Critical update in Auston Matthews contract saga

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 meantime, it sounds as though any extension that Matthews takes from the Leafs will be a shorter term deal in the neighborhood of four to five seasons. This much was said by David Pagnotta of The Fourth Period recently, and also stated that he believes the Leafs are more concerned in the immediate future of re-signing Nylander first. 

"I would be surprised if Matthews puts pen to paper before Nylander does, at least any time soon," Pagnotta said. "It'll be a five-year deal max for Matthews somewhere in the $13M to $14M range, but I would be very surprised if he locks in before Nylander."

What exactly does the future hold for Auston Matthews with the Maple Leafs? 

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