Auston Matthews reportedly closing in on 5-year contract at around $11.5-million AAV

Everyone wants to get out ahead of the now-imminent news of Auston Matthews signing a monster contract extension with the Leafs, and of course we’re no different. With numbers being tossed around in rumours regarding both Matthews and Marner for awhile now, the opinions on how these negotiations are going have been aplenty, but the former is starting to have things come into focus to the tune of a five year deal worth over 11-million dollars annually.

We’re not sure about how superstitious Matthews might be, but there have been some educated rumblings suggesting an $11.34-million hit could be the number they end up settling on.

To say this potential contract is causing some disagreements among analysts and fans would almost be putting it lightly, and it’s all about term. I think most assumed Matthews would be locked in for the entire 8 years like some of his most notable peers in Eichel and McDavid, and if not, a shorter term would come with a significant discount. It appears he’s getting something in the middle, and if this is what both sides eventually settle on, we could see a fair bit of criticism headed Kyle Dubas’ way in the coming days for not locking up more UFA years. Five years essentially walks Matthews to unrestricted free agency as quickly as possible, so let the Arizona talk run wild.

We’ll wait until everything is finalized before getting into those kinds of deep dives, but it appears any minute now Matthews will be announced on a deal in this range.