The Toronto Maple Leafs announced they have signed Auston Matthews to a four-year contract. The financial details of the deal were not originally reported by the club, but Elliotte Friedman of Sportsnet reports that Matthews will be making $13.25M AAV, making it a four-year, $53M contract extension.
For one season, Nathan MacKinnon of the Colorado Avalanche will hold the honors of being the highest-paid athlete in the game at $12.6M AAV; however, the season after, Matthews will take the crown.
Now that Matthews is signed for the next five seasons in Toronto, he will become an unrestricted free agent at 30 years old after the 2027-28 NHL season.
In one of the most important orders of business for new general manager Brad Treliving this summer, the Maple Leafs have locked up the most significant player to their core. They have infamously struggled in their mission to lift the Stanley Cup, but Matthews has earned his fair share of medals up to this point in his career.
Last season, in what was considered somewhat of a down year, Matthews scored 40 goals and 45 assists in 74 games, finishing third on the team in scoring. More importantly; however, is that Matthews was fundamental in Toronto being able to win their first playoff series since the 2003-04 season, scoring five goals and six assists in 11 games.
The season prior, Matthews had one of the best seasons in the salary cap era, scoring 60 goals and 46 assists in 73 games, winning the Hart Memorial Trophy, Ted Lindsay Award, and the Maurice Richard Trophy. Only Connor McDavid, Steven Stamkos and Alex Ovechkin have been able to score 60 goals in a single year since the 2005-06 NHL season.
Aside from the personal awards, the main goal of Matthews and the Maple Leafs is to win their first Stanley Cup since 1967. Given his play, Matthews likely could have asked for — and received, more on this contract, but Toronto’s salary cap table will only tighten with this deal.
With this contract now factored in, the Maple Leafs will have around $30M in cap space next summer but will have to retain or replace players such as William Nylander, Tyler Bertuzzi, Max Domi, T.J. Brodie, John Klingberg and Ilya Samsonov.
It was well known that Toronto was pressed hard against the cap this season, but with teams now knowing that the Maple Leafs will have limited financial flexibility for at least the next two seasons, this might spell the end for Nylander’s time in Toronto.
Given that Nylander is seeking around $10M on his next deal, it might benefit the Maple Leafs more to recoup some assets and create more cap space rather than having $45.15M tied into four forwards for the 2024-25 season.
Nevertheless, this appears to be a solid outcome for Toronto altogether. It is likely that the team would have liked to sign Matthews to a max term eight-year extension, but having Matthews in general extends the team’s window for however long he is on the roster.
By signing short-term, high AAV contracts, Matthews will likely go down as one of the highest-paid stars in the game for his generation. Once this extension comes to its conclusion, Matthews will have made a touch over $122M altogether, before he even hits 31.
Matthews is one of the best goal-scorers in the game and one of the best players to ever wear the blue-and-white. However, especially for the Maple Leafs, Matthews will ultimately be judged on whether or not he can break the organization’s curse, and once again bring Lord Stanley back to Toronto.
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