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Auston Matthews

Snapshots: Eriksson Ek, Brodin, Matthews, Joshua

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Now in do-or-die territory to qualify for the 2023-24 Stanley Cup playoffs, the Minnesota Wild will receive some reinforcements to their lineup tonight. Sarah McLellan of Star Tribune Sports reports that forward Joel Eriksson Ek and defenseman Jonas Brodin will return to the active roster tonight.

Eriksson Ek has missed the last five games for the Wild, who lost two big games to the St. Louis Blues in his absence. As the team’s top center, Eriksson Ek has scored 29 goals and 60 points for Minnesota this year over 66 games played.

Brodin on the other hand, has only missed the last two games for the Wild but has had significant injury concerns throughout this season. Even though he’s only managed to suit up in 51 contests, Brodin still sits second on Minnesota’s blue line with 23:37 ATOI and has scored seven goals and 23 points overall.

Other snapshots:

  • One player who may not be in the lineup for the Toronto Maple Leafs tonight is forward Auston Matthews, who is now designated as a game-time decision due to an illness (X Link). Even though Toronto is destined for a third-place finish in the Atlantic Division, it would be a tough blow not to have Matthews in the lineup, as he is still attempting to score 60 goals on the season for the second time in his career.
  • In tonight’s potential Western Conference Final preview, the Vancouver Canucks will see the return of a key player, as Dakota Joshua will return to the lineup (X Link). It will be Joshua’s first game back since February 13th, as the Michigan native suffered an upper-body injury in the team’s game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

NHL Names Eastern Conference All-Stars

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Sportsnet is reporting that the NHL has named the first 16 selections from the Eastern Conference. These players will appear in the NHL All-Star Game that will take place February 3rd in Toronto.

The game will be held in Canada for the first time since 2012 when it was held in Ottawa. Toronto hasn’t hosted the game since 2000 and it will be highlighted by Toronto Maple Leafs superstar Auston Matthews who was named alongside 15 other Eastern Conference players.

The league names one player to represent each team at the game, all of whom will be named this evening. After which the final 12 players will be decided by a fan vote on NHL.com as well as several of the NHL’s social media platforms.

The initial Eastern Conference players are as follows:

Atlantic Division

Boston: RW David Pastrnak (3rd appearance)
Buffalo: D Rasmus Dahlin  (1st appearance)
Detroit: RW Alex DeBrincat (1st appearance)
Florida: C Sam Reinhart (1st appearance)
Montreal: C Nick Suzuki (3rd appearance)
Ottawa: LW Brady Tkachuk (4th appearance)
Tampa Bay: RW Nikita Kucherov (5th appearance)
Toronto: C Auston Matthews (3rd appearance)

Metropolitan Division

Carolina: F Sebastian Aho (1st appearance)
Columbus: C Boone Jenner (1st appearance)
New Jersey: C Jack Hughes (3rd appearance)
NY Islanders: C Mathew Barzal (1st appearance)
NY Rangers: G Igor Shesterkin (2nd appearance)
Philadelphia: C Travis Konecny (1st appearance)
Pittsburgh: C Sidney Crosby (6th appearance)
Washington: LW Tom Wilson (1st appearance)

The first 16 Western Conference all-stars will be named during the first intermission of tonight’s matchup between the Boston Bruins and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

More to come…

Snapshots: Flames, Three Stars, Lightning

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The Fourth Period is reporting that the Calgary Flames picked up trade talks with several teams last week as they look to potentially move on from several pending unrestricted free agents. The Fourth Period cited sources saying that the New Jersey Devils were one of the teams they talked to and even linked the Devils to both Noah Hanifin and Chris Tanev.

The Flames currently have a record of 15-16-5 through their first 36 games which puts them five points out of a playoff spot as they near the halfway point of the regular season. The team will have a big decision to make in the coming weeks as they also have center Elias Lindholm on an expiring contract, and he is reportedly looking for a deal in the range of $9MM annually.

The Fourth Period’s David Pagnotta also believes that teams have expressed interest in Flames defenseman MacKenzie Weegar, but it’s hard to believe Calgary would deal him given that he is in the first year of an eight-year contract and has a full no-trade clause.

