Auston Matthews signed a precedent-setting deal on Tuesday that will afford young elite talent more leverage going forward during contract negotiations. The five-year extension with the Toronto Maple Leafs is worth $58.17 million in total and carries an average cap hit of $11.634 million. As “player-friendly” as the deal appears, however, Matthews could’ve gone even further if he took a page out of the NBA’s playbook, a move that more elite players should consider in the future.



While NHL stars of today generally opt for the long-term mega-deal, NBA stars tend to go for short-term deals in order to fully optimize the rapidly changing cap landscape. One-or-two years and then re-up to reap the rewards of a larger salary cap pie. The term limits in the NBA are shorter than the NHL (five years versus eight years), yes, but that doesn’t make it any less pragmatic of a strategy for the players that can afford to make it.



Since 2005-06, when the...