Timeline for Auston Matthews' next contract leaked!

Just about everyone and their brother knows that the Toronto Maple Leafs have some critical financial decisions to make in the near future that will be laid at the feet of new general manager Brad Treliving, whom team president Brendan Shanahan is now trusting to make the proper decisions after the eye-brow raising termination of Kyle Dubas earlier in the summer.

In the first place, the new head honcho in Toronto has made several additions via free agency to the Leafs, including the son of fan favorite Tie Domi in Max Domi, enforcer Ryan Reaves, and the scrappy Tyler Bertuzzi. Their new deals are taking up a considerable chunk of Toronto's already extremely limited cap space, and that's in addition to the $3.55 million deal that an arbiter awarded to goaltender Ilya Samsonov. And then there's the matter of the need for new deals for for star forwards William Nylander and Auston Matthews before they hit the open market next summer.

There have been rumors and whispers as to what the next deal for Matthews will look like, with the most common theme being that it won't be a long term deal but it could be the new highest AAV in the NHL today. And if this report from former Leafs defenseman and current analyst Carlo Colaiacovo holds true, we could be seeing news of the deal in short order. 

Colaiacovo had the following to say during this morning's episode on TSN 1050's First Up: 

"My understanding is that an Auston Matthews deal is going to happen any day right now," he said. "Nobody knows the exact date, but the expectation is that it's happening. It's going to be anywhere between 3-5 years and it's going to range between $13M and $14M, depending on the term. It's going to happen any day - that's the only thing I know that's going on in Leaf land."

Buckle up, Leafs fans! 

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