Other notes from around the league:

  • The NHL has announced its Three Stars of the Month, with Nathan MacKinnon taking First Star, Auston Matthews winning Second Star, and Connor Hellebuyck being named Third Star. MacKinnon won on the heels of an 11-goal, 29-point performance in 15 games in December, while Matthew’s put up 15 goals and six assists in just 12 games. Hellebuyck’s December performance saw him post an impressive 7-0-2 record, which was good enough for a Third Star.
  • Tampa Bay Lightning writer Chris Krenn is reporting that the Lightning were forced to dress just five defensemen tonight due to injuries and salary cap constraints. The Lightning lost Erik Cernak and Haydn Fleury recently to injury and with no cap space to make a recall, the Lightning were forced to play the Winnipeg Jets one defender short of a full six. The Lightning will be eligible to make an emergency recall after tonight, but due to the language in the Roster Emergency Exception rule, they must wait until the second game to be eligible to recall a player under emergency conditions.

Auston Matthews, T.J. Brodie Sit Out Saturday With Illness

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5:45 PM: The Toronto Maple Leafs have confirmed that Matthews and T.J. Brodie will both miss Saturday’s game with illness.

5:35 PM: Auston Matthews may be forced out of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ Saturday night matchup with illness, Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman reports. The Leafs will kick off against the Pittsburgh Penguins at 7 P.M. ET – one of six games starting at that time. Matthews will be sitting out of his first game of the season if he misses Saturday night.

It’s an untimely absence for Matthews, who, with a pair of goals tonight, could have become the second-fastest Maple Leafs player to reach 25 goals in the modern era. He would have achieved the feat in 28 games, one shy of the 27 games it took Wendel Clark in 1993-94. Matthews will have another shot at the feat on Tuesday when Toronto returns home to face the New York Rangers.

Matthews is having another successful season in the NHL, although he doesn’t currently carry his usual title as the Leafs leading scorer. That instead belongs to William Nylander, who’s managed 38 points in 27 games this season. Matthews has only put up 35 points, although his NHL-leading 23 goals leads the team by a margin of nine. The 26-year-old Matthews is on a 70-goal pace through mid-December, looking to top the career-high of 60 goals that he recorded in 2021-22.

Brodie, also absent from Saturday’s matchup, is also missing his first game of the season. He has managed six points in his 27 appearances with the Leafs this season, averaging just over 22 minutes of ice time each night.

Atlantic Notes: Knies, Liljegren, Larkin

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Sportsnet’s Luke Fox tweeted this morning that Toronto Maple Leafs forward Matthew Knies returned to practice today but is unlikely to return to the lineup tonight as he is still not 100%. Knies has been dealing with an illness the last few days that already caused him to miss Tuesday night’s 7-3 win over the New York Rangers. Lance Hornby of Postmedia added that there is a small chance that Knies could play and that things are a bit up in the air as the Maple Leafs have had a flu bug circulating through their dressing room. Should Knies miss tonight’s game Noah Gregor would likely take his spot on the top line once again with Auston Matthews and William Nylander.

The 21-year-old Knies has had an okay start to his first full season in the NHL registering six goals and five assists in 25 games. Expectations for the Phoenix, Arizona native were quite high after a solid seven-game showing in last year’s playoffs in which Knies posted a goal and three assists. He’s been physical, good defensively and responsible with the puck. However, he has not been able to drive play, which is surprising given that he has spent time on a line with two of the best play drivers in the NHL.

In other Atlantic Division notes:

  • Lance Hornby of Postmedia tweeted that Toronto Maples Leafs defenseman Timothy Liljegren is getting close to returning to the lineup. In talking with Maple Leafs head coach Sheldon Keefe Hornby learned that the 24-year-old should only need another practice or two before being ready to return to action. Liljegren has been out of the lineup since suffering a high-ankle sprain on November 2nd that was the result of a controversial trip by Boston Bruins forward Brad Marchand. Liljegren has just a single assist in ten games this season and has been averaging just shy of 18 minutes a night of ice-time for Toronto.
  • Helene St. James of the Detroit Free Press is reporting that Detroit Red Wings captain Dylan Larkin skated with the team this morning in a non-contact jersey. Larkin being back on the ice is certainly a positive development after he suffered what appeared to be a devastating injury on Saturday after he was hit up high by a couple of Ottawa Senators players. Larkin lay motionless on the ice as a melee ensued around him between the two teams. Larkin suffered what is being described as an upper-body injury and although it is a very positive development to see him back on the ice so soon, there is no timeline for his return to Detroit’s lineup.

