-time so I think the playoff production has been pretty good and obviously that talk would quiet down if Toronto didn’t receive so many first-round exits.

With one contract sorted out Toronto will now turn their focus once again to William Nylander. There are all kinds of rumours and speculation surrounding Willy, but I believe Brad Treliving will be able to work out an extension with Nylander and his camp.