The Toronto Maple Leafs announced on Thursday that they have signed 2016 top pick Auston Matthews to a three-year entry-level contract.
According to Sportsnet’s
Chris Johnston, the 18-year-old received the maximum Schedule A bonus of $850,000 and Schedule B bonuses of $2 Million, which was $200,000 more than second overall pick Patrik Laine received from the Winnipeg Jets and $350,000 more in potential bonuses than Columbus and Edmonton gave forwards Pierre-Luc Dubois and Jesse Puljujarvi.
Questions arose in recent days regarding the contract status of the Scottsdale, AZ native and first overall pick at the 2016 NHL Draft, as reports indicated that the Leafs and Matthews representatives were fighting over the bonus structure of the contract, but GM Lou Lamoriello stated in a conference call that there was little haggling over the details of the entry-level deal and that
negotiations between he and agent Pat Brisson took 10 minutes.
Matthews played for Team USA at the 2015 World Junior in Toronto and Montreal, scoring one goal and two assists in five games and decided after playing in the US National Development program to play in Switzerland instead of playing in the CHL or NCAA.
The 6'2" 216 lb center collected 24 goals, 22 assists in 36 games with the ZSC Lions of the Swiss League last season and led Team USA in scoring with seven goals and four assists at the 2016 World Junior in Helsinki last January.
In September, Matthews will play for Team North America (23 year and under) at the 2016 World Cup of Hockey in Toronto.
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The Leafs also announced that have agreed to a two-year contract with forward Josh Leivo. The 23-year-old Innisfil, ON native scored five goals in 12 NHL games with Toronto last season and had 48 points (17 goals and 31 assists) in 51 games with the AHL Toronto Marlies.
According to
Cap Friendly, the deal is one-way for both years at $575,000 in 2016-17 and $650,000 in 2017-18.
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