Leafs lock up Matthews for five years
TORONTO — The Toronto Maple Leafs got their man and some salary cap certainty. Auston Matthews got rich.
The Leafs signed their 21-year-old star centre Tuesday to a $58.17-million US, five-year contract extension with an average annual value of $11.634 million.
Matthews will be 26 when the deal expires in 2023-24. Unless something untoward happens in between, an even bigger Brink’s truck will be needed then given he will be an unrestricted free agent.
“Regardless if I’m making $1 or $11 million, I’m not going to change who I am,” Matthews told a phalanx of some three dozen media squeezed into in the Leafs dressing room.
“Nothing really changes for me,” he added. “I’m going to be myself every day. I’m going to have fun. I get to play hockey and do what I love. Now I’m fortunate to do it for a lot of money. ... I feel very fortunate and very lucky — especially to do it in a city of Toronto.”
The signing now gives Leafs GM Kyle Dubas a clearer picture of his salary cap ahead with the Feb. 25 trade deadline looming.
With William Nylander signing a six-year extension in December — with an average annual value of $10.2 million US this season and $6.9 million in the next five — and veteran John Tavares on Year 1 of a seven-year, $77-million deal, the focus now switches to 21-year-old winger Mitch Marner.
Like Marner, Matthews was eligible to become a restricted free agent on July 1 after their three-year entry-level deals expire. Contract talks with Marner, however, have been put on hold until after the season at agent Darren Ferris’s request.
“We’re respecting the wishes of Darren,” said Dubas. “If they were to change their stance on it, then we’re open to that.”
Added Dubas: “When they’re ready to sit down, we’ll talk. He’s going to be a Toronto Maple Leaf for a long time, regardless of how we have to come to that.”
In addition to Marner, Toronto has some more loose ends. Forwards Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson are eligible to become restricted free agents while defenceman Jake Gardiner and Ron Hainsey are headed toward unrestricted free agency.