Matthews signs 5 year contract, $11.634mil AAV

[Fanatic]

The Oilers signed McDavid for 8 years and a cap hit of 866k more than Matthews. Would you trade Matthews for McDavid?  I would, and you'd have him for more years.

Remind me again how that has worked out for the Oilers? When did they become the model for anyone to follow?

 

[Kin]

The sad fact is, rather than the Leafs getting any sort of "discount" to keep a great group of players together, it seems Leafs have to pay a premium.

That's not a fact. Matthews could have easily asked for 12 or more. What would the Leafs have done then? Traded him? Risked an offer sheet? Let him sit next year for months in the hopes that the price dropped the way they did Nylander?

The % of this deal, when compared to some of the other 5 year second contracts that have been signed, is pretty reasonable as CtB has shown. Many of the teams that signed those deals won cups. The idea that this is a "bad" deal is pure fantasy on your part. 

 

[Zee]

The Oilers signed McDavid for 8 years and a cap hit of 866k more than Matthews. Would you trade Matthews for McDavid?  I would, and you'd have him for more years.

Remind me again how that has worked out for the Oilers? When did they become the model for anyone to follow?

Ok, explain to me how Matthews gets more than Kucherov?  How's that working out for Tampa?

 

[Fanatic]

I am reading tweets from Bobby Mac and CJ saying that there is nothing at all wrong with Matthews commitment to the Leafs and he would gladly have signed an 8 year deal, but that would have left them without enough to work at signing others. It seems that Matthews is so committed to the team that together they worked out a deal that is best for everyone.

I like the deal. It is what was needed. Why is anyone talking as though it ends in 5 years - this deal will, but not the Matthews era.

 

[Fanatic]

Ok, explain to me how Matthews gets more than Kucherov?  How's that working out for Tampa?

The Florida tax situation provides them with an advantage that cannot be modeled by other teams.

 

[Kin]

"This is a bad deal because some other guys signed deals that didn't take full advantage of their bargaining power" is just ridiculous.

 

[herman]

Matthews, Marner, and Nylander are the types of players you should be okay paying fair market value for and then you nickel and dime the depth.

The Leafs already have Rielly, Kadri, and Muzzin, and sort of Tavares on decent discounty deals. Nylander?s is a friggin steal too.

There?s a new paradigm in superstar contracts. This is fine.

 

[Zee]

The sad fact is, rather than the Leafs getting any sort of "discount" to keep a great group of players together, it seems Leafs have to pay a premium.

That's not a fact. Matthews could have easily asked for 12 or more. What would the Leafs have done then? Traded him? Risked an offer sheet? Let him sit next year for months in the hopes that the price dropped the way they did Nylander?

The % of this deal, when compared to some of the other 5 year second contracts that have been signed, is pretty reasonable as CtB has shown. Many of the teams that signed those deals won cups. The idea that this is a "bad" deal is pure fantasy on your part.

Not fantasy at all.  Matthews isn't the 2nd best player in the league based on his points, yet he's being paid with the 2nd highest cap hit in the league as of right now.  I'd be fine with that if they could guarantee he's a Leaf for the next 7-8 years, but they only got 5.  Other teams have managed to get their stars for 8, so it's a failure on the Leafs part, pure and simple. 

 

[Zee]

"This is a bad deal because some other guys signed deals that didn't take full advantage of their bargaining power" is just ridiculous.

So other players agents are idiots, but the Leafs get stuck with the shrewdest agents around.  Great.  Really helps the overall team when Leafs can't convince their stars to do what every other team in the league seems to be able to do.  Now Marner will want the exact same deal.

 

[cabber24]

I am thrilled to have him signed but the term is short for $11.634M?

The Leafs are swimming in uncharted waters. I see the percentage arguments but they signed more term so they don't really apply.

EDIT: Carlton's post about 5 years contracts as a percentage of cap is the only post that matter's in the thread. This deal is justified.

 

[L K]

Man just think about how much trade value Matthews will have once we pay his signing bonus after July 1st of his 5th year.

That's when the Coyotes will be really interested.

Are we going to have space for the necessary cap retention part of that trade?

 

[Bill_Berg]

Nice deal. Leafs are committed to paying their players, players are committed to signing deals that help with the cap.

