When the Toronto Maple Leafs gave captain Auston Matthews his massive four-year, $53 million contract extension back during the 2023 offseason, many thought it was quite a lot of money. After all, at $13.25 million AAV per season, it made Matthews the highest paid AAV salary player at the time. But with the elite level scoring and production that he had provided year in and year out, it should still be worth it by the end of it.
However, after seeing Minnesota Wild star Kirill Kaprizov land his record-setting eight-year, $136 million contract extension on Tuesday, it has made the contract of Matthews an absolute bargain in comparison. Kaprizov will be making $17 million AAV for the next eight years, surpassing that of Matthews, Leon Draisaitl, Nathan MacKinnon and of course Connor McDavid, who are arguably currently the four best hockey players in the world.
Leafs superstar Auston Matthews seems like a bargain after record-setting Kirill Kaprizov contract
For Kaprizov, apparently he has earned his massive raise after just three 40+ goals and three 75+ points seasons. He cracked the 100-point barrier in 2021-22 with 108 points that year, but hasn’t reached that mark ever since. Kaprizov has also led the Wild to the playoffs in four of his five NHL seasons thus far and has accumulated 15 goals and 21 points in 25 career playoff games. Despite all of that, he has only captured the Calder Memorial Trophy as his only major NHL award to date.
As for Matthews at the time of the signing of his contract extension, he already had five 40+ goals campaigns under his belt, including a whopping 60 during the 2021-22 season. He also posted seven consecutive seasons with 63 points or more, including 106 points also during the 2021-22 year. Matthews had led the Maple Leafs to the playoffs in EVERY season that he has played in the NHL and has scored close to a point-a-game pace throughout the postseason. More importantly, the 28-year-old Leafs captain had added multiple NHL awards to his collection, including the Calder Memorial Trophy, the Hart Memorial Trophy as league MVP, the Ted Lindsay Award, and the Maurice Richard Trophy (twice at that point in time).
If that wasn’t enough, remember Matthews is a center and plays a 200-foot game. Not only is he strong defensively with his takeaways, he has also seen effective time on the penalty kill in recent years, providing value in all aspects of the game. But for Kaprizov, he is being paid top dollar as a winger, and doesn’t really see much time if any short-handed. So for all that Matthews does and has accomplished compared to the Wild star winger, let’s just say Toronto has done very well with their investment.
As a result, the Leafs and their fans should be thrilled in what they have been getting from Matthews in more ways than one as he continues to be the leader and face of the franchise.