Now we wait to see what Matthews will become
Contract security only sure thing that is known
There is still so much to learn about Auston Matthews, so many possibilities.
He is a canvas only partially painted. He is a hockey work in progress. He looks just like a masterpiece of sorts, we just don’t know exactly what this masterpiece will be at its highest and freshest point.
We do know this much: Matthews is going to become a very wealthy young man over the next five years. That much, really, we knew before the numbers were officially revealed on Tuesday afternoon. That’s the way it works in the new NHL and this is the going rate for players on the rise that have yet to completely leave their signature behind. More money and shorter term for the new restricted free agent. At least, more money and shorter term for this restricted free agent who will eventually be named captain of the Maple Leafs.
This isn’t like the John Tavares signing on the first of July. Tavares was a finished product when he came home to Toronto. And the Leafs paid finished product star money to sign the longtime Islander.
Now they’re paying Matthews more, all with the belief this is just a starting point for all his greatness. We’ve seen some of it. Not enough of it. Not all of it. There is another level for this player to find — and no one knows that more than Matthews himself, who puts stratospheric pressure on himself to perform. He knows there is another level for him — none of us exactly know what that level will be.
He’s just 21 years old. He’ll be 22 when he begins his first season on the new $58-million plus contract and the pressure that comes with that deal. And he will be just entering the prime years of a hockey player’s life and that’s what makes this day so exciting, so enticing and on the other hand, just a little bit nerve-racking.
Wayne Gretzky was never better than he was at the age of 25. Mario Lemieux hit full stride at 23, but was exceptional still at 30. Guy Lafleur, like Gretzky, really hit his groove at 25. Sidney Crosby was a scoring champion and a Hart Trophy winner at 19. Yet at 28 and 29, Crosby played a harder, smarter, more effective and efficient game — understanding how the playoffs meant more than winning scoring titles or personal trinkets. That’s the best version of Crosby we’ve ever seen.
Next season, Matthews will be earning almost three million a season more than Crosby, owner of three Stanley Cups, three Ted Lindsays (voted by players), two Conn Smythe Trophies, and two Art Ross Trophies, which is a rather daunting place to be.
If the Leafs can attain just a portion of what Crosby has accomplished in Matthews — yes, they would settle for that one Stanley Cup, thank you very much — then later in life there will be a statue outside Scotiabank Arena bearing Matthews’ likeness.
It is all one step at a time for Matthews. The Leafs have been a playoff team in each of his first two seasons in Toronto. They accelerated quicker than expected the first two years. This is Year 3. The team has yet to win a playoff round. Last April, he was ineffective against the Boston Bruins. Last season, he missed 20 games to injury. This season, he’s missed 14 to a bad shoulder. There is so much Matthews can accomplish — his shot is ridiculous, his natural scoring ability is sensational, his ability to strip pucks and use his hands and stick are almost unheard of, he is a powerful skater and stick handler and passer with almost unheard of instincts for someone who learned to play in Arizona. There is little he can’t do.
But we can’t know what he’ll grow into. No one can. We haven’t seen a dominant playoff round yet or series of rounds from Matthews and that’s what separates the Crosbys from the rest of the crowd. We haven’t seen a full 82-game season after his rookie year, with regular linemates and first-team power play time, to see just how many goals he can score — I don’t think 60 is out of the question down the road — but until it happens it’s just belief.
Winnipeg’s Mark Scheifele and Colorado’s Nathan MacKinnon, two exceptional talents who have had some playoff success, will combine to earn a little more than a million more than the Leafs will pay Matthews next season, but that’s the price of doing business today in a changing marketplace.
General manager Kyle Dubas, who waited too long and paid too much for William Nylander, did neither with Matthews. This contract wasn’t too much or too long. Dubas signed Tavares in the summer, Nylander in December and now Matthews in February. On the large scale, Mitch Marner is next — the general manager version of hitting for the cycle — and that will be almost as expensive and probably longer in term.
Dubas, like you, can’t wait to watch Matthews grow into something even better. Inside his business mind beats the heart of a hockey fan. He knows about all the possibilities with Auston Matthews. We’ve seen the trailer. Now it’s time for the feature presentation.