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2023-24 Toronto Maple Leafs General Discussion

https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/1669732342741565441

I don't think we ever fully got a confirmation Keefe wasn't being let go but this probably serves as one if not.
 
CarltonTheBear said:
https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/1669732342741565441

I don't think we ever fully got a confirmation Keefe wasn't being let go but this probably serves as one if not.

Blah.  I'm skeptical that Treliving can get him to be more responsive in his game planning.  But maybe it makes sense to keep him for the time being if Matthews is comfortable with him.
 
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
CarltonTheBear said:
https://twitter.com/DarrenDreger/status/1669732342741565441

I don't think we ever fully got a confirmation Keefe wasn't being let go but this probably serves as one if not.

Blah.  I'm skeptical that Treliving can get him to be more responsive in his game planning.  But maybe it makes sense to keep him for the time being if Matthews is comfortable with him.

I think they basically don't want a lame duck coach
 
herman said:
Nothing is set in stone yet, but if Treliving sweet talks Matthews into an 8 year deal at any number south of 15M AAV, that?s a big time win.

Obviously I could be wrong but I really don't think Matthews pushes the salary structure that much. I think he gets somewhere between 12.75 and 13.5 so he can comfortably call himself the highest paid in the game but the idea he gets up to 14 or 15 seems unlikely to me.
 
Nik said:
herman said:
Nothing is set in stone yet, but if Treliving sweet talks Matthews into an 8 year deal at any number south of 15M AAV, that?s a big time win.

Obviously I could be wrong but I really don't think Matthews pushes the salary structure that much. I think he gets somewhere between 12.75 and 13.5 so he can comfortably call himself the highest paid in the game but the idea he gets up to 14 or 15 seems unlikely to me.

He's currently taking about 14% of the cap, so if they stick with that and project the cap to be 95 million in whatever year the deal ends, that's 13.3M so this makes sense.
 
Nik said:
herman said:
Nothing is set in stone yet, but if Treliving sweet talks Matthews into an 8 year deal at any number south of 15M AAV, that?s a big time win.

Obviously I could be wrong but I really don't think Matthews pushes the salary structure that much. I think he gets somewhere between 12.75 and 13.5 so he can comfortably call himself the highest paid in the game but the idea he gets up to 14 or 15 seems unlikely to me.

MacKinnon signed for 8 years at 15.27%, while Matthews is currently at 13.9% of cap @ signing.

I'm pretty sure it'll be 13.4M but not at 8 years (more like 4/5) as he wants 2 big deals with some stability without preventing the Leafs from icing competitive depth players. If he were to agree to 8, they'd have to account for the cap rising and I think that would push his ask to 15+, which is counter productive for both parties.
 
Bullfrog said:
Ya, that doesn't make sense. His previous 5-year contract was smart, but at 26 years old, he's taking an 8 year contract.

If he was smart back then, I don't see why he would be dumb now. 8 years now doesn't make sense, especially with the cap set to finally rise again and his desire for one more big UFA payout after this one.

Which one nets him more?

5 x 11.634M AAV from 21-26
4 x 13.4M AAV from 26-30
7 x 16M AAV from 30-37 (with a backdive)
+ however many cheapo 1-years picking his contender

vs

5 x 11.634M AAV from 21-26
8 x 15M AAV from 26-34
3 x 8M AAV from 34-37
+ however many cheapo 1-years picking his contender

There's a 20+M drop off in scenario 2 with my admittedly made-up, but reasonable #s. No one will pay him a hefty amount after he signs an 8 year this coming extension, especially not with his injury history.
 
herman said:
Bullfrog said:
Ya, that doesn't make sense. His previous 5-year contract was smart, but at 26 years old, he's taking an 8 year contract.

If he was smart back then, I don't see why he would be dumb now. 8 years now doesn't make sense, especially with the cap set to finally rise again and his desire for one more big UFA payout after this one.

Which one nets him more?

5 x 11.634M AAV from 21-26
4 x 13.4M AAV from 26-30
7 x 16M AAV from 30-37 (with a backdive)
+ however many cheapo 1-years picking his contender

vs

5 x 11.634M AAV from 21-26
8 x 15M AAV from 26-34
3 x 8M AAV from 34-37
+ however many cheapo 1-years picking his contender

There's a 20+M drop off in scenario 2 with my admittedly made-up, but reasonable #s. No one will pay him a hefty amount after he signs an 8 year this coming extension, especially not with his injury history.

I think you're undervaluing how much security is valued by players - especially when they have an injury history like Auston's.

With an 8 year deal, he's guaranteed a level of income. With a shorter term, a major injury could crater his future earning potential.
 
herman said:
If he was smart back then, I don't see why he would be dumb now. 8 years now doesn't make sense, especially with the cap set to finally rise again and his desire for one more big UFA payout after this one.

Which one nets him more?

5 x 11.634M AAV from 21-26
4 x 13.4M AAV from 26-30
7 x 16M AAV from 30-37 (with a backdive)
+ however many cheapo 1-years picking his contender

vs

5 x 11.634M AAV from 21-26
8 x 15M AAV from 26-34
3 x 8M AAV from 34-37
+ however many cheapo 1-years picking his contender

There's a 20+M drop off in scenario 2 with my admittedly made-up, but reasonable #s. No one will pay him a hefty amount after he signs an 8 year this coming extension, especially not with his injury history.

