Friedman: Leafs and Matthews discusing extension?

[93LEAFS]

California lacked hockey fans until Wayne Gretzky showed up and made all kinds of new fans.

It's silly to suggest that Matthews in that market wouldn't "improve" the lack of hockey fans. If Matthews came to Arizona and there was a spark of interest in the team with a big, splashy singing of a local boy, he could very well have a Gretzky-esque affect in that market.

After Gretzky joined the Kings the amount of arenas built in the area began to spike, local high school suddenly had a hockey team and new franchises popped up in San Jose and Anaheim.

Now, a generation later, California natives are being drafted into the NHL because his arrival and the excitement around having the top player in the game in the market turned on all kinds of people to NHL hockey.

The Kings were a playoff team, and saw success with Gretzky. I don’t see how the Coyotes can only spend to 70% of the cap and pay Matthews the 17 to 20% it would take to lure him and still win. They still have a serious arena issue that limits access to wealthy suburbs due to the commute.

The thing is with Mauer, the twins were winning with him and they had him for his cheap years.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

8 X 96 would be a solid deal for both sides.

I'm guessing 7 years for 87.5M. This will leave him with one more big pay day when he is 28.

 

[powerstuck]

I guess because Stamkos chose to stay in Tampa instead of joining his home team (Leafs) no other NHL player will take a home discount ever.

 

[FerrisRox]

The Kings were a playoff team, and saw success with Gretzky. I don’t see how the Coyotes can only spend to 70% of the cap and pay Matthews the 17 to 20% it would take to lure him and still win.

It's hilarious that you have arbitrarily decided that he will get 17-20 percent of the cap and now you are using that as a reason why they can't possibly succeed.

You think Matthews is going to receive 20 percent of the cap himself? How did you arrive at these numbers?

 

[LeafFever]

Currently, Coyotes have 8,4M in cap space...that's about 4 millions less than Leafs.

"Cap Space" and "Arizona Coyotees" don't go together. They have to find ways to basically cheat to not even pay the actual cap floor. They will never spend to the cap.
Cap max matters to the Leafs, it's irrelevant to the Coyotees.

 

[Critical13]

It's hilarious that you have arbitrarily decided that he will get 17-20 percent of the cap and now you are using that as a reason why they can't possibly succeed.

You think Matthews is going to receive 20 percent of the cap himself? How did you arrive at these numbers?

I think he has a point.

I would assume Toronto matches anything up to around 17%. After that, it gets a bit dicey.

If he made 20% of the cap, and they had an internal cap around 75%, that leaves only 44 million for the rest of the team.

It's all speculation at the end of the day.

 

[Filatov2Kovalev2Bonk]

Dr. Evil best agent.
Seriously, lock the kid up 8 x 12 at the very least. This isn't the time to go cheap with a likely MVP candidate for your team.

 

[FerrisRox]

I think he has a point.

I would assume Toronto matches anything up to around 17%. After that, it gets a bit dicey.

If he made 20% of the cap, and they had an internal cap around 75%, that leaves only 44 million for the rest of the team.

It's all speculation at the end of the day.

I was talking about Matthews leaving if he signed a five year deal on his next contract, so he'd be departing as unrestricted free agent, meaning there wouldn't be any matching.

 

[93LEAFS]

It's hilarious that you have arbitrarily decided that he will get 17-20 percent of the cap and now you are using that as a reason why they can't possibly succeed.

You think Matthews is going to receive 20 percent of the cap himself? How did you arrive at these numbers?

McDavid got 16.6% as an RFA with a discount. You would think Matthews would get that or more as an unrestricted in a bidding war at 26.

Edit: cap friendly messed up. It’s closer to 15.6% but even then in a team that only spends 70 to 75 of the actual cap, that is a massive amount and will they be in the position to frontload like the JT deal, which this year is close to 18.75%.

 

[powerstuck]

I was talking about Matthews leaving if he signed a five year deal on his next contract, so he'd be departing as unrestricted free agent, meaning there wouldn't be any matching.

There would be matching, but him being UFA means Leafs will have to offer the same amount/more or lose him. When they are free, the player can decide that he doesn't wanna tell his current team what the best offer on the table is, and teams can't do nothing about.

McDavid got 16.6% as an RFA with a discount. You would think Matthews would get that or more as an unrestricted in a bidding war at 26.

Edit: cap friendly messed up. It’s closer to 15.6% but even then in a team that only spends 70 to 75 of the actual cap, that is a massive amount and will they be in the position to frontload like the JT deal, which this year is close to 18.75%.