Snapshots: Matthews, Butcher, Mast

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In a rather lengthy interview with Mike Zeisberger of the NHL, franchise icon for the Toronto Maple Leafs, Auston Matthews, expresses his unwavering desire to stay in Toronto and is more than excited an extension was completed between the two sides. More than a year before he was originally set to become an unrestricted free agent, rumors were rampant suggesting Matthews may leave the Maple Leafs to sign with his hometown Arizona Coyotes or find an organization with less media pressure.

During the interview, when he was asked specifically about the rumors circulating about the next contract he would sign, Matthews said, “It was my mindset to come back all along. I felt I’ve been pretty clear about that. I really enjoy playing here, and I love the core guys I’ve been playing with going back to my early days here. And the way the staff treats us is amazing. I’ve kind of repeated these things, they’re all true, and it means a lot to me to be here. So, when I see stuff like some of the speculation this summer, I get a pretty good chuckle out of it because it’s just nonsense, to be honest with you“.

As many are well aware at this point, Matthews would sign a four-year, $53MM contract with the Maple Leafs, making him the highest-paid player in the NHL as soon as it starts. Although there was very little doubt that Toronto would regret re-investing in Matthews, he rewarded them early this season, scoring back-to-back hat tricks in the team’s first two games.

Other snapshots:

  • A little over a week before the start of training camp this autumn, new depth defenseman for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Will Butcher, sustained an injury that would keep him out of all on-ice activities for over a month. Today, Matt Vensel of Post-Gazette Sports is reporting that Butcher is back to practice in a non-contact jersey, and will likely be sent to the team’s AHL affiliate, the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins very soon. Spending all of last season for the Texas Stars in the AHL, Butcher would score six goals and 37 assists in 65 games.
  • In smaller news, Mark Divver of the New England Hockey Journal is reporting that the Providence Bruins, AHL affiliate of the Boston Bruins, have sent defenseman Ryan Mast to their ECHL affiliate, the Maine Mariners. Mast is a recent sixth-round pick of the Bruins back in the 2021 NHL Draft, and recently wrapped up a career with the Sarnia Sting of the OHL, scoring eight goals and 22 assists in 50 games during his last season.

Who Will Be The NHL’s Next Highest Paid Player?

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Auston Matthews recent extension with the Toronto Maple Leafs has earned him the title of highest-paid player in the NHL. His new deal doesn’t kick in until 2024-25, but at that point, he will make an average annual salary of $13.25MM (CapFriendly) per season for four years. Prior to his new deal, Matthews was the fourth highest-paid player in the game behind Nathan MacKinnon, Connor McDavid and Artemi Panarin.

MacKinnon’s new eight-year $100.8MM deal kicks in this season which will make him the highest-paid player in the league at $12.6MM for this year. His actual salary is much higher than his cap hit at $16.5MM, but the final four years of his deal will back-dive to $9.9MM in salary. McDavid has three years left on his current deal with a cap hit of $12.5MM while Panarin’s deal also concludes in three seasons and pays him $11.642MM annually.

With Matthews having topped MacKinnon’s new extension by over $600K annually the question now becomes, who will be the NHL’s next highest-paid player?

Connor McDavid – McDavid is the obvious answer. He is arguably the best player in the game and undoubtedly the best player in the world with the puck on his stick. The Richmond Hill, Ontario native will be 29 years old when he reaches unrestricted free agency and could essentially ask teams for a blank check and fill in the maximum salary under the salary cap. That is if he remains the best player in the world. While it seems hard to believe there is a world in which McDavid isn’t the game’s most explosive player, three years is a long time, and in hockey, it can be an eternity. There is also another Connor who could be the one to top Matthews’ extension.

Connor Bedard – It seems crazy that Bedard has yet to play a minute in the NHL and he could conceivably be the next highest-paid player in the NHL. But it could happen. Bedard signed his three-year entry-level contract with the Chicago Blackhawks on July 17th and should be a lock to make their opening night lineup. He will become a restricted free agent in 2026, the same time that McDavid becomes a UFA. It is fair to wonder how Bedard will produce once he is playing against men in the NHL, especially given that he will be playing on a bad Blackhawks team that will have its struggles. But he dominated the WHL with 71 goals and 72 assists in 57 games and obliterated the competition at the World Junior Championships with nine goals and 14 assists in 7 games. He’s a phenom, and in three years he could be paid like one.

