Vegas Golden Knights Acquire, Extend Mark Stone
The Vegas Golden Knights have made their big deadline splash, acquiring Mark Stone from the Ottawa Senators according to several reports including Bob McKenzie of TSN. The Senators will receive prospect Erik Brannstrom, forward Oscar Lindberg and a 2020 second-round selection (DAL). Tobias Lindberg will also go to Vegas in order to even out the contract slots. Stone himself told TSN that he is close to an extension with the Golden Knights. The deal is expected to be an eight-year contract with an average annual value of $9.5MM. The extension will not be officially signed until March 1st due to the tagging rule.
Stone, 26, is one of the most dynamic two-way wingers in the entire league and is having another excellent season. With 62 points in 59 games he is on track to blow by his previous career-high of 64, and will pass the 30-goal threshold for the first time in his career. Not only is he an effective offensive player, but Stone has repeatedly proven to be an elite defensive winger and routinely creates turnovers by stripping opposing players of the puck. He has received Selke Trophy votes for the last four seasons, even finishing sixth in 2017 despite the award usually going to centers.
That kind of all-around talent is why Stone was so coveted at the deadline, and why the Senators tried desperately to sign him to an extension. Apparently that couldn’t be worked out for whatever reason so the team cashed in for the best package available. Brannstrom, the 15th-overall pick from 2017, is having an excellent season as a 19-year old in the AHL and has impressed every step of the way. With 28 points in 41 games for the Chicago Wolves there are few defensemen in the minor leagues that can carry the puck as well as the new Senators prospect, and he has been repeatedly compared to Erik Karlsson over the last few years. Obviously that will put huge expectations on the young defenseman, but Ottawa did well to land a prospect of his stature.
Still, it is surprising that the team did not secure a first-round pick along with Brannstrom given the reported ask in recent days. The Senators do now have a huge number of picks in the next few drafts but watched their top three scorers walk out the door in the last few days. They’ll have to build quickly as the 2021 timeline that owner Eugene Melnyk suggested for contention is coming fast.
San Jose Sharks Acquire Gustav Nyquist
The San Jose Sharks must have liked what they saw today in Gustav Nyquist‘s game. The team has acquired him from the Detroit Red Wings after seeing him in person today in exchange for a 2019 second-round pick and 2020 conditional third-round pick. Nyquist scored one goal and recorded eight shots in more than 20 minutes of ice time in a 5-3 loss against the Sharks. In order to complete the trade, Nyquist was required to waive his full no-trade clause. If the Sharks reach the Stanley Cup Final this season or re-sign Nyquist, the 2020 pick will become a second-round selection.
Nyquist, 29, now has 16 goals and 49 points on the season and is closing in on his career-high of 54 set back in 2014-15. The talented winger was perhaps the best expiring contract the Red Wings have left after already sending Nick Jensen to Washington, and they will gather even more assets for their rebuild with this trade. The veteran forward comes with a $4.75MM full season cap hit, though his actual salary is even more. This season Nyquist is earning $5.5MM of the $19MM he signed for in 2015, though Detroit will be retaining 30% of his remaining contract.
Over the last few seasons the Red Wings have consistently turned their former core players into younger or future assets as they look towards Dylan Larkin to lead the next wave of talent. Nyquist, Jensen, Tomas Tatar, Petr Mrazek, Riley Sheahan, Brendan Smith, and Thomas Vanek (who eventually re-signed in Detroit) have all been shipped out since the beginning of 2017 for a total of eleven draft picks all in the first three rounds. That kind of turnover is allowing the team to rebuild through their own development system, though they so far have not experienced much on-ice success in terms of the NHL standings. Detroit once again is expected to finish near the bottom of the league and should be selecting in the first half of the round in June’s draft.
For the Sharks, adding another offensive talent like Nyquist is just another sign that they believe they can compete for the Stanley Cup this season. The team had already spent big on Erik Karlsson in the offseason but had been open about the fact that they were willing to shop in the rental market. Remember though, GM Doug Wilson often extends the players he goes after through trade, most recently with Evander Kane. Nyquist ended up at #14 on our Midseason UFA Power Rankings, and with a career year and potential long playoff experience is setting himself up for a big pay day.