Well, if Matthews doesn't sing the max term, on next contract the cap will keep rising and be it 15-16 or even 20%, it's going to be double digits closer to 15 or even past that mark.

 

[The Man with a Plan]

I don't pretend to know what Matthews would want to do nor do I have any reason to believe that he has any interest in leaving Toronto or playing at home, but I do know this: the Leafs have zero say in whether he gets to free agency.

What do you mean they would never "let him" get to UFA status? How would they stop him?

Quite simple... put a contract in front of him that makes him not think about playing elsewhere. One would think that playing in a winning and contending atmosphere for a decade would give him everything he wants and desires.

Besides the posters who keep running on and on about AM leaving for the Yotes keep forgetting one thing. That boat anchor of a team probably won't be there in 10 years time.

 

[member 157595]

Dr. Evil best agent.
Seriously, lock the kid up 8 x 12 at the very least. This isn't the time to go cheap with a likely MVP candidate for your team.

8x12 is exactly what I think it would take for us. Life without Matthews for 8 years and $12M more cap space is far worse than the alternative though, you don't lose guys like Auston Matthews for the cost of cap space.

However, it's all moot, as he's clearly going to demand a trade to Arizona.

 

[sheed36]

If I'm Matthews and the Leafs insist on 8 years I'd ask for 8 years, 100-106M. For his 5 remaining RFA years I'd ask for 10-11M per season. For the 3 UFA years they would be buying up 5 years down the road with a very likely higher cap, I'd ask for 15-17M per season for these 3 UFA years. Would that be a fair ask from Matthews if the Leafs want 8 years?

 

[Flyerfan52]

I would suggest that you and all the others who are saying he will bolt from Toronto the second he has a chance are being ignorant.

That's implying that the leafs would even let him get to UFA status...which they never will. Teams simply do NOT luck onto a player like AM, spend years developing him while building around him only to let him walk.

What? He was drafted June 2016 & a full time regular when the 2016-17 season started.
Even if they attempted to give Matthews some tips about training or nutrition that hardly qualifies as years.
& you have the nerve to call others ignorant.

 

[Tak7]

I guess because Stamkos chose to stay in Tampa instead of joining his home team (Leafs) no other NHL player will take a home discount ever.

Other than Tavares.

 

[93LEAFS]

If I'm Matthews and the Leafs insist on 8 years I'd ask for 8 years, 100-106M. For his 5 remaining RFA years I'd ask for 10-11M per season. For the 3 UFA years they would be buying up 5 years down the road with a very likely higher cap, I'd ask for 15-17M per season for these 3 UFA years. Would that be a fair ask from Matthews if the Leafs want 8 years?

I can live with 11.875 which is 10x5 +15x3. I would try to put it all structured in lockout protected bonuses to make it more enticing to take the lower number. Plus, I know Bettman and certain teams hate those deals which makes it more fun to see the fall out.

 

[The Man with a Plan]

What? He was drafted June 2016 & a full time regular when the 2016-17 season started.
Even if they attempted to give Matthews some tips about training or nutrition that hardly qualifies as years.
& you have the nerve to call others ignorant.

Well now... looks like another person who doesn't understand plain English.

By the time he is eligible for UFA status he will have been with the Leafs for the better part of a decade. If you think he was a perfect player the leafs had 0 input into making a better player over that timeline you truly are lying to yourself and others.

 

[Subway Schenn]

I'd give him a blank cheque book.

Tavares, Marner, Willie, Rielly, et al. are all nice but Auston knows where he is in the pecking order and the Leafs are his team.

 

[Flyerfan52]

Well now... looks like another person who doesn't understand plain English.

By the time he is eligible for UFA status he will have been with the Leafs for the better part of a decade. If you think he was a perfect player the leafs had 0 input into making a better player over that timeline you truly are lying to yourself and others.

You spoke authoritively about the Leafs having spent years developing Matthews. Now you've back tracked & claim that by the time he's eligible they'll have done so.
Fancy footwork. It's things like this that keep your posts as the comedy portion of threads.

 

[The Man with a Plan]

You spoke authoritively about the Leafs having spent years developing Matthews. Now you've back tracked & claim that by the time he's eligible they'll have done so.
Fancy footwork. It's things like this that keep your posts as the comedy portion of threads.

I never backtracked whatsoever.
I said by the time he was a UFA a lot of time and development would have been spent on him. You misunderstood, don't blame me for that.

 

[The Winter Soldier]

Nah, but that seems to be in the ballpark of Laine's next contract because.......Winnipeg.

What does Laine have to do with Matthews contract? Are you sure you are in the correct thread?