I mean, for starters, 30-37 is an 8 year deal, not a 7 year deal but more to the point there seems to be a couple issues with how you're figuring things. One, Matthews is a year older than you have him. He's turning 26 before this season begins so his new contract will cover the years 27+ which admittedly on its own doesn't seem like a huge deal but it does factor into this idea that a 31 year old Matthews is going to be signed to a huge money top of market deal for 7-8 years. I love me some Auston Matthews but I have absolutely no idea if he's going to be that sort of player in 4-5 years and I think any agent telling him it's a sure thing that he will be is talking out of his butt. Like Busta says, this is a guy who sure seems to have nagging wrist/back issues so the idea that he's going to get that third deal you're projecting is a pretty big shot in the dark.

I 100% could buy that Matthews might still opt for a shorter deal to maximize his flexibility but if he's doing it because he thinks a gigantic long term deal that will cover the entirety of his 30's is a sure thing, that's the being dumb here.
 
haha, I was pretty sure I'd get the ages wrong, so I made sure it was at least going to be a systematic error.

I hope I'm wrong, but I see him taking a shorter deal. He has big time don't-care-what-everyone-else does energy, and will want to be the top dollar guy; his group has already put it to the media that he's looking for 2 big tickets in his remaining playing career. McDavid is up shortly after Matthews signs this extension.

Nylander and Marner I can see signing 8 though.
 
Bullfrog said:
Zee said:
Dappleganger said:
What if Matthews re-ups on a two-year deal below market value?

Why would he do that?

Ya, that doesn't make sense. His previous 5-year contract was smart, but at 26 years old, he's taking an 8 year contract.

I think it makes some sense in as much as if he's not 100% sold on coming back to the Leafs he could sign a below-market 2 year deal to really give the current core group one last go-round with a bit more cap flexibility and then, at 29, get to negotiate a big 3rd deal while still on the right side of 30 and potentially after the cap has started to go back up.

Hockey players, as a rule, tend to value security more than that but I could understand some guys being a bit reluctant to sign long term deals before the cap jumps.
 
herman said:
There's a 20+M drop off in scenario 2 with my admittedly made-up, but reasonable #s. No one will pay him a hefty amount after he signs an 8 year this coming extension, especially not with his injury history.

Yet in your scenario you have someone paying him $16M for three years that would come after his 8-year contract. So which is it?

8 years x $14M USD. At these kinds of dollars, security starts to become a bigger factor.
 
Changing the subject, MLHS has the first of two should-they-stay-or-go UFA analyses up:

https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2023/06/17/toronto-maple-leafs-ufas-holl-schenn-acciari-aston-reese-gusafsson/

ZAR = go, but OK if stays
Acciari = stay
Holl = needs a fresh start.  Representative comments: "Holl is a fascinating player in some sense, giving you good production at a very affordable price when he?s at his best. But when he?s off his game, Holl can look like a donkey on skates, making mind-numbing decisions that make you want to put a hatchet through the television." "Holl is a complementary defenseman who can thrive next to high-end players. But ask him to carry a pair next to a struggling partner and his game completely falls apart. That?s what happened in the playoffs this spring when Giordano?s game aged years in the span of just a few weeks, causing Holl to enter a free fall. His Game 5 showing against Tampa is one of the single worst games I?ve seen from an individual Leafs defenseman in the playoffs." [Hidden in here is the sad truth about Gio....]
Gustafsson: let him go
Schenn: stay, but if not OK too

 
Bullfrog said:
herman said:
There's a 20+M drop off in scenario 2 with my admittedly made-up, but reasonable #s. No one will pay him a hefty amount after he signs an 8 year this coming extension, especially not with his injury history.

Yet in your scenario you have someone paying him $16M for three years that would come after his 8-year contract. So which is it?

8 years x $14M USD. At these kinds of dollars, security starts to become a bigger factor.

The premise is that 8 years from now, a 16M cap hit is only a moderate amount and they'd still get some good mileage and gate revenue out of it. 16M is only the cap hit at that point too, real dollars in the back half of these contracts are a little easier to move.
 
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
Changing the subject, MLHS has the first of two should-they-stay-or-go UFA analyses up:

https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2023/06/17/toronto-maple-leafs-ufas-holl-schenn-acciari-aston-reese-gusafsson/

https://mapleleafshotstove.com/2023/06/19/toronto-maple-leafs-ufas-oreilly-bunting-kampf-and-kerfoot/
Follow up article (i.e. the gooder ones)
 
Zanzibar Buck-Buck McFate said:
[Hidden in here is the sad truth about Gio....]

Keefe not scratching Giordano for a single playoff game this year has to be up there on his list of all-time blunders. Dude was one of the teams worst players in both series'. Holl took all of the heat for that pairs struggles against Tampa but he was arguably just as bad if not worse. It's even more crazy considering how under-utilized Gustafsson was.

I actually wondered if a new GM might have a little more of a ruthless attitude toward Giordano in his final year, but considering Treliving has a relationship with him too that likely won't be the case. I feel like we say this ever year with our vets and it doesn't end up happening because players hate to sit, but the Leafs seriously need to do some hardcore load management with Gio this season.
 
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