How?
No way Leafs management would let Matthews walk for free if he wants to go to free agency.

they are contending. you don't sell when your contending lol.
People have got to get out of this mindset....

33+ Million in 3 players. At the cap with no defense. I wish you luck in bringing the cup back to Canada.

please get more no's than koskinen

and all you can do is assume that what if they dont move then ?

John Tavares on resigning with NYI January 1st "I want to stay in New York for the rest of my career"
John Tavares on July 1st after signing with Toronto "I'm where I wanted to play when I was growing up, it's a dream come true"

Matthews can feed Toronto whatever they want to hear. At the end of the day, he will play where he wants to play.

You don't lose valuable assets like that for nothing. If you want to stay contending, you either resign those guys or trade them at TD for assets with control.

Thought the idea behind jacking up the signing bonuses was to save on the AAV?

Also I get why they did it, but I really think they're going to regret not paying for those free agent years.

No defence? You fr? 7th best in ga, vezna contending goalie (he wont win tho), Rielly is a #1 stud, Muzzin is a great #2, Gards is a perfect offense #3, and Dermott looks ready to step into a top 4 role. Zaitzev is better than most think (he plays 22 mins a night buried in his own end by babs), it is just that his contract sucks.

And then we have the prospects who will be ready within a year or two

So idk wtf you are talking about no defence... lol.

he can just do the same thing like Tavares did

If you want to evaluate this deal, you must consider the lower cap hit of a 5 year deal.

To get our value, we'll need to deploy the rest of our cap space and win the cup. Everything is worth it then.
We'll be able to attract so many free agents at discounted prices that we can get through a 3 year period of no picks and prospects in the pipeline.

No one expected Tavares to be as impactful as he has been this season. Heck, even adding Muzzin has people thinking the Leafs are a whole new beast.
I really hope we buy another RHD for this playoffs, so long as we keep don't touch the top player at any role -- because it can only be a caliber of player with an affordable cap hit until summer 2020.

all the talk was about Matthews taking a bit less in exchange for shorter term so the team could stay more competitive with the cap. This looks like he took less years but didn't drop a CENT on term. I twas expecting 12 if it was 7-8years, but maybe 10 if it was only five years. Guess he got the higher AAV PLUS the shorter term.

Worst of both worlds for the franchise.

Or... and just hear me out... You keep your good players and try to win the god damned cup. You are in a build for tomorrow mindset. The Leafs are officially in WIN NOW mode for the duration of this contract.

Not sure if you're here to troll Leafs fans.
Thought these decisions were fairly obvious. Leafs obvious couldn't re-sign JVR and bozak due to the upcoming RFAs. So they kept them for a playoff run. This way they didnt have to trade draft picks for playoff rentals. JVR and bozak were were free playoff rentals.
Why help other playoff contenders?

You say no defense and then follow it up with stats provided by an elite goaltender. Freddy can't play like that forever.

Its still not ideal for a Stanley Cup contending team you still giving two of Gardinar, Hainsey, or Zaitsev top 4 minutes and all of them shouldnt really get top 4 minutes

I'd like to be the team that trades for him in 2023/24, you only pay a 1/4 of the 750K at TDL...

Idk if the Isles management is that bad. JT probably only wanted to stay if Snow was still the GM. So, he told them not to trade him at the deadline and changed his mind when Snow got fired. Just guessing though. And even if Toronto trades him, they'd still lose him. They'd get something for him, but they'd probably much rather keep him.

I'm just glad Leafs are not paying their elite goaltender $10.5M for the next 8 seasons

Gards shouldn't get top 4 minutes?
Okay you are officially a troll

The cap hit is fine for an 8 year deal. For a 5 year deal this is a joke! Rejoice anti-leafs nation!

A trade(as long as teams have cap space) will actually be reasonable after the first two years...

Better than paying 30+ million for 3 players. I wish you luck.

Starting next year, you will have 2 LHD that belong in the top 4. Sounds like the Habs situation. Except we aren't tight up to the cap and aren't attempting to win-now.

Yeah great management. Trade all of your picks and prospects for rentals until you have nothing left. Great management right there!