With the win today, San Jose will wake up tomorrow with the third-best record in the entire NHL at 37-18-8 and armed with another talented player to insert into the lineup. Nyquist has experience on both wings and has previous success on the powerplay. Unfortunately there is still a question mark about his playoff performance to date. In 35 games Nyquist has recorded just eight points, though obviously that could change with the new uniform. That’s what the Sharks are hoping for, as they push all of their chips to the middle of the table.
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Sabres Acquire Brandon Montour
It has been a relatively quiet day on the trade front so far but the Sabres and Ducks have made a notable swap as Buffalo has acquired defenseman Brandon Montour from Anaheim in exchange for blueline prospect Brendan Guhle and a first-round pick. The Ducks will have the choice of the better of the first rounders of the Blues and Sharks which the Sabres had acquired in previous deals.
Montour is in his second full season at the NHL level and has played a significant role for the Ducks this season, logging over 22 minutes a night on their back end which ranks third behind only Cam Fowler and Hampus Lindholm. He hasn’t been the most productive offensively though (an issue for pretty much everyone on Anaheim) with just 25 points (5-20-25) in 62 games but is still a more-than-capable top-four defenseman.
The 24-year-old is in the first season of a two-year, $6.775MM bridge deal that was signed in late July. The contract is slightly backloaded and carries a $3.525MM salary next season which will also represent his qualifying offer in the 2020 offseason when he will also have arbitration eligibility.
Meanwhile, in Guhle, Anaheim adds another young defender to their stable. The 21-year-old actually made his NHL debut as a 19-year-old when he was summoned from the WHL as an emergency recall for three games. However, he has spent the bulk of his professional career at the minor league level and has played in 50 games with Buffalo’s AHL affiliate in Rochester this season, collecting 27 points (5-22-27). He has suited up a total of 23 times with the Sabres over parts of three years, picking up five assists while logging just over 17 minutes a night. He has two years remaining on his entry-level deal with an AAV of just under $700K.
Buffalo GM Jason Botterill had indicated previously that he wasn’t interested in dealing a first-round pick for a rental player but might be open to doing so for someone that will be around longer. That is indeed the case here as Montour has three years of team control remaining after this one. As for Anaheim, they free up some much-needed salary cap flexibility for the next couple of seasons although it comes at the cost of someone that looked like a part of their long-term future just a short while ago.
Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman was the first to report (Twitter link) that Montour was heading to Buffalo. Pierre LeBrun of TSN and The Athletic was the first to report (via Twitter) that Guhle and a first-round pick were going to Anaheim. TSN’s Frank Seravalli was the first to note (Twitter link) the draft pick options for Anaheim.
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Dallas Stars Trade For New York Rangers’ Mats Zuccarello
Earlier in the day, the Dallas Stars added a defenseman. Now they’ve added a forward. TSN’s Darren Dreger confirmed that the Stars have acquired veteran forward Mats Zuccarello from the New York Rangers for a 2019 conditional second-round pick and a 2020 conditional third-round pick. Zuccarello is expected to join the team for Sunday’s game against Chicago.
The second-round pick becomes a first-rounder if Dallas wins two rounds in the Stanley Cup playoffs this season, while the 2020 third-rounder can become a first-round pick if Dallas re-signs Zuccarello. The Rangers also retained 30 percent of his salary, according to CapFriendly.
“Mats is a legitimate top-six forward in this League who possesses a high level of speed, skill, compete and grit,” said Dallas general manager Jim Nill. “He will enhance our team in a number of ways.”
