Hearing TOR and Matthews closing the extension. Will be five years, between $11.5-11.7 AAV
— Elliotte Friedman (@FriedgeHNIC) February 5, 2019
The Leafs will only buy one UFA year in this scenario, as Auston Matthews will be a UFA at age 27 with an opportunity to cash in huge in five years. At $11.5 million, his cap hit represents 14.5% of the current cap ceiling.
Looking through medium-term deals given to stars in the past and charting out the cap percentages, only Crosby and Malkin’s five-year deals back in 2007 and 2008 (worth 17% and 15% of the cap, respectively) would exceed $11.