Leon Draisaitl – Draisaitl has been one of the best bargains in the NHL since signing his eight-year $68MM contract back in August of 2017. All he has done during his six years under this contract is score 50+ goals three times, top 100 points four times, and win a Hart Trophy as well as an Art Ross Trophy. At 27-years-old Draisaitl is coming off the best season of his career having posted 52 goals and 76 assists in 80 games.

All things considered, it seems likely that Draisaitl will top Matthews’ contract two seasons from now when he becomes an unrestricted free agent. The native of Cologne, Germany will be 29 years old, and the salary cap should go up substantially between now and then positioning him to cash in big with any team of his choosing. Draisaitl will likely hold onto that distinction for just one season as McDavid and Bedard will be following right behind him and could top Draisaitl to earn the title of the highest-paid player in the NHL.

Maple Leafs Notes: Keefe, Matthews, Depth, Nylander, Woll

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Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brad Treliving held a press conference today after Auston Matthews’ four-year extension earlier this week, touching on various topics related to the organization. One of them was the future of head coach Sheldon Keefe, who Treliving said he’s “enjoyed getting to know,” and the two parties will continue to work on an extension.

Since taking over behind the Toronto bench early in the 2019-20 season after the team fired Mike Babcock, Keefe has put together a 166-71-30 record as an NHL head coach, good enough for a .678 points percentage. The 42-year-old coach is entering the final season of a two-year extension he had signed before the 2021-22 campaign started. While he hasn’t yet guided the team to any sustained playoff success, he has overseen one of the most successful regular-season stretches in franchise history, leading Toronto to have one of the longest active playoff streaks in the league. Without a Conference Final appearance to speak of, however, it would surprise many to see a long-term extension for Keefe announced.

Elsewhere in Leafland:

  • Treliving said contract negotiations with Matthews were far from animous, calling the talks a “partnership more than a negotiation.” Matthews will have the highest cap hit in league history when the extension kicks in for the 2024-25 campaign with $13.25MM per season, but Treliving was expecting to dole out that much cash. “In the situation he’s in, he could have come in and demanded more than he got,” Treliving said.
  • Regarding filling out the rest of the roster, Toronto is still in a delicate dance with the salary cap, needing to shed about $3MM before the season starts, even with LTIR relief, CapFriendly projects. That hasn’t stopped Treliving from considering a few minor additions, he said today, although he didn’t indicate whether those would come in the form of tryouts or guaranteed one-year contracts before training camps start next month.
  • Treliving also spoke briefly about winger William Nylander’s pending free agency, now his main order of business after getting Matthews extended. Like Nylander said earlier this week, however, Treliving feels no rush or deadline to get a deal done at the moment, willing to let negotiations play out and remain civil and productive. If the two sides can’t bridge the reported multi-million dollar gap, however, it’s hard to imagine Treliving letting Nylander remain on the team past the trade deadline without an extension close to fruition. The 27-year-old Swede is coming off the first 40-goal season of his career.
  • Lastly, Treliving spoke highly today of young netminder Joseph Woll, who he believes is ready to assume the backup job behind Ilya Samsonov next season. Some wondered about Treliving’s and Keefe’s plans for the crease after inking veteran Martin Jones to a one-year, one-way deal earlier this month, but it’s clear now the Jones signing was purely for insurance purposes in case of an injury or an unexpected poor performance from Woll in camp. There is surely no room to stash Jones on the roster as a third goaltender, however, meaning he’ll very likely be exposed to waivers at the beginning of the season.

Projecting Sidney Crosby’s Next Contract

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With Auston Matthews’ recent signing to a record-breaking contract, speculation has already started to ramp up as far as other soon-to-be elite free agents. While it is far too early for a lot of the chatter, it’s fair to wonder what kind of money these elite free agents will command when they come up for new deals. Connor McDavid was asked recently about it, and it is exactly what Dan Kingerski writes about in Pittsburgh Hockey Now. Kingerski wonders what type of contract Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby will get when his contract ends in two years. The comparison isn’t a great one given that Matthews and Crosby are in wildly different places in their respective careers, however, it is a fair question to ask given that Crosby is still playing at an elite level despite being 36 years old, and he will be eligible for an extension in less than a year.

