Matthews signs 5-year extension, Muzzin providing missing muscle (maple leafs)

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Matthews signs 5-year extension, Muzzin providing missing muscle

By Mike Augello

Feb 5, 2019 • 6:45 pm

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UPDATE - The Maple Leafs have announced a five-year contract extension for Auston Matthews, with an AAV of $11.634 Million.

The Toronto Maple Leafs announced today that the club has agreed to terms with forward Auston Matthews on a five-year contract extension. The average annual value of the contract is $11.634 million. Matthews, 21, has appeared in 38 games for the Maple Leafs this season and registered 23 goals and 23 assists for 46 points. He skated in 62 regular season games for the Maple Leafs in 2017-18 and registered 63 points (34 goals, 29 assists), while adding a goal and an assist in seven Stanley Cup playoff games. In 182 career NHL regular season games, he has recorded 178 points (97 goals, 81 assists), while registering seven points (5 goals, 2 assists) in 13 career Stanley Cup playoff games. In 2016-17, Matthews captured the Calder Trophy as the NHL’s Rookie of the Year and was named to the NHL’s All-Rookie Team after establishing Maple Leaf rookie records for goals (40) and points (69) in a season, which led all NHL rookies in both categories. In his NHL debut on October 12, 2016 at Ottawa, he set a new NHL record for goals scored in an NHL debut with four. The Scottsdale, Arizona native has also represented Toronto at the NHL All-Star Game in three consecutive seasons (2016, 2017, 2018). Internationally, Matthews has represented the United States at the 2016 IIHF World Championship and registered nine points (6 goals, 3 assists) in 10 games to earn a Top 3 Player on Team recognition. He has also represented the United States at two World Junior Championships (2015, 2016), capturing a bronze in 2016, two World U-18 Championships (2014, 2015), capturing gold at both, and the 2014 World U-17 Hockey Challenge. He took part in the 2016 World Cup of Hockey in Toronto as a member of Team North America and registered three points (2 goals, 1 assist) in three games. Matthews was originally drafted by the Maple Leafs in the first round (1st overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft.

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The Toronto Maple Leafs have had problems getting up for opponents that they should beat this season and losing valuable points, but the club did not encounter that issue in a 6-1 victory over the slumping Anaheim Ducks at Scotiabank Arena on Monday.

Andreas Johnsson had a career-high four points (2 goals and 2 assist), Jake Muzzin scored his first goal as a Leaf and added a pair of assists, John Tavares, Connor Brown and William Nylander added goals and Frederik Andersen made 24 saves for his 23rd win of the season.

Johnsson factored in Toronto’s first three goals, with a long stretch pass to set up Tavares for his club-leading 31st of the year, corralling the rebound of a Muzzin point shot and backhanding it past Gibson just after a Leafs power play had expired and tipping the puck back to the point off a faceoff to set up Muzzin for a one-timer with just 2.2 seconds remaining in the second.

While not underemphasizing the breakthrough of Nylander, who played well and snapped an 11-game goalless skid with his second goal of the season, the difference maker in the victory was Muzzin, whose hit on Ducks winger Corey Perry late in the second drew not only a roar from the home crowd, but a retaliatory penalty from Nick Ritchie and a power play goal.

“(Muzzin is) a big body, he knows how to play.… Leafs head coach Mike Babcock said after the game. “He's really good in his own zone, denies the back, makes a good outlet pass, he's a big body and plays real hard between the whistles. Obviously, with his experience and the kind of man he is, he's going to make us a better team.…

Sometimes you don’t know how much a team misses something until you see it again and while there is no doubting that Leo Komarov and Roman Polak were slowing down and limited in their effectiveness, they did provide some pushback that has been missing this season.

The hits that Muzzin laid out on Jake Guentzel and Perry in successive games provide a warning sign to potential playoff opponents that Toronto has someone with a physical presence patrolling the blueline, but they may need one or two more edgy physical players to be added before the deadline to improve their odds of success in the post-season.

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TSN’s Bob McKenzie indicated during intermission of the Leafs-Ducks game that there could be an announcement of a contract extension for Auston Matthews within days.

Agent Judd Moldaver traveled to Toronto last weekend and with the Leafs in town for most of this week, it gives the two sides the opportunity to nail down the details of a new deal.

All indications are that the contract will be either five or six years, with a salary range of $11 to 12 Million AAV.

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