[Signing] Leafs sign Auston Matthews to contract extension (5 yrs, $11.634 mil AAV)

[ST20]

Originally Posted by dino7c

Gaudreau wasn't offer sheet eligible...he only played one game in the first year of his elc and therefor didn't have enough games played

He also scored less goals than Matthews, played two seasons vs three (or 2.5), came into the league older and undersized without pedigree.

Johnny has a fantastic contract from the teams perspective and kudos to Treliving for signing it. It may be the best contract for years to come at the rate he's playing but I don't understand why people are using it to say Dubas/ the leafs aren't doing their jobs. The Matthews contract just "is what it is" until we see his career in hindsight. It's not a contract that makes you jump out of your seat one way or the other.

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by ST20

So how much do you think Brad Treliving could have signed him for in this economic environment? It seems to me to be about market value for someone of his talents. Not all points per game estimates are the same since goal scoring is worth more than secondary assista and you also pay a premium on centres and players with size.

People seem to be clouded by leaf hate and are gonna have sticker shock when tkachuck signs next year. The cap hell comments are funny too because unless it's caused by signing of old washed up UFAs then guess what? It's probably a good thing your in cap hell by signing your young players who have performed. Guess what's going to happen to the flames after Chucky and Rittich sign and the young d core comes off their ELCs? Not a bad thing.

This deal alone is fine...they are gonna move one of these guys for a dman at some point though

40M for four forwards won't work long term

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by ST20

He also scored less goals than Matthews, played two seasons vs three (or 2.5), came into the league older and undersized without pedigree.

Johnny has a fantastic contract from the teams perspective and kudos to Treliving for signing it. It may be the best contract for years to come at the rate he's playing but I don't understand why people are using it to say Dubas/ the leafs aren't doing their jobs. The Matthews contract just "is what it is" until we see his career in hindsight. It's not a contract that makes you jump out of your seat one way or the other.

What does any of that have to do with his offer sheet eligibility?

Matthews was eligible and Gaudreau wasn't

Huge difference

[PeteMoss]

Its just certain teams doing this at this point.

None of these guys are at Matthews levels, but some are better than Nylander.

Ehlers got 7 years at $6m AAV
Gourde got 6 years at 5.1 AAV (older but still coming off his ELC)
Theodore got 7 years at $5.2 AAV
Larkin got 5 years at $6.1 AAV
Dumba got 5 years at $6 AAV
Pasternak got 6 years at $6.66 AAV

[ST20]

Originally Posted by dino7c

What does any of that have to do with his offer sheet eligibility?

Matthews was eligible and Gaudreau wasn't

Huge difference

Probably shouldn't have qouted you. I was following the thread between you, gio and weitz. It's a comment on leverage Matthews has vs what Gaudreau had at the time of negotiation.

[1qqaaz]

I think this is an awful contract.
Tavares + Nylander + Matthews = Will earn $29.6 million next year and have a total of 111 points so far this year.
Gaudreau + Monahan + Lindholm = Will earn less than $18 million next year and have a total of 166 points so far this year.

No, I'm not going to apologize for the fact that the Flames players are a lot more durable. I'm also not going to apologize for the fact that the Flames managed to re-sign their RFA before the start of the season.

Auston Matthews has a bad contract IMO. He'll force the Leafs hands in 5 years, and he'll either walk or get HUGE money and term. Matthews is already quite injury prone and he has never hit 70 points.
It's a fantastic contract for Matthews, that's for sure. I don't think he gave much of a discount for the shortened term.

I would much rather have the contracts that PeteMoss just mentioned. Like dino7c said, 40 mill for 4 forwards won't work long term.

[The Cobra]

The stunning aspect of Matthews deal wasn't the AAV, but the fact that it covered only 5 years, and only one UFA year.

That's makes the AAV way too high.

Matthews got everything, financial security, a very high AAV and the right to become a UFA quite young.

[GGG]

If 5 years was the max and only bought 1 UFA years I’d threaten him with arbitration. His stats aren’t good enough to justify 11.5 million. It’s hard to say no to 100 million in guaranteed money when your alternative is 6-7.

A 5 year deal shouldn’t have been on the table except through an offer sheet.

[Rollin22x]

Originally Posted by Enoch Root

Interesting.

So (assuming Matthews qualifies as a non-resident in Canada, and I would assume he would), he is essentially just a US taxpayer, with no state tax. In other words, other than the $700K per year salary (and who gives a #### about that), he will pay the same taxes he would if he were in Texas or Florida.