Crosby is entering the 11th season of a 12-year deal he signed back in 2013. At the time, the Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia native’s $8.7MM cap hit was a considerable discount to give the Penguins. It allowed the team to have the cap space to surround him with elite talent. It was also a huge risk from the Penguins’ perspective given that Crosby was coming off multiple concussions, including one that put him out of action for nearly a year. But the Penguins made the move, which paid off in spades as the team captured Stanley Cups in 2016 and 2017.

Crosby has given the Penguins a discount on every extension he has signed thus far in his career with both of his extensions coming with that $8.7MM cap hit. It has set the tone for Pittsburgh and allowed the Penguins to keep many of their stars under below-market contracts. For Crosby, he was always a team player but was also able to make nearly as much money off the ice as he did on it.

Pittsburgh fans and media have speculated about Crosby’s future since well before Matthews signed his extension and will likely continue to do so right up until he signs his next contract. But what might that look like?

It’s tough to project where Crosby’s game will be in two seasons, Crosby will be 38 years old by the time his next contract begins, however, NHL.com is projecting that Crosby will increase his point totals next season. Sid the Kid had 33 goals and 60 assists last season in 82 games and it’s hard to imagine him topping that at 36-years-old. But that is exactly what NHL.com is projecting he will do as they are predicting he will put up 102 points next season.

Whether or not Crosby hits that number is likely inconsequential when it comes to contract talks with the face of the Penguins franchise. Crosby has remained loyal to Pittsburgh and the Fenway Sports Group has remained steadfast in their desire to have Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang retire as Pittsburgh Penguins as evidenced by the long-term deals they gave Malkin and Letang.

Josh Yohe of The Athletic has said in the past that he believes Crosby wants to play until he’s around 40, which could make a two-year extension make sense. Under normal circumstances, a rising cap would lead a superstar like Crosby to ask for north of $10MM annually on an extension. However, given the past two extensions Sid has signed with Pittsburgh, Kingerski throws out an interesting number, $8.7MM per year.

Snapshots: McDavid, Kuznetsov, Matthews

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Connor McDavid and Auston Matthews will always be inextricably linked. They were selected with back-to-back first-overall picks by, as of now, the two best Canadian teams in the league. Therefore, it’s not surprising public discourse has shifted once again to McDavid’s future in Edmonton after Matthews signed his four-year, $53MM extension in Toronto yesterday.

Speaking with Sportsnet’s Mark Spector, when asked about a contract extension, McDavid said, “We’re super comfortable [in Edmonton],” but an extension is also “three years down the road. We’ve got to kind of see where our lives are at and kind of go from there.” He went on to re-avow his commitment to winning a championship with Edmonton’s core. While the tonality of McDavid’s statement may raise some eyebrows, it really shouldn’t – the Oilers’ superstar isn’t exactly known for his unfiltered approach to interviews. While there is always the chance McDavid departs in free agency should things in Edmonton go horribly wrong over the next few seasons, it’s far from becoming a likely scenario, at least at this stage.

More from the NHL today:

  • One surprisingly quiet storyline throughout the offseason has been that of Washington Capitals center Evgeny Kuznetsov, who the team confirmed had requested a trade earlier this summer. In an interview with NHL.com’s Tom Gulitti earlier this week, Capitals incoming head coach Spencer Carbery said he’s spoken with Kuznetsov multiple times this summer and “it sounds like there’s a real focus to his preparation for next season.” While it’s far from a confirmation he’s rescinded his trade request, Kuznetsov staying in the nation’s capital and returning to form could very well thrust Washington back into the thick of the Eastern Conference playoff race, something captain Alex Ovechkin would certainly love to see while he chases the NHL’s all-time goals record.
  • Matthews’ extension may be the richest per season of the salary cap era, but it still hasn’t surpassed McDavid’s deal as taking up the highest percentage of the salary cap when signed, Sportsnet’s Sonny Sachdeva points out. McDavid’s eight-year, $100MM deal, which kicked in for the 2018-19 campaign, took up a record 16.67% of the cap’s Upper Limit when it was signed in July 2017. Matthews’ deal, on the other hand, which carries an average annual value of $750K higher than McDavid’s, takes up 15.87% of the cap at the time of signing.

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