AM got the 2nd highest % as the 2nd best player, and we are only paying it for the rest of his prime.
Welcome to the new NHL. Its a fantastic deal

Yah I have no complaints because we knew he was going to get payed, I just have a hard time calling the AAV “great” when he’s the leagues highest payed player. Still a great contract don’t get me wrong.

AM is worth 20, easily worth CMD %, and took far less, and we only pay for the upside of the age curve.
Its a ****ing heist

Bro no, he’s not worth 20 or anything close to it. If you seriously think he is then I really don’t know what to tell you.

if the cap goes up as it should it will be

Matthews will be 31 by the time this deal ends. If TOR hasn't won anything by then I personally will be cool if he moves on and we start over.

I'm not saying he won't still be good into his 30's but I'd rather not be paying an aging star big money into his late 30's

Yes hopefully we’ll have actually won something in 5 years but if not I fully agree letting AM walk is the best move.

Intrinsic value is a real thing. Don't let Gary Bettman's wage suppression tell you otherwise.
Besides, even within the cap system he took less. Easily worth 16.67 like McDavid. Got 15.1.
****in' brilliant



Don't even need the cap to go up for this to be a great deal. More than worth it now

Whatever, agree to disagree I guess, one thing we can all agree on is it’s much better than letting AM walk.

The one thing I better not see if any praising of Brad Treliving over this signing. Cause if Dubas signed this deal he would be getting destroyed right now

Whether its Dubas or Trev, this is a great deal and anyone who disagrees can suck my dick.
4 MORE YEARS! (technically 5 but shhhh)

I mean hey he got the man signed vs. letting him walk for nothing

Now we dont got to here is Matthews gonna leave us for another 4 years

As long as he is a leaf who cares the term he can sign 10 1 year deals for all I care.

One thing I'll definitely give him credit for if it shakes out this way would be limited trade protection, at the very least in the final year. I highly doubt it though.

I'd be shocked

Me too

Here's how I feel about Matthews deal I wish it was 8 but hey we got him signed

I have a feeling after this deal is when the 8 years will come as he will be 30 and by then players often look to settle

Now the focus shifts to Willy

Lets see what happens now

To me we either see a 9.25m x 8 year extension or he is traded

Just a friendly reminder that the last time around the years purchased by this contract was going to cost 13.8 aav from reports.

We got 9 years at an average of 12.35 against the cap.
Vs 8 years at 13.8 against the cap.

If you cant see this as a win I don't know what to tell you

I gotta agree with you. I don't think it's a landslide win but it's definitely a great re-signing. People were crying $14m+ after his 60 goal season.

As a percentage of the cap he's probably right where he should be. Keeping in mind that we keep hearing rumours that the cap may take a decent jump next year, so Matthews could have easily waited this out and asked for the same share of a bigger pie next off-season. So yes, I think this deal shows he was willing to leave money on the table, get the deal done early, and spend the next 5 years in a Leaf jersey becoming the franchise's all time leading goal scorer.

And the more I thought about it, the more I liked the term. He'll be 31 when the contract ends which got me thinking, why do we want 8 years so badly? Why pay him as a top player in the league to his 34/35 age? Both player and team get to suss out the situation 5 years from now and see if the relationship is worth extending again and what the appropriate price point will be then.

Superstars handle their mid-30s differently. But we don't have to look past John Tavares and see that, at 32, we wish we weren't paying him $11m per for the next 2 years.

This is a great deal all around.

TOR will have had Matthews for 9 of his prime years. If they can’t win anything in the next 5 years does anyone really want to run it back. And if they do win a Cup in the next 5 years does anyone give a sh*t if he walks. Hard not to look at today as a win 🤷‍♂️

This is weird. We agree a lot more than we used to.
Where is the old Juice?

I'd want futures for Nylander as well but the Guentzel idea I like. Futures give Treliving the chance to reset how the cap space allocated on the roster which looks very appealing.

Adding Guentzel is intriguing because essentially you replace Nylander with similar goal production at around the same cap hit.

I think the PLD trade is the perfect comp for a Nylander deal. Vilardi is a great, young NHL player who helps the Jets now, plus they got futures. That's the exact package the Leafs should be looking for. Im still aboard the Nylander to NSH for Tomasino (assuming a move has to happen)

Ideally you resign Nylander though

It's so strange has quickly the rhetoric surrounding long term deals has changed over the last few years. 4 years after this upcoming season is the PERFECT term IMO. I find it weird how many people are dunking on this. The only member of the core 4 I'd be interested in giving max term to is Marner.

Let's just hope the Matthews era goes better than the Kessel era

I'm still sort of sour that he didn't sign an 8 year deal but...like you and others have pointed out, if the Leafs haven't been to the finals by then, it's the perfect time to rebuild.

I wonder what that would mean for Marner just because he's the hometown kid.