With the extension of Auston Matthews, the Toronto Maple Leafs have officially overcome the biggest obstacle of the offseason. Matthews happily tweeted out the news before the team or NHL insiders broke it.
William Nylander and the state of his contract negotiations are currently in the spotlight. But in the meantime, this allows us to examine Matthews’ latest contract and talk about how it will impact the team and his legacy amongst Maple Leafs greats.
Matthews Contract Breakdown
Matthews and the Maple Leafs agreed to terms on a four-year extension worth $53 million, which carries an average annual value (AAV) of $13.5 million per season. This will make him the highest-paid player in the NHL in 2024–25 when the contract kicks in. The deal is filled with signing bonuses, as well as a full no- movement clause throughout the duration of the deal.
Although it isn’t an eight-year deal, he will still be part of the Maple Leafs organization until he is 29 years old. At that point, the direction of the team could be different than the “win-now” mentality that they have now, and he may walk to the open market and sign elsewhere. Until then, though, Leafs Nation can enjoy their superstar for five more seasons.
What’s Next for the Organization?
Now that Matthews is under contract for the next five seasons, questions will start to arise regarding what is next for the organization. Well, it is safe to start with Nylander and his contract status. The hope is that he signs before training camp gets underway, but according to Nylander in a tweet from Elliotte Friedman based around an interview with himself and Jeff Marek, he has “lots of time” to sort out his contract.
So now that that question is taken care of, let’s look at the long-term effects of Matthews signing for another four seasons. If he can take advantage of playing with newly signed Tyler Bertuzzi and either Nylander or Mitch Marner, he could return to form and score 50 goals and 100 points. This could persuade Bertuzzi to sign a short-term extension with the Maple Leafs to play alongside him for several seasons.
Related: Maple Leafs Sign Auston Matthews to 4-Year Contract Extension
Many will argue that $13.25 million is too high of an AAV for the four-year term that he received. However, with the Nylander contract talks still going on, as well as Marner and John Tavares eligible for extensions on July 1, 2024, this could have set the standard that, although Matthews could have taken up to $1.5 million less than his initial asking price, he didn’t take a big enough pay cut to keep all four of the core members together long term. Therefore his signing could have a trickle-down effect on the rest of them, causing the Maple Leafs financial hardship for the duration of Matthews’ new deal.
Greatest Maple Leaf Ever?
Matthews may not be considered the greatest Maple Leaf of all time at this time. But by the end of his new deal, he could be widely recognized as the best to wear the Maple Leafs jersey. There have been several players that the fan base has considered greats: Dave Keon, the late Borje Salming, Wendel Clark, and even Doug Gilmour. However, Matthews could pass them in that conversation based on statistics and, of course, if he can hoist the Stanley Cup.
Let’s take a look at where Matthews ranks amongst some of the greatest to wear the blue and white. In the goals department, he is ranked fifth with 299 career goals. He should be able to move up into the fourth spot this season, as he is just 33 goals behind Ron Ellis. As for assists, he sits fairly low at 19th with 243 career assists. In total points, he is currently 11th overall, only two points behind his buddy, Marner. He will easily be able to move into the top 10 this season, potentially as high as seventh, to pass Frank Mahovlich and Bob Pulford and keep pace with the aforementioned Marner.
Lastly, in plus/minus he sits in the seventh spot with a career plus-109, but there is a chance he can move up into the fifth spot, passing both Alan Stanley and the late Bob Baun. However, plus/minus is hard to predict, but Matthews has typically recorded anywhere from a plus-20 to a plus-30 in the last five seasons.
He has the potential to be in the top seven in the assist category in the next two to three seasons, which puts him on track to be in the top five in each offensive stat by the end of his new deal. This is not to mention that he is also an above-average defensive forward who led the NHL in blocked shots by a forward with 92 last season.
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Final Thoughts
The relief that Maple Leafs’ general manager Brad Treliving must be feeling after getting the Matthews extension done must be amazing. There was a lot of pressure on him, given how the Johnny Gaudreau and Matthew Tkachuk situations played out last season, but he was able to grind out a deal with the team’s star. It will be interesting to see how things shape up in the years to come now that they have him signed for five more seasons and what the salary cap will look like during that time.
Nevertheless, only time will tell where Matthews lands amongst Maple Leafs greats, but if the stats indicate anything, he will definitely be amongst the great names on Legends Row.