(for clarity: he would pay the 15% in Canada, but get a tax credit for that in the US, so he effectively just pays his US taxes)

Nice job, Mr Matthews agent!

I read an article last year that said players have to file taxes in each of the states/provinces that they work.

[FireGilbert]

The contract is definitely high compared to McDavid's 8 year deal but Matthews is an excellent player and I do not see this hurting the Leafs. Building a team around Tavares and Matthews up the middle should give them a solid 5 year cup window.

The Leafs issue is the contracts to Nylander, Marleau, and Zaitsev which may cost them Marner and a bunch of depth.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by dino7c

What does any of that have to do with his offer sheet eligibility?

Matthews was eligible and Gaudreau wasn't

Huge difference

It's a difference, but I'm not sure it's huge unless there's wind of a threat (eg Hamilton back in Boston).

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

The contract is definitely high compared to McDavid's 8 year deal but Matthews is an excellent player and I do not see this hurting the Leafs. Building a team around Tavares and Matthews up the middle should give them a solid 5 year cup window.

The Leafs issue is the contracts to Nylander, Marleau, and Zaitsev which may cost them Marner and a bunch of depth.

That's what I'm talking about. It's fine to talk about a core to build around but secondary players need to be paid too. You can't just have ELC/league minimum guys.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by The Cobra

The stunning aspect of Matthews deal wasn't the AAV, but the fact that it covered only 5 years, and only one UFA year.

That's makes the AAV way too high.

Matthews got everything, financial security, a very high AAV and the right to become a UFA quite young.

Plus he screwed over the Leafs in terms of being able to field a good team for the next 5 years.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by FireGilbert

The contract is definitely high compared to McDavid's 8 year deal but Matthews is an excellent player and I do not see this hurting the Leafs. Building a team around Tavares and Matthews up the middle should give them a solid 5 year cup window.

The Leafs issue is the contracts to Nylander, Marleau, and Zaitsev which may cost them Marner and a bunch of depth.

Your first statement doesn't match up with your second statement.

If the other contracts are issues and they lose a lot of depth it means they won't have much of a cup window, will they?

[FireGilbert]

Originally Posted by Azure

Your first statement doesn't match up with your second statement.

If the other contracts are issues and they lose a lot of depth it means they won't have much of a cup window, will they?

They have a cup window with Tavares and Matthews. If they fail to win a cup in that time due to poor depth it will not be from Matthews but from the other poor contracts.

[Azure]

Originally Posted by Weitz

Well sure but if Gaudreau was coming off his ELC after this year and had full rights he wouldn't be signing the contract he did.

Nylander is being paid equal or more to Gaudreau.

He is not even CLOSE to the same player, but the media hype and GM stupidity got him his contract.

[mrdonkey]

Originally Posted by Azure

Nylander is being paid equal or more to Gaudreau.



He is not even CLOSE to the same player, but the media hype and GM stupidity got him his contract.

If you ask Leafs Nation, he’s actually better. That’s how strong the delusion is right now.

[bigrangy]

Originally Posted by Azure

Nylander is being paid equal or more to Gaudreau.

He is not even CLOSE to the same player, but the media hype and GM stupidity got him his contract.

Tkachuk isn't even close to the same player as Gaudreau either and he'll be paid more if he ends up signing a 6+ year deal.

The cap goes up, and Gaudreau was in a very unique situation when he signed that significantly depressed his cap hit.

Tarasenko had signed the year before for 7.5x8, and Gaudreau was at least his equal, if not better at the time.

At this point I'm hoping for a bridge for Tkachuk. 3x6.66 is the dream right now. He won't get the premium minutes here to be worth 8+ million because he will be in Gaudreau's shadow.

Then in three years when both contracts are up the Flames will probably have to pick one to keep and the other to move.

[Fire]

Originally Posted by bigrangy

The cap goes up, and Gaudreau was in a very unique situation when he signed that significantly depressed his cap hit.

Don't forget that Gaudreau basically skipped his first year of his ELC, so don't feel too sorry for him. So while he is on a team friendly cap hit, he did get the big money a year earlier than normal.

[Philly06Cup]

Monahan / Gaudreau / Lindholm are all exceptionally underpaid given their current production. Woohoo, pat yourself on the back that we have these contracts. They are not relevant to what is currently a fair contract.