‘Maple Leafs Captain John Tavares Shares Excitement Over Auston Matthews’ Extension: ‘It Doesn’t Get Much Better Than That For Us’
The Toronto Maple Leafs captain lauded Matthews’ growth upon learning that the star player committed to four more years.
John Tavares was pumped to learn that Auston Matthews is going to stay with the Toronto Maple Leafs for a long time.
Speaking at the ‘Hockey Night in Brampton’ charity event in support of the William Osler Health System, the Maple Leafs captain said it was a busy day of training and tending to other things around his foundation before he walked into CAA Centre when he learned that Matthews signed a four-year, $53 million contract extension.
“Obviously, hearing that news coming in today, it doesn’t get much better than that for us here in Toronto and our fanbase,” Tavares said on Wednesday. “I know how much he loves it here.
Tavares has been with the Maple Leafs for five of Matthews’ seven seasons in the NHL and remarked on the player’s growth and maturity beyond his talent.
The captain acknowledged that both he and Matthews spoke this season about the player’s contract status in the offseason and Matthews reaffirmed he wanted to be a Leaf.
“He wants to be here and in our conversations he made that very clear,” Tavares said. “It doesn’t surprise and that it says something that he just wanted to get done and get put behind him and continue to move forward and not something that everyone has to answer about or talk about or think about.”
The 25-year-old Matthews is coming off a season in which he scored 40 goals and added 45 assists in 74 games. The year before that, the Scottsdale, Arizona native won the Hart Trophy as the most valuable player in the league after scoring 60 goals and adding 46 assists in 73 games.
Any long-term success for the Maple Leafs would have centered around their biggest star committing beyond the 2023-24 season when his existing contract expires. Now that he has a new one in place, it takes away a big point of conversation that was looming before training camp opens next month.
“He’s a big part of the future here and just continue on with what he’s been doing and keep becoming the better and better player has every year,” Tavares said of Matthews.
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