Reporter taunts Leafs fans with potential massive number for a Matthews offer sheet!

We are entering crunch time as William Nylander and the Maple Leafs have until tomorrow at 5pm to make a decision on the continuous everlasting contract stalemate, which seems to make some team insiders go mad, just a little, when talking about the future of the roster in Toronto. And the latest suggestion coming from Andy Strickland of FOX Sports Midwest got Leafs fans all riled up. 

Strickland hinted that things could get a whole lot more complicated for general manager Kyle Dubas. The reporter suggested that Auston Matthews might be a prime target for an offer sheet. 

"With the other salaries Toronto will need to pay, what will prevent a team from signing Mathews to a $14 mill offer sheet? QO number would be $14 Mil."

There has been a lot of speculation of Matthews' next deal with the Maple Leafs and how another team could be tempted to jump in with an offer sheet  to land the star forward. 

Back in October, The Hockey News' Ken Campbell stated during a podcast that Matthews will be the first $16 million man in NHL history and even assumed that the Arizona Coyotes would make the best move by putting an offer sheet for $16 million to Matthews. 

“This year, the cap is set at $79.5 million, that makes 20 percent of the cap 15.9. If we go with the assumption that the cap is going to go up a little over 80, 20 percent is $16 million. Why would you right now, if you were Auston Matthews, settle for anything less than $16 million? Because unlike any other player out there, you know there will be an offer sheet for $16 million out there if the Leafs don’t sign you for that. Who better to offer sheet Auston Matthews for $16 million than the Arizona Coyotes. 

“It will put the Leafs in a position where they are forced to match it. Auston Matthews is still going to get his money, right?”

Wow. That would be quite a way to pull at Matthews’ heart strings for the Coyotes, the team he rooted since he grew up in Arizona. 

For now, it remains unclear how much Matthews will be paid, however an eight-year deal with a cap hit above Buffalo Sabres' Jack Eichel's $10 million and Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid's $12.5 million seems realistic and the best comparables possible. 

The financial puzzle appears quite complicated for now in Toronto, and while fans will be thrilled to see the Leafs are working seriously at offering Matthews the perfect deal, despite signing a blockbuster one with John Tavares back in July, the Toronto fan base might be getting worried for another promising player in Nylander. 

Matthews is not the only player that the Leafs are expected to sign this summer. Maple Leafs forward Mitch Marner, like Matthews, is in the final year of his current entry-level deal and the Maple Leafs are eligible to sign him to an extension if they wish to secure his services for the long term. 

This might be too much for Leafs fans... Don't they have enough already with all the Nylander crap?! Give them a break!