The Stars hope that Zuccarello will give them the offense they need to get their team into the playoffs this year. Dallas currently owns the first wild card spot in the playoffs as they are tied with Colorado with 65 points. However, the Minnesota Wild are just a point behind both team, while two more teams are within four points of Dallas. With the team struggling scoring goals beyond their first line, the team needed to bring in some offense at the trade deadline. Zuccarello, who will be an unrestricted free agent this summer, could provide that. The 31-year-old has 11 goals and 37 points so far this year and should be the perfect addition to the team’s struggling second line. Zaccarello has spent his entire career with the Rangers and has tallied 113 goals in 509 career NHL games.
Aside of getting the Rangers to retain 30 percent of Zuccarello’s salary, the Stars placed Martin Hanzal on long-term injured reserve, freeing up the necessary cap space for Dallas to acquire Zuccarello. Hanzal going to LTIR freed up $4.75MM in cap space.
While a pair of picks doesn’t seem like a big return, the Rangers have conditions on those picks. The Rangers could get a first-round pick in this year’s draft if the Stars win a divisional championship, which seems like a longshot, but New York can also get a first-round pick if Dallas can re-sign Zuccarello this summer.
TSN’s Bob McKenzie was the first to report the potential deal.
Columbus Blue Jackets Acquire Ryan Dzingel
The Columbus Blue Jackets aren’t done adding. According to TSN’s Bob McKenzie, the Blue Jackets have finalized a deal to acquire forward Ryan Dzingel from the Ottawa Senators. Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports the Senators will trade Dzingel and the Calgary Flames 2019 seventh-round pick to Columbus for Anthony Duclair and two second-round picks, ones in 2020 and 2021.
For Columbus, general managers Jarmo Kekalainen continues to add to a team that has decided to go all-in and try to win a Stanley Cup, so far getting all his additions from Ottawa after the team acquired Matt Duchene from the Senators Friday. This almost guarantees that the team will hold onto forward Artemi Panarin and goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky as own-rentals instead of trading them both away. This time, Columbus moves a pair of second-rounders to get Dzingel, who should add another key element to the team’s top-six and continue to move the rest of their team to strengthen the third and fourth lines.
Dzingel, who was one of three pending unrestricted free agents in Ottawa who didn’t want to commit to the Senators’ long-term, returns to Ohio where he played three years of college hockey at Ohio State University (and was a Hobey Baker award finalist), making him a legitimate candidate to potentially re-sign with the Blue Jackets this summer. There has been no discussion as of yet of an extension, however. The 26-year-old has 22 goals and a career-high 44 points and should make an instant impact next to Duchene.
For Ottawa, the team gets back forward Anthony Duclair, who Columbus’ head coach John Tortorella said on Tuesday, “I don’t think he knows how to play.” The 23-year-old Duclair is considered to be a talented scorer, but is now on his fifth team in his young career and there were rumors that he was a locker room distraction. He will get a final chance to develop into the player that many teams have thought they could get when they traded for him. Duclair posted a 20-goal season with Arizona in his rookie season back in the 2015-16 season, but tallied five goals after that and combined for 11 between Arizona and Chicago last year. He was not handed a qualifying offer and eventually signed a minimum-salaried deal with Columbus this summer. Duclair started off strong this season as he scored eight goals in his first 19 games of the season, but has seen his playing time drop considerably due to his lack of defense. With the available playing time that Ottawa will have after moving their top three players, the Senators should have the playing time to see if they can get Duclair to figure things out in the NHL.
The key to the deal is the two second-round picks. While it is often said that second-round picks pan out at a significantly less rate than first-rounders, the Senators managed to snag two of them, not including the 2019 first-round pick that Columbus gave Ottawa in the Duchene trade as well as a conditional first-rounder in 2020. With their recent trades (not including those including Mike Hoffman and Erik Karlsson) last summer, Ottawa could have as many as 16 picks in the first three rounds of the draft in the next three drafts, including five first-round picks, seven second-rounders and four third-round picks.
Columbus Blue Jackets Acquire Matt Duchene
The Matt Duchene era in Ottawa is over. The Columbus Blue Jackets have acquired Duchene and minor league defenseman Julius Bergman from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for a package including a 2019 first-round pick (top-3 protected) and prospects Vitaly Abramov and Jonathan Davidsson. While extension talks have not yet occurred between the Blue Jackets and Duchene, the team would give up an additional first-round selection in 2020 if he re-signs. The two teams play each other tonight in Ottawa.