 

[Fanatic]

It is worth remembering that Nylander's deal is up July 1, 2024 and now Matthews is the same. I wonder how far Marner's deal will take him. That could be a big date for the Leafs.

But hey, that is 5.5 years (6 playoff runs) from now and we get to enjoy the best team that I have seen in my life - and that's going back just over 50 years.

 

[Kin]

Not fantasy at all.  Matthews isn't the 2nd best player in the league based on his points, yet he's being paid with the 2nd highest cap hit in the league as of right now.  I'd be fine with that if they could guarantee he's a Leaf for the next 7-8 years, but they only got 5.  Other teams have managed to get their stars for 8, so it's a failure on the Leafs part, pure and simple.

Again, you are not making a fact based argument. You're just basing this, arbitrarily, on what you would be "fine with".  You'll forgive me if I don't mistake that for an actual substantive case.

 

[Kin]

So other players agents are idiots, but the Leafs get stuck with the shrewdest agents around.

Agents, ultimately, are just representatives of the players. McDavid initially negotiated a deal at 13.25 but then decided by himself to lower his own salary. If he's the kind of dope who's going to do that so he can tie himself for 8 years to the Oilers, that's fair enough for him but it doesn't become the standard by which all other deals get judged on.

 

[Fanatic]

Not fantasy at all.  Matthews isn't the 2nd best player in the league based on his points, yet he's being paid with the 2nd highest cap hit in the league as of right now.  I'd be fine with that if they could guarantee he's a Leaf for the next 7-8 years, but they only got 5.  Other teams have managed to get their stars for 8, so it's a failure on the Leafs part, pure and simple.

Tavares signed for 8 years. If you really thought that Matthews and Marner were going to sign for 8 then you have not been paying attention very well.

But sure, sign them to 8 years and never build a team around them.

Why can't Leafs fans be happy?

 

[Zee]

Not fantasy at all.  Matthews isn't the 2nd best player in the league based on his points, yet he's being paid with the 2nd highest cap hit in the league as of right now.  I'd be fine with that if they could guarantee he's a Leaf for the next 7-8 years, but they only got 5.  Other teams have managed to get their stars for 8, so it's a failure on the Leafs part, pure and simple.

Again, you are not making a fact based argument. You're just basing this, arbitrarily, on what you would be "fine with".  You'll forgive me if I don't mistake that for an actual substantive case.

Your entire argument is that other players didn't get as much money as they could and Matthews did.  So my argument is the Leafs management failed to convince Matthews to get paid what other comparable contracts are, in both dollars and term.

 

[herman]

https://twitter.com/TSNBobMcKenzie/status/1092856379105337344

This thread

 

[Kin]

Your entire argument is that other players didn't get as much money as they could and Matthews did.  So my argument is the Leafs management failed to convince Matthews to get paid what other comparable contracts are, in both dollars and term.

No, my "argument" is that this stacks up very comparably to past 5 year contracts for elite level players on their second deals as a % of the cap and that because this deal isn't 100% of what YOU wanted doesn't make it a "loss".

 

[Zee]

Not fantasy at all.  Matthews isn't the 2nd best player in the league based on his points, yet he's being paid with the 2nd highest cap hit in the league as of right now.  I'd be fine with that if they could guarantee he's a Leaf for the next 7-8 years, but they only got 5.  Other teams have managed to get their stars for 8, so it's a failure on the Leafs part, pure and simple.

Tavares signed for 8 years. If you really thought that Matthews and Marner were going to sign for 8 then you have not been paying attention very well.

But sure, sign them to 8 years and never build a team around them.

Why can't Leafs fans be happy?

Hey, I'm happy Matthews is here for at least another 5 years, Tavares for 6 more after this, and Marner presumably for 5 more (as I guess he'll want the same deal as Auston).  So the Leafs window is basically 5 years now.  If they don't get close to winning a Cup in the next 5 seasons, who knows if the above mentioned players will want to stick around when they're UFAs.  As Washington showed, it could take a long, long time to win a Cup even if you have a great team year in, year out.  I'd feel a lot better if they could have locked up Matthews for 7 or 8 years to give the Leafs the best chances over that time.