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Maple Leafs News: Auston Matthews has an extension

By Vincent Parise

TAMPA, FLORIDA - APRIL 29: Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates a goal in the second period during Game Six of the First Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on April 29, 2023 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
TAMPA, FLORIDA - APRIL 29: Auston Matthews #34 of the Toronto Maple Leafs celebrates a goal in the second period during Game Six of the First Round of the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena on April 29, 2023 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) /
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The Toronto Maple Leafs finally got past the first round last season. It was a great moment for the franchise but the good vibes didn’t last long as the Florida Panthers took them down in the second round.

Well, the story of the off-season has been how the team is going to respond to that. They have made some big moves like adding Tyler Bertuzzi and Max Domi.

We also knew that they wanted to get extensions done with Auston Matthews and William Nylander each entering the final year.

Well, that is getting done for Auston Matthews. On Wednesday, the Maple Leafs announced a four-year deal for Matthews worth 13.25 million dollars against the salary cap.

The Toronto Maple Leafs got Auston Matthews locked in for four extra years.

He still has one year left worth 11.64 too so there are five more years left for him with the Leafs. That is great news for them.

He has scored 100 goals over the last two years and is one of the best players in the NHL. That is why he is amongst the highest paid. He deserves it.

Yes, the Maple Leafs need to make more noise in the playoffs. They have, however, been one of the best regular season teams for all of Matthews’ time in Toronto.

They enter every season as a Stanley Cup contender now and Matthews is a big part of that. A 40-goal season was a “down year” for him which tells you just how elite he is. He had 60 the year before. At this point, you can call him the best goal-scorer in the NHL.

Matthews’ next goal will be the 300th of his NHL career. It will be a great milestone for him early in his career.

The Maple Leafs are lucky to have gotten this deal with Matthews done. It is going to be fun seeing what he can do this season now that it is no longer a contract year. He won’t have to be answering questions about it all year long.

We’ll see now what happens with William Nylander. In addition to that, Mitch Marner and John Tavares only have two years left so there is another issue looming. Getting their best player locked in for a while is now done though.

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