This deal has huge implications for not only the two teams involved, but the entire league that was waiting for a price to be set on the very best rentals available at this year’s deadline. Duchene was one of three players considered the top tier of the market, along with former teammate Mark Stone and, coincidentally new teammate Artemi Panarin. The fact that the speedy center is heading to Columbus complicates matters, given that it now seems unlikely that the Blue Jackets would move on from Panarin after adding such a big name.
In fact, there may be reason for Columbus to add even more in the coming days. Despite not having seen playoff hockey since the 2013-14 season, Duchene remains an incredible talent that can take over a game with his speed and skill. The Blue Jackets, who currently sit one point behind the Carolina Hurricanes for the final wild card spot in the Eastern Conference, likely see this opportunity as their best chance to finally win a playoff series, something the franchise has still never accomplished. The Metropolitan Division playoff spots are even still up for grabs, with third place Pittsburgh holding just a two-point lead on Columbus heading into tonight’s action.
Still, it’s a hefty price to pay for a player who is having a career year and will become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season. Duchene has 58 points through 50 games and will likely break his previous highs of 30 goals and 70 points, but is completely unproven in the postseason. In a ten year NHL career, Duchene has played just eight playoff contests and has never scored a playoff goal.
Bergman, who also comes to Columbus in the deal is unlikely to spend much time in the organization. There have been reports recently that the Swedish defenseman will be heading back to the SHL after the 2018-19 season when his entry-level contract expires. The Senators needed to keep the number of contracts equal given their other upcoming moves and the fact that they are currently sitting just two spots under the 50-contract threshold.
The Blue Jackets did however avoid giving up the very best of their prospects. While Abramov is armed with incredible puck skills (perhaps among the best in the world), he is undersized and has weaknesses throughout his game. In 52 games with the Cleveland Monsters this season the 20-year old winger has 22 points, but also still holds a development ceiling of a first-line NHL player. If Ottawa can get him there they’ll have a star on their hands, but that’s far from guaranteed at this point.
Davidsson meanwhile is a sixth-round pick who has found real success in Sweden since being drafted. The 21-year old forward recorded 31 points in a breakout season in 2017-18, and has 20 through 35 games for Djurgardens this season while playing a bigger role. His ceiling may not be quite as high as Abramov’s, but there is a good chance that Davidsson will play NHL games at some point in the near future.
If you only look at this trade, it looks like a win for the Senators. Selling off an expiring asset during a lost season for potentially four valuable assets is a good way to build up your system and compete in the future. Unfortunately, Duchene leaves Ottawa with quite a bit of baggage that cannot be ignored. The Senators gave up a ton of value to acquire him from the Colorado Avalanche in the fall of 2017, sending out Kyle Turris, Shane Bowers, Andrew Hammond, a third-round pick and, most notably, an unprotected first-round selection.
That first-round pick did have a condition that the Senators could give up their top selection in either 2018 or 2019, but after finishing fourth in the draft lottery and staring at Brady Tkachuk on the board, Ottawa decided to push it to this season. The hope was that with some added youth and health the team would not find itself at the bottom of the standings again. Unfortunately, that hasn’t happened and Ottawa now sits in last place in the entire NHL and has the best shot at first overall in June’s draft. Colorado now owns that pick, meaning the Senators may very well have given up Jack Hughes in order to acquire Duchene for less than two seasons.
The Senators were never going to recoup full value for Duchene, but they do still have a chance to make this deadline a success. With this return plus potentially even more in trades for Mark Stone and Ryan Dzingel, the team can start their rebuild in full and hand the keys to a new wave of talent. The team already recalled Drake Batherson and Logan Brown today, and will still have at least three picks in the first two rounds in June.
