Appreciating deals signed by Matthew Tkachuk and Sasha Barkov in wake of Auston Matthews’ record-breaking extension

Matthews signed a 4-year extension with Toronto worth $53 million earlier this week

One of the best young players in the NHL signed a lengthy extension this week that will make him one of the highest paid players in the league.

Of course we’re talking about Auston Matthews, who inked a four-year extension with the Toronto Maple Leafs that carries an AAV (average annual value) of $13.25 million.

First, let’s be clear…Matthews is a generational talent that is elite on both ends of the ice. He’s 25 years old (he'll be 26 next month) and already has a 60-goal season and a Hart Memorial Trophy under his belt. He is worth the record-breaking AAV that Toronto offered him.

Now the point of this post isn’t to knock or even analyze Matthews’ extension, which clearly was made with the idea in mind that the salary cap will be rising a fair amount in the years to come.

It’s more to highlight the recent extensions signed by the two biggest stars on the Florida Panthers, how those numbers look next to Matthews’ and how much its benefits the team to have the extra money to spend.

Panthers captain Sasha Barkov signed a maximum 8-year extension with Florida prior to the start of the 2021 season that has an AAV of $10 million.

Last summer, Florida General Manager Bill Zito pulled off a sign-and-trade, the NHL’s first, when acquiring superstar winger Matthew Tkachuk, locking him up for the 8-year max at an AAV of $9.5 million.

Both players are under contract with the Panthers at those numbers through 2029-30.

In terms of where they are in their respective careers, Barkov will be 28 years old in ten days (Happy early Birthday Barky) and Tkachuk turns 26 in December, so they both are and will be in what should be their ‘prime years’ during the meat of their deals.

Over the past several seasons, Barkov has matured into an over-point-per-game player while maintaining status as an elite two-way centerman.

He’s incredibly well-respected among his peers for both his eye-popping abilities on the ice and his incredible work ethic off the ice.

Then there’s Tkachuk, a reining Hart Trophy finalist coming off back-to-back 100-point seasons who proved earlier this summer that he’s one of those ‘take it to another level’ playoff guys.

But it’s not just the high-end scoring that makes Tkachuk so valuable. It’s the intangibles. He checks all the boxes.

Great locker room guy? Check.

Physical presence? You betcha.

Impacts the game in multiple ways? Yessir.

We could keep going, but if you’re reading this story, odds are you know exactly the kind of player and person Matthew Tkachuk is and get the point we’re tying to make.

Are Barkov and/or Tkachuk at or near the same level as Matthews?

When each are playing at their best, Matthews may get the edge, but it’s far from a sure thing.

Here’s the thing about their deals, though.

Yes, Matthews deserves every penny of his extension, as did Barkov and Tkachuk.

Florida’s deals, however, with their lower AAVs, allow the team more flexibility under the cap to spend on other players.

As we saw during the Panthers run to the Stanley Cup Final earlier this year, depth is hot commodity during the postseason.

The ability to roll four competitive, reliable lines can be crucial during the later rounds of the playoffs.

Ask any general manager, having an extra few million dollars to spend can go a long way for a club on the cusp of a championship.

Barkov and Tkachuk could easily have pushed for more money during their respective negotiations. Each would’ve had a valid argument to make in regard to their value, and they would’ve been right.

Sure, it helps that Florida has no state income tax, and that’s always been a selling point to free agents who value winning as much as they want to earn their worth.

Come to Florida, when you can sign a lesser deal than elsewhere and still end up taking home more cash AND on top of that, your team will have more to spend on the squad as a whole.

Again, this is no knock to Matthews and the Leafs.

He’s a superstar in this league and deserves to be paid as such, and Toronto did not want to risk losing such an amazing talent.

It will make some looming decisions a bit more difficult for the Maple Leafs front office in the not-too-distant future, something that was surely taken into consideration on both sides during the negotiations with Matthews. 

Even as the salary cap continues to go up, Matthews’ AAV will always have an eye-popping appeal to it, but one thing that will remain true is that a million dollars here or there can have a major impact when filling out the bottom half of a roster.

The differences in teams are so minute by the time you reach the latter stages of the playoffs, having a better fourth line winger or third pairing defenseman could be what puts one group over the top in a seven-game series.

That’s where you have to appreciate the long-term deals signed by Florida’s two biggest stars, and having a front office savvy enough to A- lock both players up to those deals and B- take that extra cap space and put it to proper use.

It’s a limited sample size, but ‘so far, so good’ seems an appropriate way to describe the job done by the Cats’ front office to this point.

With an Eastern Conference Championship to defend, we’ll see if the Panthers can continue trending upwards and reach heights never before seen by this 30-year-old franchise.

Having some of the league’s best players signed to team-friendly deals is a great way to get there.