Auston Matthews' alleged contract AAV leaked
Is this what it's going to take to sign him?
HockeyFeed
Everyone and their mother knows that the Toronto Maple Leafs have some critical financial decisions to make in the near future that will be laid at the feet of new general manager Brad Treliving, whom team president Brendan Shanahan is now trusting to make the proper decisions after the termination of Kyle Dubas.
In the first place, Treliving has already made several additions via free agency to the Leafs, including Max Domi, Ryan Reaves, and Tyler Bertuzzi. Their new deals are taking up a considerable chunk of Toronto's already extremely limited cap space, with new deals needed for Ilya Samsonov (who has filed for salary arbitration) as well as new contracts for star forwards William Nylander and Auston Matthews before they hit the open market next summer.
In the case of Matthews, it's already been speculated that he won't be signing a long term contract with the Leafs; any contract won't be any longer than four or five years. And now, according to Sportsnet's Nick Kypreos, the alleged AAV has been made known - and it would make him the highest paid player in the NHL.
"I don't know whether we're in a blinking contest or not between Nylander and Matthews or who needs to go first, but if I'm Auston Matthews, I'm not holding my breath on Nylander's contract getting done at all at any point this summer. So, how far does Matthews want to go into the season, now, without a contract? If it is as close as everyone is reporting - and everyone that I've talked to says it's a $13.5M AAV - then what is the term? I think for me, the biggest decision right now, which I think Auston can't decide on or they haven't made a final decision is, is how many years will what we believe is a $13.5M AAV last?"
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