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Minnesota Wild Trade Charlie Coyle
Though their head coach made a playoff guarantee just six days ago, the Minnesota Wild have traded away another one of their key forwards. Charlie Coyle has been traded to the Boston Bruins in exchange for Ryan Donato and a conditional 2019 fifth-round pick. The pick would become a fourth-round selection if the Bruins advance past the first round of the playoffs this season.
Coyle, 26, has been involved in trade rumors every time the Wild have hit a rough patch over the last few years thanks to his positional flexibility and consistent production, but this move comes after a particularly defeating loss to the Anaheim Ducks. Minnesota is still technically in a playoff spot at the moment but after losing 4-0 to the Ducks they are now 1-6-3 in their last ten and just a point ahead of four different teams in the Western Conference race. Having already sent Nino Niederreiter to the Carolina Hurricanes, Coyle’s departure may be just the start of a culture change in Minnesota in which they try to start again with a different core group.
Versatility has become Coyle’s calling card over the years as the Wild regularly move him around the lineup, including long stretches at both right wing and center. He hit his offensive peak in 2016-17 when he recorded 56 points, but has just 28 this year through 60 games and has struggled to find the consistency that previously stood out through his career. Still, the big-bodied forward can play in a variety of situations and comes with just a $3.2MM cap hit this year and next. He’ll become an unrestricted free agent after the 2019-20 season.
One of the biggest questions regarding Coyle is where his offense has gone in the playoffs each year. The Wild have faced perennial first-round exits thanks to a struggling postseason offense, and Coyle has been part of those failures. The forward has scored just 15 points in 44 career playoff games, and just six in his last 28.
For the Bruins, Coyle represents an upgrade for their middle-six down the stretch and through next season. Boston has had trouble finding any sort of secondary scoring outside of their top four forwards, and will now add a relatively young option that does have a history of success. It doesn’t hurt that Coyle is a Massachusetts-born Boston University alum and plays a perfect style of game for how head coach Bruce Cassidy likes to run his teams.
Still, giving up on Donato is a somewhat surprising move for the Bruins given his outstanding start just last season. After scoring 43 points in 29 games during his junior season at Harvard and being named a finalist for the Hobey Baker as one of the country’s best collegiate players, Donato burst onto the NHL scene with three points and almost 20 minutes of ice time in his debut. Things haven’t gone quite as well for him since, with just 15 points in his next 45 games but there is still a lot to be excited about with the 22-year old forward.
The Wild are obviously trying to get younger this season and change their core, but on first blush the returns for both Niederreiter and Coyle may seem underwhelming. They’ll hope for more success for Donato than Victor Rask has experienced since his journey from Carolina, which has resulted in two points in ten games and a trip to injured reserve.
Focus now turns to the next moves for both of these teams, as it seems unlikely either is finished. The Wild still have pending free agent Eric Staal and others to deal if they want to blow things up, while the Bruins could still use some more scoring for the middle part of their lineup. Boston has been expected to be involved in the trade market as the deadline approaches, but after this deal it is not clear if they will want to give up the excessive assets required to land some of the bigger names. At least if they do go after the likes of Artemi Panarin, Matt Duchene or Mark Stone they are still holding their first-round pick, something that wasn’t needed to land their newest forward.
Michael Russo of The Athletic was first to report that Coyle had been traded.
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Flyers Acquire Cam Talbot
Following their loss to Carolina on Friday night, the Oilers pulled the trigger on trading goalie Cam Talbot, sending him to Philadelphia in exchange for netminder Anthony Stolarz. Both teams have announced the swap.
This move had been speculated over the past couple of days although it was believed that the Flyers preferred to send veteran Brian Elliott in the deal instead. Edmonton was facing a cap crunch with the pending return of defenseman Andrej Sekera as they needed to clear some room to activate him off LTIR. This move does that and more as the deal frees up just over $3.4MM in full-season cap space so when Sekera is indeed activated, they’ll still have a couple million at their disposal.
