John Tavares gets new contract done!

BREAKING NEWS : all the contract details below:

The Toronto Maple Leafs have re-signed veteran forward John Tavares to a four-year contract. According to Elliotte Friedman, the new deal carrying a $4.38M AAV.

The contract also includes, per Chris Johnston, a no-movement clause for two seasons, before converting to a 5-team trade list afterwards.

Tavares joined the Maple Leafs in 2019 on a seven-year deal worth $11 million annually, one of the biggest contracts in the NHL at the time. There was a feeling that he wanted to stay put in Toronto, though he needed to agree on terms and an appropriate salary.

Here are all of the details of the contract, by Pierre LeBrun:

Year 1, $1M base salary, $4.5M signing bonus
Year 2, $1M base salary, $4M signing bonus
Year 3, $3.7M salary salary
Year 4, $1.8M base salary
Plus $2M signing bonus deferred payment payable 5 years after the end of the contract.
The deferred payment part lowers the cap hit from $4.5M to $4.38M
Full NMC in Years 1-2
Modified NTC, 5-team list, in Years 3-4

This gets done before Round 1 of the NHL Draft, which takes place later today in Los Angeles.

“Thrilled to be back and to re-sign ... amazing journey it has been. My belief in us to win is extremely high," Tavares commented after the signing.

"I get to do what I love, what I've been doing since I was a kid. And even though I obviously left some money out there, I've done pretty well. I'm still doing pretty well."

In 75 games played this past season, Tavares had a tremendous outting with 38 goals and 36 assists for 74 total points. Over his seven years with the Maple Leafs, Tavares has scored a total of 222 goals and 271 assists for 493 points.

The Core Four might be losing Mitch Marner in Toronto, but Tavares is here to stay.