Star centre Auston Matthews signs a four-year, $53 million contract extension with the Maple Leafs.
TORONTO: With the signing of a contract, Auston Matthews will become the highest-paid player in the NHL.
TORONTO – Auston Matthews has signed a contract that will make him the most paid player in the National Hockey League.
And now the Toronto Maple Leafs may finally breathe easy, as can their supporters.
The great centre committed to the organisation that selected him first overall in the 2016 NHL draft by signing a four-year, US$53 million contract on Wednesday. The deal will run through the 2027–2028 season.
With an average yearly value of $13.25 million, the contract will surpass Colorado star Nathan MacKinnon’s $12.6 AAV to make Matthews the highest paid player in the league starting in 2024–25.
With one season remaining on his current deal, which is a five-year, $58.2-million deal inked in February 2019, Matthews could have entered unrestricted free agency the following summer.
“I am grateful to carry on with this adventure as a Maple Leaf in front of the greatest hockey fans,” Matthews wrote on the social networking platform X, which was once known as Twitter. “I’ll exert every effort to get us to the summit of the mountain.”
A league-best sixty goals helped Matthews win the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP in 2021–2022, and it also helped him win the Maurice (Rocket) Richard Trophy for a second time in a row.
The Scottsdale, Arizona, native, 25, saw a minor decline in 2022–2023 but still managed to score 85 points in 74 games, including 40 goals.
In 11 playoff games, Matthews contributed five goals and six assists, assisting Toronto in making it to the postseason for the first time since 2004.