Beyond that, the deal is intriguing for both sides. In Talbot, the Flyers acquire what should be an upgrade for their backup position over Elliott and the oft-injured Michal Neuvirth which will help in the short term as they can ease Carter Hart’s workload down the stretch if they so desire. It will also allow them to get a look at the pending unrestricted free agent to see if he’s the right fit to work with Hart for the next few seasons. The two goalies know each other well already so there’s a good chance that this played into the decision.
Talbot will need to fare a lot better with Philadelphia than he did with Edmonton if he wants to come close to matching his current AAV of $4.167MM though. He lost the number one role to Mikko Koskinen while his GAA (3.36) and SV% (.893) are the worst of his career. However, his career numbers are much more impressive with a 2.59 GAA and a .915 SV% in 284 games between the Oilers and Rangers and the Flyers are hoping he’ll be able to return to that type of level. When he does suit up in a game for them, he will be the eighth different goalie they’ve used this season which will set an NHL record.
As for the Oilers, they too get to evaluate a potential fit for next season in beyond in Stolarz. The 25-year-old has battled injury issues over the past two seasons, playing in just 21 games combined over that span (including his stints in the AHL and ECHL). He was inconsistent with the Flyers this season, posting a 3.33 GAA with a .902 SV% in a dozen appearances and it’s likely he’s going to see a lot of action with Edmonton down the stretch.
Stolarz has to play at least 30 minutes in 10 of Edmonton’s remaining 25 games in order to avoid qualifying for Group Six unrestricted free agency this summer. Accordingly, expect Ken Hitchcock to be calling his name early and often in the weeks to come. If he reaches that target and becomes a restricted free agent once again, the Oilers will owe him a qualifying offer of just over $799K.
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Anaheim Ducks Fire Randy Carlyle
It looks like the toll of losing finally was too much for the Anaheim Ducks. Despite being told that his job was secure for the remained of the year, the Anaheim Ducks have fired head coach Randy Carlyle and will replace him with Executive Vice President/General Manager Bob Murray for the rest of the season, according to TSN’s Brennan Klak.
“We thank Randy for everything he has done for the organization, Murray said. “Leading the team to a Stanley Cup and three conference final appearances, he has accomplished so much in Anaheim. Difficult decisions need to be made when times are tough, and our play has clearly been unacceptable. We have a tradition of success in Anaheim and we need to get back to that.”
Murray, who has no coaching experience at any level but has been a three-time finalist for general manager of the year and won it in 2013-14, is expected to name a permanent coach in the offseason with San Diego Gulls head coach Dallas Eakins, and former Edmonton Oilers head coach, being the front-runner to take over, according to Klak. With the Gulls deep in a battle for a playoff run, Murray didn’t want to disrupt Eakins and his team. The 51-year-old coach has been the team’s AHL head coach since 2015.
While Murray didn’t want to make a coaching change due to the success that Carlyle has had in Anaheim over the years, the fact that the team has lost seven straight games by a margin of 37-8, was enough that the franchise felt it had to make a change. The worst of it was that the seven-game losing streak wasn’t the worst. The team had lost 12 straight between Dec. 18 through Jan. 15 and have lost 19 of their last 21 games.
Granted the team has dealt with numerous injuries as the team has been without Corey Perry for all but five games, while Patrick Eaves has missed all but seven games this season. Young winger Ondrej Kase is out for the season, after undergoing shoulder surgery and played just 30 games this season. The Ducks have been held together by the impressive play of goaltender John Gibson and kept the team relevant for the first half of the season, but he has struggled of late and the team has suffered even more. The team’s top scorer a year ago, Rickard Rakell who had 34 goals a season ago, has just nine this season and has struggled. The team has quite a few issues as they have a number of veteran players over 30 who are locked in with long-term salaries, including Perry, (two more years at $8.625MM), Ryan Getzlaf (two more years at $8.25MM), Ryan Kesler (three more years at $6.88MM). Eaves also has one more year at $3.15MM. The team has a core of younger players, but few of them have developed they way they had hoped. Many of those players are in San Diego with the AHL affiliate, another reason to keep Eakins there and help develop them now.
