Auston Matthews is heading into a contract-defining season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, and the price tag is already out there.
Michael Augello, speaking on the Leafs Convo Podcast Monday, laid out the number that could define Toronto's cap sheet for the next decade.
His take: if Matthews scores 40 goals this year, the Leafs make the playoffs and the captain publicly commits to staying, Toronto pays whatever it takes.
Augello pegged the range at seven years max term and 19 to 20 million a season, numbers that would make the captain the highest-paid player in the league by a wide margin.
That is not a small ask. Matthews already sits at 13,250,000 in cap hit, second overall among all NHL players behind only Leon Draisaitl.
That price point would blow past every contract on the books, including William Nylander's own 11,500,000 deal that already eats into Toronto's cap space.
Last season did not exactly build the case. Matthews finished with 27 goals and 53 points in 60 games, a modest return for a player who has scored 60 in a season before.
Toronto's brutal finish adds pressure to every contract decision
The Leafs stumbled to a 32-36-14 finish, missing badly on goal differential at minus-46, and they enter the new season under first-year coach Jim Hiller.
Toronto closed the year on a seven-game losing streak, going 2-7-1 over its final ten and dropping the finale 1-3 on the road against Ottawa.
Can a franchise coming off a stretch like that really justify handing its captain the richest contract in hockey? That is the bet Augello thinks they will make anyway.
Matthews was quiet down the stretch too, managing just one goal and five assists over his last ten games, a rough note to end on before an off-season full of speculation.
Think of it like a homeowner refinancing at the worst possible rate. The Leafs know the number is going up no matter when they sign, so waiting only raises the cost.
Hiller inherits a locker room built around Matthews, Nylander and a payroll already among the tightest in the league, with no obvious way to create more room.
None of this is official. It's podcast speculation dressed up as inside information, and Toronto's front office has said nothing publicly about extension talks.
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But the number is now out there, and every goal Matthews scores this season will get measured against it.
Should the Leafs pay Auston Matthews $20 million a year to keep him?
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