The Toronto Maple Leafs locked up star centre Auston Matthews on Tuesday, signing the 21-year-old to a five-year contract extension with an average annual value of $11.634 million US.
Matthews is fourth in scoring on the team with 46 points (23 goals and 23 assists). He has only played 38 of Toronto’s 52 regular-season games due to injury.
With William Nylander having signed a new six-year deal in December with an average annual value of $10.2 million, that leaves stylish winger Mitch Marner on Leafs GM Kyle Dubas’s to-do list.
Like Marner, Matthews was eligible to become a restricted free agent on July 1 after their three-year rookie deals expire. Contract talks with Marner, however, have been put on hold until after the season, at his agent’s request.
Marner, 21, leads the Leafs in scoring this season with 63 points (20 goals and 43 assists). Veteran centre John Tavares is second with 56 points (31 goals and 25 assists) and defenceman Morgan Rielly is third with 52 (13 goals and 39 assists).
Tavares signed a $77-million, seven-year deal with Toronto as a free agent last July.
Matthews’s three-year rookie deal called for him to make the maximum $925,000 a year. The native of Scottsdale, Ariz., the first overall draft pick in 2016, has 97 goals and 81 assists in 182 regular-season games.
The former NHL rookie of the year has also represented Toronto at the NHL all-star game in each of his three seasons.
Toronto hosts the Ottawa Senators on Wednesday.
from Update Trend News http://bit.ly/2WIcoY6
0 Comments