Carlyle had already had one stint with the Ducks’ franchise between 2005 to 2012 where he had a record of 290-182-61. He won the Stanley Cup in the 2006-07 season, but wasn’t able to get the team deep into the playoffs after that. He was rehired in the 2016-17 season, leading the team to the conference championships that year before being swept in the first round of the playoffs last year at the hands of the San Jose Sharks. He finished his second stint with a 111-74-35 record.
Auston Matthews Signs Five-Year Extension
The Toronto Maple Leafs have signed their young superstar to a huge contract, inking a five-year extension with Auston Matthews. The deal will carry an annual average value of $11.634MM, and be paid almost entirely in signing bonuses. Bob McKenzie of TSN provides the yearly breakdown:
- 2019-20: $700K salary, $15.2MM signing bonus
- 2020-21: $700K salary, $15.2MM signing bonus
- 2021-22: $750K salary, $9.7MM signing bonus
- 2022-23: $750K salary, $7.2MM signing bonus
- 2023-24: $750K salary, $7.2MM signing bonus
A deal with a cap hit of this magnitude is almost unprecedented for a player coming out of his entry-level contract, and Matthews is now in line to start next season with the second-highest hit in the entire league (pending any other contracts/extensions). Only Connor McDavid‘s $12.5MM will eclipse the Toronto center, and his eight-year deal bought out four years of unrestricted free agency. Matthews is giving up just a single year of UFA status with this contract, meaning he is now scheduled to hit the open market as a 26-year old in the prime of his career. The Maple Leafs will try to avoid that with another huge extension, but there is little doubt that Matthews has set himself up to be one of the highest earners in NHL history.
There’s good reason for this huge contract. Matthews came into the league after being selected first overall in 2016 and immediately established himself as one of the best goal scorers in the NHL. With four goals in his rookie debut, the 6’3″ center put the league on notice and carried it all the way to a 40-goal, Calder Trophy-winning season in 2016-17. His 32 even-strength tallies led the league that year, and he received votes for the Lady Byng, Selke and Hart trophies. Last year was a bit different, as the Maple Leafs forward dealt with injuries that limited him to just 62 games. Still, he racked up 34 goals and 63 points while still only seeing 18 minutes of ice time a night.
This year has also seen him miss some time with a shoulder injury, but Matthews is playing at an even higher level than the past. With 46 points in 38 games he has a chance to set a career-high and will likely post the third consecutive 30+ goal campaign of his young career. That kind of goal production puts him in elite company, and is a huge part of why he was given the biggest deal possible.
This is, undoubtedly, the biggest deal the Maple Leafs could offer. An eight-year extension would have pushed Matthews’ cap hit into a place that made the rest of their roster unmanageable, given the huge contracts already handed out to John Tavares and William Nylander and upcoming negotiation with Mitch Marner—not to mention Kasperi Kapanen and Andreas Johnsson. Matthews’ likely eight-year ask was north of McDavid’s $12.5MM mark, which would have left the team in an almost untenable situation. In order to avoid that, they had to deal with the fact that Matthews could very well walk away in free agency a few years sooner.
Still, this has dramatic positives for the team. For one, the Maple Leafs now have a much clearer picture of where they stand financially moving forward, and have that knowledge well ahead of this year’s trade deadline. If the team is still interested in adding to this group, they can understand much more accurately the picture going forward. Second, after a long and public negotiation with Nylander dragged well into the season, the team can now cross the first name on their list off and focus on Marner’s next deal. That negotiation isn’t expected to start until after the season at the player’s request.
The Maple Leafs have a clear window for success. Signing Tavares last offseason likely shortened it, given the ramifications that it caused like shortening Matthews’ contract. GM Kyle Dubas and the rest of the organization are betting that bringing in the $11MM forward from the New York Islanders improves their chances in that shortened window and will hopefully result in their first Stanley Cup in decades. They just doubled down on that bet, and now have six years (including this one) to find some success in the playoffs before dealing with another Matthews contract.
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